4 takeaways from Steelers disheartening loss vs Chargers

T.J. Watt makes a case for DPOY without even playing

T.J. Watt seemed to be making an excellent case for Defensive Player of the Year without suiting up for a single snap on Sunday Night Football. Dealing with both a hip and knee injury, Watt was unable to practice all week and was ruled out of this Week 11 contest vs Chargers.

With the All-Pro edge defender on the field, the Steelers have not surrendered a 30-point game since Week 1 of the 2019 season, and they’ve had one of the top-ranked defenses in each year since entering the league in 2017. However, it was clear to see just how important Watt was to Pittsburgh’s defensive gameplan as the team couldn’t do a thing right without him in this one.

While the Steelers still could have struggled at times with Watt on the field, you can’t convince me that he doesn’t make the difference in this game. Watt’s ability to get constant pressure and land a few early hits on the quarterback would have taken some of the confidence out of Justin Herbert in this one.

Watt not being able to suit up proved to be a massive blow to this defense, but it goes to show just how much he means to this team. He legitimately might be the most important defender to his team in all of football.

Losing the way the Steelers did is never easy to stomach, but at least there were a few positives to take away from this game. If Pittsburgh can get healthy soon, there’s reason enough to believe that this team could potentially make a playoff run — especially with the offense coming off its best performance of the year.