Big-play T.J. held in check in two career wild-card losses

T.J. Watt isn’t sweating the sack record — at least not anymore. There was a glimmer of hope that his firstquarter takedown of Tyler Huntley in Baltimore Sunday would be changed from just a forced fumble to a full sack to give him exclusive ownership of the single-season record, but Watt is putting that in the rearview, and 22½ is where it will stay.

“All of that stuff is out of my control,” Watt said Friday. “It is what it is. At this point, the regular season is closed and I’m on to the postseason.”

But if you’re talking most sacks in a single campaign, Watt can still leave his mark. When Michael Strahan set the record in 2001, he didn’t add to his total in a wild-card loss to the 49ers. In fact, the other two players with 22 sacks since it became an official statistic in 1982 were Justin Houston and Jared Allen, and neither of their teams even playedbeyond Week 17.

So what Watt will focus on is not one more regular-season sack, but his first playoff sack. In two career postseason games, Watt has been held — sometimes literally — out of that column. It doesn’t help that the Steelers got down, 21-0 and 28-0, in those two wild-card defeats, minimizing Watt’s chances to bear down on a quarterback looking for big playsthrough the air.

“It’s pretty obvious that once an offense gets up by 14, 21 points, whatever it is, that they can pretty much do whatever they want to do,” Watt said of the Steelers’ slow starts in their past two playoff games. “Run the ball, drain the clock, all that stuff limits the opportunities for splash plays, which is what we, specifically, here in Pittsburgh strive for. It’s difficult, but a lot of the times, it’s on us for not stopping the offense.”

Three weeks ago, when the Steelers played the Chiefs, it wasn’t a playoff game, but it had the feel of one. The Steelers dug themselves an early hole — a big hole — and Watt didn’t make much of an impact on thegame.

It was the only game all season in which Watt wasn’t credited with evenone pressure, and the first time that happened since last year’s firstround playoff loss to the Browns. To be fair, he only played 38 snaps.

That’s the lowest number for Watt in a game he didn’t leave early due to injury, and in Kansas City, that’s only because he was playing throughone.

“I think it was a matter of how my body was feeling going into that game,” said Watt, who’s usually hesitant to make any excuses about his health. “I know I wasn’t able to play as many snaps andbe as effective as I wanted to be. I feel better where I am today than I was going into thatgame.”

In his two postseason appearances, Watt has just two quarterback hits and one tackle for loss, despite playing at least 90% of the snaps in both. He was named a firstteam All-Pro for the third season in a row Friday, and this time he was a unanimous pick, but playoff success has eluded him more than any quarterbackcan.

Defensive teammate Cam Heyward, the only other Steelers player who earned first-team All-Pro honors this season, said Watt’s lack of production in the first Chiefs game isn’t necessarily proof that he can’t get to Patrick Mahomes.

“He was dealing with a lot,” Heyward said, “but hopefully he’s able to go 100% this time.”

Simply put, when Watt plays more than 85% of the game on defense, the Steelers are 5-0. In those five victories, he had 11 sacks and 17 quarterback hits. Their only losseswere games when Watt didn’t play (twice); was returning from an injury (twice); or couldn’t finish (three times).

So, yeah, Watt technically doesn’t have a stat to his name in a playoff game. But theseSteelers have been playing in do-or-die situations for weeks now and Watt has been coming through at everyturn — except for one.

“It starts with getting off the field and not having the sustained drives they were able to have, specifically early in the game, the first time,”Watt said.

“If you don’t win, you go home.So we need to lock it in, almost hit the reset button, and put all your feelings aside, because nobody cares if you’re tired. We need to win this game and that’s what we’re here to do. I’m willing to take anybody along with me because I am not readyto go home.”