T.J. Watt focused on hard work, trust and not letting his teammates down

PITTSBURGH — For T.J. Watt it's all about hard work, trust and not letting his teammates down.

“Early on you just don’t want to make a mistake,” Watt said after Wednesday’s OTA’s on the Southside. “Then you get into year two and then you can take more chances and then year three you want to take a lot more chances and make more splash plays. But you also have to know what you’re jeopardizing when you take those chances, so it’s a calculated risk.”

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Watt had a team-high 13 sacks in 2018, which was 8th best in the entire NFL. Plus, he made the first Pro Bowl of his brief two-year career, but as he enters year three, he knows he no longer flies under the radar. He believes he has to be a presence, both on and off the field for a Steelers defense that is desperately trying to improve.

“You just want to keep trending upward and you never want to stay the same,” Watt said. “You definitely don’t want to get worse so I want to keep getting better. That’s what’s making me hungry. I watch a lot of film from last year and seeing how many more plays I could’ve made.”

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Some believe the linebacking core is a weakness for the Steelers, but not the 24-year-old Wisconsin native. He likes where they’re at right now and simply points to all the plays they’re making on a daily basis during OTA’s.

“We have to bring the excitement, bring the juice and bring the swag,” Watt said. “Because if you make a play in the NFL, it’s very hard to do so why not celebrate it? I think that stuff is contagious.”

11-year veteran Ramon Foster agrees and sees growth, not only in Watt, but the Steelers defense as a whole. He says they’re young and hungry, but have “finally figured it out.”

We’ll find out soon enough.

Cox Media Group