The Baltimore Ravens had a chance to pull it off but T.J. Watt stole the show in a Pittsburgh Steelers victory that came down to the wire in Week 13.
After two embarrassing performances in which Keith Butler’s defense surrendered back-to-back 41-point games in ugly losses, the Pittsburgh Steelers dialed things up a notch again the Baltimore Ravens in a must-win Week 13 matchup. Mike Tomlin’s team sat on a 5-5-1 record when the day started and he knew how catastrophic a loss would have been to the Steelers playoff hopes.
Fortunately, his team delivered. While it wasn’t always pretty, Pittsburgh was able to top the Ravens in a 20-19 win that came down to an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt by Baltimore at the end of the game.
Coming off an abysmal performance against the Cincinnati Bengals last week, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger turned things around in a big way with one of his better performances of the season. Against a red-hot Ravens defense, Big Ben completed 21 of 31 passes for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns. His precise accuracy and respectable 7.6 yards per attempt in this contest led to a 111.8 passer rating.
Meanwhile, Diontae Johnson had a terrific game — even with a costly dropped touchdown in the first half. The Steelers number one receiver caught 8 of 11 targets for 105 yards and two touchdowns. His impressive route on his final touchdown score helped seal the win for Pittsburgh.
Defensively, Pittsburgh played very well as a unit, and Butler got some big performances out of players like Chris Wormley, Cameron Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. However, no player was bigger in this win than Steelers two-time All-Pro edge defender, T.J. Watt.
Watt earns my MVP in Steelers win
T.J. Watt has had some terrible luck this season with nagging injuries and landing on the COVID list. However, it’s really easy to tell when he is playing at full strength, and needless to say, he was exactly that against the Ravens in Week 13.
I once again found myself fixing my eyes on Watt, play after play, as his utter dominance was something to marvel at. Whether it was throwing an offensive lineman out of his path to make a play against the run or relentlessly harassing Lamar Jackson in the backfield, Watt was unbelievable in this contest.
In fact, this might have been one of the single best performances I have ever witnessed from a Steelers edge rusher. Though I’ll have to go back and re-examine the film, Watt was nearly perfect in live-time and he always seemed to be making plays around the ball. He finished the game with a stat line of 6 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, and a whopping 6 quarterback hits, via ESPN.
Collectively, Watt has missed over three combined games on the season due to injuries that have either held him out of contests or caused him to leave early. Regardless, he’s still found a way to be one of the most productive defenders in the NFL this year and will be climbing back into the DPOY discussion after this stellar performance.
The Steelers can certainly be thankful for another win that keeps their playoff hopes alive and well. While the road ahead won’t be easy, having a healthy T.J. Watt clearly makes all the difference in the world.