Plays of the Year: T.J. Watt single-handedly puts the Steelers in the lead

Steel City Underground presents “Plays of the Year” featuring the top runs, catches, hits and everything else in-between from the Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 season.

In what can be deemed the final highlight of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 season, should be an exclamation point on T.J. Watt’s campaign to become NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

A 14.5-point underdog heading into Sunday night’s Wild Card playoff game, the Pittsburgh Steelers somehow remained knotted at 0-0 with the favored Kansas City Chiefs as the game ventured into the second quarter.

The Steelers offense had been atrocious, punting on their first four possessions of the first quarter. They would receive the ball again to start the second quarter, but punt for their fifth-straight time following their longest drive of the game thus far: six plays totaling 20 yards.

Kansas City took possession back, as their first play from scrimmage saw T.J. Watt viciously held while attempting to make a tackle on Chiefs RB Derrick Gore, but would instead see a flag thrown on himself for a facemask.

Watt took exception to this and on the very next play, would rattle Andy Reid’s offense which was up to their gimmicks again. WR Mecole Hardman stepped into the backfield to take a direct “wildcat” formation snap, handing off to RB Darrel Williams – who then bobbled the exchange.

As Williams tried to recover, he was met by several Steelers, including Cameron Heyward, who would punch the ball free again.

Watt was there to make the most of the opportunity, scooping up the loose football and traveling 26 yards into the endzone, complete with a sliding finish, to put Pittsburgh on the board first.

Watt, who tied Michael Strahan’s NFL regular season record of 22.5 sacks, continued to show how he could single-handedly change the course of a game. While this scoop and score would be his only defensive touchdown of his career, it was far from his only impact play – even within the same game.

Earlier Watt deflected a Patrick Mahomes pass that would be intercepted by Devin Bush too.

Unfortunately, this play didn’t spark the Steelers as much as it did the Chiefs, who came alive and started to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s inability to move the football on offense. The Steelers would punt seven times and take a knee to finish their first half’s eight possessions, while the Chiefs sailed to six-straight touchdown drives following this fumble.

In what was Ben Roethlisberger’s final game of his career, the Steelers would fall to the Chiefs by a final score of 42-21 and exit the playoffs as the AFC’s seventh seed.