PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – All year the team has praised his work on the field, in practice, in the film room and Thursday gave him the ultimate praise voting TJ Watt the Steelers MVP.
"It's a special honor," Watt said. "Truly special because it's voted on by the guys in the locker room. The guys that see the work each and every day. Very grateful for it."
He is the only player to be voted MVP three consecutive years and only Antonio Brown, with four, has won it more times. Watt is the only defensive player to win it three times. The award goes back to 1969 when Roy Jefferson earned the first honor.
In order to be that good, it takes countless hours of work and dedication. That means an understanding group of family and friends.
"I only get one chance at this," Watt said unapologetically. "You only get to play for so long. It's definitely very time consuming, but it would be different if I didn't love to do it."
"It has consumed a lot of my life and I'm completely ok with that. People around me truly push me and understand my obsession with this game and wanting to be the best. It makes it a lot easier for me to want to do it. It helps to have a good support system."
Defensive captain Cam Heyward told us how fanatic Watt is at studying film. Not just studying it, but searching for every detail, any advantage. As Watt puts it 'study film with a purpose'.
"Just being a fan of the game and loving football and finding any way to get an edge," Watt said of his time watching game film. "That's the most important thing at this level, every single guy is watching film. Every single guy is practicing hard and thinks they are training the hardest."
"There really can only be one person that is watching film the best, most efficient way possible."
In studying the film, he's seen a number of different defenses. He's noticed all kinds of ways teams have tried to block him. Watt said he is constantly working on plans to attack certain schemes. He's not just doing that alone but with his coaches and other players.
"Moving in, moving out, trying to figure where the quarterback is," Watt explained. "I have such great teammates that are able to help me in those situations. Whether it's a D-lineman who is trying to pick with me or running a certain stunt. The guys in the back end making the quarterback hold onto it for just a second so I can get a hustle sack. It's a really fun group to play with."
It's led to Watt being one sack shy of the NFL record with the final game Sunday in Baltimore. He's done that missing two games and significant time in others due to groin, knee and hip injuries. Those are just the ones the team has reported.
"I haven't really felt that way for a long time, of being 100% healthy going into a game," Watt said. "At this point of the year, nobody is 100% healthy. It's just trying to get as close to it as I can and perform the best that I can on game day. It's definitely been frustrating at times, but been able to overcome the majority of them to a certain extent."
Imagine his numbers if he had been healthy all year.
