T.J. Watt is going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, and probably five years after his final NFL game. That’s not an argument anymore.
No defensive player in the NFL means more to his team. When the Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in a difficult spot Monday night against the New York Giants, nearing the end of an ugly performance, Watt made the play to get them a win. It’s hard to depend on an edge rusher to make a game-winning play time and time again, but Watt has done it his whole career.
Watt had a strip sack of Daniel Jones with 2:59 left and the Giants deep in Steelers territory, needing a touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie the game. That was the big play of the night, and an interception with 34 seconds left and the Giants in Steelers territory sealed it. The Steelers won 26-18, escaping a game against a bad Giants team in which the offense wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard. Pittsburgh is a surprising 6-2 this season, while the Giants are a predictable 2-6.
Most division leaders are atop the standings with a star quarterback leading the way, whether it’s the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen, the Washington Commanders with Jayden Daniels or the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. The Steelers don’t have that type of quarterback, but they keep winning. A big reason is they have Watt to make plays like he did Monday night.
An ugly 1st half
For an indication of how the first half went, the biggest talking point was the touchdowns that didn’t count.
The Steelers had a George Pickens touchdown called back due to a face mask penalty on tackle Broderick Jones. Then the Giants seemed to have a touchdown to tight end Chris Manhertz, but there was an illegal shift on Malik Nabers. ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk explained that it was technically the correct call, but it seemed like the type of infraction that is rarely flagged.
In the second quarter, Pickens caught what looked like another touchdown. The NFL looked at the replay and saw that Pickens never got his second foot down. It was incomplete and the Steelers settled for their third field goal of the night and a 9-6 lead.
The game was 9-9 at halftime. New York fans might have turned on the Yankees game before then. Then the Knicks game. Then they probably went to bed.
Steelers break through
Finally, there was something to break the boredom. Calvin Austin III took a punt outside of the right hashmark, came all the way back to the left sideline and nobody on the Giants took the right angle to catch him. He returned it 73 yards for a touchdown, the first of the game, and the Steelers led 16-9. Austin followed that up with a 29-yard touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter. It seemed like a 14-point lead would be way too much for the Giants to overcome.
But the Giants finally got a spark. Tyrone Tracy burst through for a 45-yard touchdown, the first time the Giants had anything to be excited about on offense for a few weeks. That cut the Steelers’ lead to 23-15. Then the Giants followed that up with an embarrassing 2-point conversion where they lined up their linemen wide and nobody reacted on the snap, allowing the Steelers to easily break up a quick pass.
The Steelers couldn’t quite put the Giants away. A long pass to Pickens got the Steelers in the red zone but they settled for yet another field goal. The Giants got a field goal back and then with 4:30 left, the door swung open for them to win the game, with Pittsburgh leading by eight. Wilson tried to scramble and when he was running, he got hit and lost a fumble. The Giants had the ball on Pittsburgh’s 37-yard line. They were driving when Watt, inexplicably, wasn’t double-teamed. He beat the right tackle, hit Jones and caused a fumble that was recovered by Pittsburgh. It was Watt’s second sack of the game, and he has 6.5 on the season. He has one NFL Defensive Player of the Year award and he might be in line for another this season.
The Giants got a stop and one more shot at tying the game, but they had the ball on their own 7-yard line with no timeouts. Jones rallied the Giants downfield but a high throw was picked off and the Steelers had the win.
The Steelers aren’t pretty, but they’re winning. At 6-2, they lead the AFC North and while the offense still has work to do, it has been solid with Wilson at quarterback. And if all else fails, Watt usually makes the exact play the Steelers need at just the right time.
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