One thing about the truly great: They never stop trying to get even greater.
They're not even equipped with an alternate gear.
T.J. Watt's truly great. With immense respect to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Andrew McCutchen and his teammate, Cam Heyward, all still active, all with Hall of Fame candidacies at the very least awaiting them upon retirement, T.J.'s the greatest our city's got right this second. He's still in his prime at age 28, he's two years removed from being the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, and his peak performance rivals that of his peers at any position on any team on either side of the ball.
Need I remind ...
All three of those were from the Steelers' 2022 opener in Cincinnati. A pick. A pass defensed. A tackle for a loss. And not pictured were six total solo tackles that included a sack and three TFLs.
Tell me, please, which other player in this grand game can have such an outsized influence on an outcome. And don't dare come within a solar system of mentioning Myles Garrett when making up that list.
There's only one of this guy, and Pittsburgh's beyond blessed to have him, both now and for the foreseeable future.
Upon the Steelers concluding the second week of OTAs on this searing Thursday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, upon seeing him stride off the field with his helmet under his right biceps, with a broad smile greeting everyone he passed, I followed him to his stall to get a fresh one-on-one gauge on all that greatness. And my goodness, I wasn't disappointed on any front.
I asked T.J. about being T.J. About being great. About being even greater. About whether or not the optimal bar for 2023 would be to simply be the best version we'd already seen. Because he, again, like the truly great, can take a line of questioning like that as it's intended rather than have it swell his head.
"No way, man," he'd respond. "I'm trying to get as good as humanly possible every single season. You never want to regress. You never want to take a step back. It's like my brother says: 'You have to find ways to evolve as you get older.' "
Referencing J.J., naturally. And from there, referencing the one subject I'm sure is on everyone's minds when it comes to T.J.
"There's different ways to evolve. You learn more. You apply more. But you also prepare yourself differently. It's not necessarily that you're not as limber. It's not that you aren't as strong as you once were. It's just a matter of 'How do I maintain this as long as possible?' 'How do I continue to be a great player?' Just be the best possible player I can be."
He paused slightly.
"And just be available."
Availability.
"Of course."
Of course.
"Obviously, some fluky things happened. The pec ..."
The Grade 3 chest pectoral muscle tear in that same game in Cincinnati. The one that required a nine-week recovery, during which he additionally had knee surgery. And after which, even upon resumption, he'd crack a rib that kept him from breathing right on the field, from sleeping right off the field.
That was his DPOY sequel. One mess after another. Kept his chin up throughout. Undoubtedly returned way sooner than most mortals would've. Undoubtedly was deeply affected by all of it.
But he did contribute his share to the 7-2 finish, and he clearly did so without regrets. About any of it, including the injury itself.
"I couldn't have done anything differently with the pec. It still would've happened. That's just a fluke thing. So looking forward, it's just a matter of continuing to grow and learn and try to use my experiences on and off the field to continue to be a better teammate, a better football player, and a better leader for this team."
To that end, he's "beyond 100 percent" at the moment, as he'd assure me and, more important, as is plenty evident in his work -- heck, even just his participating -- in these OTAs. Mike Tomlin wouldn't care in the slightest if he weren't here.
I had to ask about that, as well.
"I'm here because I love the game, I love my team, and I think we're going to have a hell of a group this year," he'd reply, referring to the defense. "But the one thing we've got to do is come together, you know? There are a lot of new faces."
Sure are. More than half the starters could be new, if presuming such roles for Joey Porter Jr., Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb, Patrick Peterson, Damontae Kazee and one of the various defensive linemen. There'll also be a new rotational edge rusher joining T.J. and Alex Highsmith in veteran Markus Golden.
"That's why I'm so glad to see the attendance we've gotten," T.J. continued. "This is how it starts. This is how we get to know each other, trust each other. This is the beginning."
He spoke of his own prep in a similar spirit. He's found a way to tone it down even as he ramps it up, and he hopes that'll result in his foundational goal for 2023 that's as simple as can be: Play all 17.
Make predictions like these moot:
SPORTS INJURY PREDICTOR
"When you're younger," he'd elaborate, "you can go in and hang-clean 400 pounds in February, whereas now it doesn't really make sense to do something like that. There's no point in going -- for lack of a better term -- balls to the wall early in the offseason. It's a ramp-up period. It's working on mobility, on flexibility, ankles, knees, hips ... as opposed to just throwing on certain amounts of weights. The goal's to be available, to be peaking at the right time."
So being greater than before could be that basis?
"I need to give myself the best chance to be out there. I believe in the rest. That's why I feel so good right now. I'm telling you. I really do."
I'm not in the business of doubting these types.
