Steel City Underground will pick an exceptional play of the game as a highlight each week of the Steelers 2022 regular season. Stay tuned as we hand-select the very best from the Black and Gold!

Is there anything the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers, can’t do when he’s healthy?

The answer is, yes, but in Week 11 of the 2022 NFL regular season against the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium, Watt made an incredible play that surprised nearly everyone, including Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

With the score tight at 24-20 and 5:27 left in the third quarter, Cincinnati ahead, the Bengals offense lined up with Burrow in the shotgun formation on 1st-and-10 at their own 23-yard line. On the snap, the Steelers pressured from the quarterback’s right. Burrow turned to hit Tyler Boyd on a crossing route, getting the ball out quick to beat the blitz. Suddenly, the ball just wasn’t visible.

Insanely, Watt, who’d been in on the pressure, timed things perfectly to grab the ball almost immediately after it was thrown.

Watt wasn’t even squared up when he initially touched the ball and somehow was able to secure it before falling to the turf with the interception that visibly took the wind out of Burrow’s sails.

Despite the insanity, and the brilliant post-INT celebration that had Watt tossing the ball into the air near the sidelines and mimicking shooting it out of the sky with finger pistols with his teammates, the Steelers’ moment of elation didn’t last.

The offense was only able to run three plays deep in enemy territory before they relied on Matthew Wright‘s field goal to get them within one point of their AFC North rivals.

Remarkably, Watt intercepted Burrow in Week 1’s Steelers win in Cincinnati. Watt posted an interception and two passes defensed in both games. While he had 1.0 sacks against Burrow in Week 1, Watt shared a sack on the Bengals QB in Week 11, nearly mirroring his earlier stats.