For Coach Mike Tomlin, it all came into focus the first time he met T.J. Watt.
"It goes back to when we were having dinner in Madison, Wisconsin, the night before his Pro Day, to be honest with you. His spirit was evident. He was annoyed by the meal. He wasn't interested in doing a whole bunch of chit-chat. He wanted to talk football. He wanted to hear about guys like James Harrison and their rush moves. Just the nature of the conversation, his lack of patience for chit-chat and get-to-know was really kind of a telling evening, but an exciting one. I go to those meals with a lot of young people, and they oftentimes are running for office. They want to impress you. But this guy was so hyper-focused on what was going to transpire the next day and the analysis of his game that I knew he was a little bit different."
The year was 2017, and the Steelers were in the market for a game-wrecker to replace 38-year-old James Harrison and energize their pass rush. They had taken shots with Jarvis Jones and Bud Dupree, but both of them had been hampered by injury and productivity issues after being No. 1 picks, and the upcoming draft was believed to be stocked with guys who could get after the quarterback.
The first overall pick in 2017 was Myles Garrett, and some of the names who came off the board after him included Haason Reddick, Tak McKinley, and Taco Charlton. There even was a good bit of pre-draft buzz attached to Youngstown State's Derek Rivers, but Watt had caught Tomlin's eye and General Manager Kevin Colbert came to agree. T.J. Watt was different from all of them, because he was special.
It's unlikely Tomlin or Colbert actually knew how special, but after the Steelers-Cowboys game on Sunday night there is a statistical barometer that quantifies how special he is.
On the last play of the first quarter – a third-and-6 from the Steelers 11-yard line – T.J. Watt combined with Nick Herbig to sack Dak Prescott, and in typical Watt fashion, he added a cherry on top by forcing a fumble that Herbig recovered at the 20-yard line to take certain points off the scoreboard and keep the game tied, 3-3.
Watt made history with that half-sack, because it gave him an even 100 in his 109th career NFL game, and that made him the second-fastest to reach 100 sacks in NFL history, dating back to 1982, which was when the league first recognized sacks as an official statistic. The only player to get there quicker than Watt was Reggie White, who did it in 96 games. And by the way, Watt added another sack later in the game against the Cowboys to give him 101 for his career.
"When you're one of two men in the sack conversation with the likes of the Minister of Defense (as White is known), I think it says it all," said Tomlin. "T.J.'s not only talented, he's driven. His work ethic and approach to the game, his intellect, all of those things match his talent. And so it's a perfect storm. You have a guy with elite talent relative to the position that he plays. He's strong-willed and hyper-focused, and he's got work ethic to boot. And so it's not a lightning strike. I'm not shocked at all that we're having this conversation.
"I think those guys reveal themselves all the time, continually, at checkpoints, if you will. It doesn't surprise me when T.J. makes a sack on the last play to shut the game down in the opener in Atlanta, for example. It didn't surprise me that in his very first game as an NFL rookie, he had an interception and a sack. I think that these special players, they're continually reminding us that they're special. It's just whether or not we choose to recognize it."
The Steelers recognize it to the point where it's accepted that he's the alpha on a highly-decorated defensive unit.
"It's no question," said Tomlin when asked about Watt's status among his teammates. "When you're talking about Defensive Player of the Year, you know that's a different discussion. He has that hardware, and so although we've got some first-team All-Pros in our group, (being a Defensive Player of the Year) is a very, very elite group. When you're talking about guys who are Defensive Players of the Year, and particularly a guy like him who arguably should have multiple Defensive Player of the Year Awards, I don't think it's a dispute. I don't think it's a touchy subject. Those guys know how special he is, and they love playing with him."
Tomlin already mentioned Watt's inaugural game as a pro when he announced his presence with 2 sacks and an interception in Cleveland vs. the Browns. But there is another example of how Watt is different in a freakishly special way.
Throughout the 2021 offseason, Watt was involved in a contract negotiation with the Steelers, and while he attended every meeting and was on hand for every workout starting with OTAs and lasting through the end of that preseason, he didn't participate in any 11-on-11 drills or play in any of the preseason games as he waiting for his new deal to get finalized.
Pen finally was put to paper on the eve of the regular season opener, and so Watt was in uniform and in the starting lineup when the Steelers traveled to Buffalo to face a Bills team that had been 13-3 and lost the in the AFC Championship Game the previous season. Without having taken a single snap in an 11-on-11 situation through 4 months, Watt had 2 sacks, 5 hits on the quarterback, and 1 forced fumble when the Steelers shocked the Bills, 23-16. As Tomlin remembers it, Watt "was the best player on the field."
To repeat what Tomlin said earlier, "I think that these special players, they're continually reminding us that they're special. It's just whether or not we choose to recognize it."
On Sunday night inside Acrisure Stadium, Watt gave the 67,380 paying customers – the fifth-highest attendance for a Steelers game in the history of that building – another chance to recognize how special he is, because he didn't give a whit about his own individual accomplishment in light of the 20-17 loss to the Cowboys that dropped the team to 3-2 on the season.
"Like I've said all along, especially this year it's not about individual accolades," said Watt during the postgame interrogatories. "It's all about wanting to win. Tonight we didn't do enough to get it done."
The loss, any loss really, and what it means to the team annoys Watt much more than earning a place in NFL history pleases him. This is his 8th NFL season, and he will be 30 years old before the end of this month, and T.J. Watt never has been on the winning side of a playoff game.
"It's been tough not getting there," he said for a story in GAMEDAY Magazine. "It's been very difficult, especially when you are part of such a historic organization like this where they're constantly bringing back Super Bowl champions. When I'm done, I want to come back, and I want them to say T.J. Watt was a Super Bowl champion. That's all that's important to me."
Focused. Driven. And special. Just as he presented himself at that Wisconsin restaurant on the night before his Pro Day.
