After the Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Washington Football Team for their first loss of the season, there was plenty of blame to go around. The coaching was questionable, the play calling needed to be much better, receivers couldn’t catch the ball, and the list goes on. Star outside linebacker TJ Watt shouldn’t go unblamed. It might sound odd to blame the Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner who had six tackles, four quarterback hits, two tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble in the game. But Watt made two very crucial mistakes that can’t go unnoticed.
TJ Watt Deserves Blame for Loss to Washington
Pivotal Defensive Holding Penalty
The first of T.J. Watt’s two crucial mistakes came on Washington’s first drive of the second half. After two big plays, Washington had the ball first and goal at the Steelers one yard line. After three stops, it was fourth and goal and, down 11 points, of course Washington was going for the end zone. They ran a play in which their running back chipped TJ Watt with the plan of breaking off into the flat. Alex Smith was rolling right, with the intention of dumping it off to the running back. Pittsburgh had the play covered perfectly, Terrell Edmunds was in great position to blanket the running back, leaving Smith with no receiving options.
It wouldn’t matter, though. After being chipped by the running back, Watt grabbed ahold for the ride. An obvious penalty gave Washington a new set of downs. They would punch it in on the next play. It was a huge turning point in the game. After a long drive, the Steelers could have gotten off the field with an 11 point lead. Instead, their lead was cut to four in a game they would go on to lose.
Failure to Recover Fumble
Watt’s other crucial mistake of the game came later in the third quarter. He made a great play and stripped J.D. McKissic of the ball; surprisingly, it was Watt’s first forced fumble of the season. Instead of just falling on the ball, allowing the Steelers to take over on the brink of field goal range, Watt tried for the scoop and score. He failed, and didn’t recover the ball at all. Below is a video of the recovery attempt.
Great strip by TJ Watt, but high school coaches everywhere are losing their minds over this botched scoop-and-score attempt pic.twitter.com/i82m86gsNK
— Pick Six Podcast (@picksixpod) December 8, 2020
We thought it was no harm, no foul. Washington punted the ball to Pittsburgh. Three plays later, the Steelers punted back, and Washington took over close to midfield. They scored eight plays later to tie the game at 17. So, Watt’s failure to recover the fumble might have cost the Steelers points, either three or seven. Further, it resulted in a major field position swing, which allowed Washington to tie the game. It makes sense; TJ Watt is a playmaker and he was trying to make a huge play. But the much safer play would have been to recover the ball in that situation and allow the offense to take over with a good chance at points.
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