Abysmal officiating robs T.J. Watt of AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors

The Pittsburgh Steelers sealed a victory over the Falcons on the road in Week 1. Winning is the ultimate goal, but a low-scoring slugfest was only made possible by T.J. Watt.

From start to finish, Watt was easily the best player on the football field for either team and on either side of the ball. The game-wrecker was constantly in the backfield as a disruptive force against Kirk Cousins and Atlanta's offense.

Watt's brilliance in Week 1 resulted in an eye-popping 95.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. The superstar edge rusher was the highest-graded player in the NFL during the opening week -- regardless of position.

Watt seemed like a shoo-in for AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors, but this honor ultimately went to Bills edge rusher, Greg Rousseau.

Rousseau had excellent production in the Bills' Week 1 game against the Cardinals. The budding pass rusher managed a three-sack performance against quarterback Kyler Murray, which included a strip-sack. However, his team still allowed Arizona to score 28 points in Buffalo.

Had the refs not taken away Watt's unmatched production in Week 1, the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award would be his.

Refs stole elite production from T.J. Watt in Week 1

If you check the box score without context, you'll see that T.J. Watt had a respectable stat line of four tackles, one sack, two tackles for a loss, one fumble recovery, and three quarterback hits. But this hardly tells the whole story.

Watt had two strip sacks called back in this contest. One of them had nothing to do with the play (Donte Jackson was called for illegal hands to the face) and the other was a botched call by the officials. Late in the first quarter against the Falcons, Watt timed the snap perfectly, toasted right tackle Kaleb McGary around the edge, and stripped the ball away from Cousins.

Not only would this play have added to Watt's statistical production, but it also would have saved a touchdown before the half.

If Watt's two best plays in this contest would have counted, we would have been looking at a miraculous stat line of six tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, four tackles for a loss, and five quarterback hits.

These numbers would have topped Greg Rousseau's stat line that earned him Defensive Player of the Week honors in Week 1 while also being the focal point of a team that allowed what would have been just three points to Cousins and the Falcons.

T.J. Watt isn't done earning Defensive Player of the Week honors, and he'll have plenty of opportunities coming his way. But for a player chasing history, it's hard not to believe the refs ruined Watt's chance at adding even more personal recognition to his Hall of Fame resume.