T.J. Watt says he drove himself nuts replaying torn pec injury last season

T.J. Watt didn’t get a full game of the 2022 season under his belt before suffering an injury. The star linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers tore a pectoral muscle during the season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, costing him seven games.

Watt suffered the injury while attempting to sack Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. But an awkward tackle forced the linebacker to the leave the game with injury.

It’s a moment he’s thought about quite a bit. He explained how it all went down on the Footbahlin with Big Ben (Roethlisberger) podcast.

“Obviously, the pec this past year was tough,” he said. “Just having a great offseason, feeling really good going into the season. I felt like I was playing really well in Cincinnati. But that’s just like one of those things. Even on the play I got hurt, the clock was running, they were out of timeouts. Fourth quarter. It was like 20 seconds left. I got a hand in the face penalty.

“But I had Joe Burrow locked up, and like my arm got stuck behind me. And that’s how I tore my pec. The amount of times I’ve replayed that play in my mind — like if I just kept my hands low, there’s no hands to the face, A. Then, B, if I just stay on my feet and wrap him up and take him down, like, game’s over, pec is fine. The amount of times that I’ve drove myself nuts thinking like that.”

Although Watt played in 10 games for the Steelers, he admitted that he was never fully healthy following the injury. He ended the campaign with 39 tackles, 5.5 sacks and two interceptions in 10 games.

Now, with an offseason to recover, the linebacker says he’s in much better shape entering the 2023 season.

“Yeah, I feel great now. I really do,” he said. “And it’s been a great offseason for me. If you play long enough in this league, you’re gonna have those years, you’re gonna have those weeks, and it’s just about how you respond to it. So that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.”

Watt’s production was at all-time highs in his career in 2020 and 2021. He posted a career-best 15 sacks for the Steelers during the 2020 campaign. A year later, he recorded an impressive 22.5 sacks, setting a new personal best.

Now that he’s fully healthy, Pittsburgh will lean on its defensive leader again in 2023. And he’ll almost certainly be searching for a bounce-back year.