Steelers’ T.J. Watt Wins AFC Defensive Player of the Week

Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Along with Alex Highsmith, both Steelers outside linebackers have won the award for their standout play over the season. Before exiting in the third quarter with a grade 2 MCL Sprain, Watt sacked Tyler Huntley twice to earn the award.

Watt led the NFL with 19 sacks this season, and so it is only a formality that he will earn at least second-team All-Pro. He is closing in on milestones, and continues to shatter records that were previously not reached. Watt is the first time three-time sack king since the stat was recorded and joined his brother, J.J., as the only player with multiple 19-sack seasons in NFL history.

Watt is the lifeblood of the Steelers defense. And now, they will be without him in Buffalo for their Wild Card Round matchup. Nothing will replace Watt, who ended up as the NFL’s sack king for the third time in his career, the only player ever to do that. Watt’s abilities can not be replicated, and when Josh Allen is in the picture, things are all the more difficult for the Steelers moving forward into this game. But they will try, and they have capable players to give them a chance.