The images were disturbing.
One showed Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt sitting on the Steelers bench during the second quarter of their game in Minnesota on Thursday night. Heyward looked at Watt and pointed at his tablet. Watt took nothing more than a disinterested glance, probably because he was frustrated about being ruled out with another groin injury.
The second image showed Watt watching the second half of the 36-28 loss in sweat clothes. Frustrated doesn't even begin to describe the look on his face.
It has been such a crazy, up-and-down year for Watt, the Steelers' best player.
So much good. A record-setting five-year, $122 million contract on the eve of the opening game after he sat out all of the strenuous work in training camp and the exhibition season. An NFL-best 16 sacks with a chance to break Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22 1/2 , set in 2001. Talk of being not just the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, but the MVP.
And, unfortunately for Watt, plenty of bad. A groin injury followed by knee and hip injuries followed by COVID-19 followed by the latest groin injury. A dreary 6-6-1 record for the Steelers in significant part because he missed two games and large parts of three others.
It's enough to make you wonder what could have been with Watt, if his season could have gone from splendid to out of this world.
Watt's injury Thursday night hurt him and the Steelers in a big way.
It almost certainly cost Watt any chance of that MVP award — not that him winning was likely, anyway. That is a quarterback-running back award. The incomparable Lawrence Taylor (1986) was the only defensive player to win it in the past 50 years. The injury also damaged Watt's chances of that sack record. There is no guarantee he will play in the Steelers' next game against the Tennessee Titans next Sunday.
The loss probably cost the Steelers any realistic chance of making the playoffs. Their defense was playing horribly even before Watt got hurt; Vikings running back Dalvin Cook rushed for 117 yards and a 29-yard touchdown on his team's first four possessions. But there was little chance for the defense to become functional without Watt. Cook finished with 205 rushing yards and another touchdown and also converted an important third down with a 17-yard catch.
Watt played just 25 of the 70 defensive snaps.
The loss added to the Steelers' season-long trend:
When Watt plays and is healthy, the team usually wins. When he doesn't play or is less than 100 percent, it usually loses.
Think back to some of the Steelers' better wins:
Watt had two sacks and a forced fumble at Buffalo. He had two sacks in overtime against Seattle, the second forcing a fumble by quarterback Geno Smith that set up Chris Boswell's winning field goal. He had 1 1/2 sacks, three quarterback hits and a fumble recovery at Cleveland. He had three sacks, three quarterback hits and three tackles for losses against Chicago. And he had that surreal game against Baltimore after missing practice all week with COVID. He had 3 1/2 sacks, six quarterback hits and a forced fumble, forced quarterback Lamar Jackson's interception early and forced an errant throw by Jackson on what would have been a winning two-point conversion for the Ravens.
It's not nearly as much fun to think about the games Watt missed or left early:
Watt played just 16 snaps in the loss to Las Vegas because of his first groin injury. He was out of the next game — a loss at Cincinnati — when Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow wasn't touched, ending the Steelers' record streak of 75 games with a sack. He left late in the third quarter of the tie with Detroit with his knee and hip injury after Joe Schobert rolled up his leg as Watt was sacking quarterback Jared Goff. And he missed the game at Los Angeles when the Chargers ran for 159 yards, including 90 by quarterback Justin Herbert.
It's fair to think this season wasn't what Watt had in mind, even though he must love pay days.
"I love football with all my heart," he said last week. "I am the luckiest man in the world to do this for a living. I am putting everything I possibly can to become the best player that I can possibly be, not only for myself but my teammates and the city of Pittsburgh and all those people who would kill to be in this position. I don't feel that I lost sight of that. I am truly so lucky to do this and that's why I put so much into this and that's why so much passion comes out on game day. It is so authentic and real. Nothing is fake. I love doing what I do."
Who doesn't love watching Watt do his thing?
It's just a crying shame we've been short-changed because of Watt's injuries and illness.
