Injury allowed star to watch his brothers
T.J. turned 23 in October.
J.J. is by far the most accomplished player. He is on course for a Hall of Fame career with 76 sacks in 88 career games. He recorded double-digit sack totals the past four seasons, including 20½ in the 2012 and 2014 seasons.
T.J. has a long way to go to catch up to his brother, but he already has one-upped him in one respect. In 13 starts this season, T.J. has six sacks and an interception. In J.J.’s rookie season in 2011 he had 5½ sacks and zero interceptions.
T.J.’s sixth sack was the most important one of the season for the Steelers. With the clock winding down and the Baltimore Ravens driving to get in range for a winning field-goal attempt, T.J. came off the left side of the line of scrimmage and strip-sacked quarterback Joe Flacco to end the game and give the Steelers the AFC North Division title.
“It was awesome,” J.J. said. “I was sitting on the couch with my girlfriend and before that drive started I looked over to her and said, ‘T.J. for the sack for the win.’ I didn’t get the strip sack part of it right, but I got the sack part right.
“That’s special. In a game like that, in that [division], between those two teams, with so much history, to be able to have such a big play in a big moment was cool. Just to see the excitement and the joy on his face and to know how much it means to him and that team, it was special.”
But that wasn’t J.J.’s favorite play of the year. That came amonth ago when he watched the Steelers and Green Bay Packers play on “Sunday Night Football.”
“Oneof my favorite plays of the year wasn’t even a sack. It was that pass break-up on Jordy Nelson,” J.J. said. “I thought that was such a cool thing, being able to cover one of the best receivers in the league like that.”
J.J. is a pretty impressive athlete in his own right. For a while, he was one of the best red-zone threats in the league.
In the 2014 season, in addition to those 20½ sacks he registered, he achieved folk-hero status when he caught three touchdowns.
It turns out T.J. has the best hands of any of the three NFL playing brothers.
J.J. said T.J., who began his career at Wisconsin as a tight end before switching to line backer, could help the Steelers inthe same way.
“I can definitely see it,” J.J. said. “I hate to admit it — and I’ll still hold it over his head that I have more touchdowns than he does — but he does have the best hands out of the three of us. That kid can catch anything you throw his way. I wouldn’t put it past him, but he also is a rookie in the NFL and you don’t get those fun types of opportunities when you’re a rookie. Those might comedown the line.”
T.J. isn’t among the most talkative of the Steelers rookies, but this is one subject that he gladly will discuss.
“That’s a fact,” he said. “That, I can admit. It’s just kind of something that’s known in the family. We all played offense at one point. If there’s a football in the air I’m going to catch it every time.”
That subject and many more will come up Sunday evening at J.J.’s suburban Houston home. With the Watt brothers playing in college or the NFL since 2007, the family hasn’t been able to celebrate Christmas together very often.
John and Connie Watt will be in Houston Monday for the game. Once the Steelers charter arrives in Houston, T.J. will head over to J.J.’s house, where they’ll watch Derek play on television against the New-York Jets.
“I don’t think I’ve had a family Christmas in five or six years,” T.J. said. “This will be really nice. Just to be with my parents and see J.J. for the first time in a while, it’ll be awesome.”