{"id":92935,"date":"2025-09-14T15:07:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T15:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=92935"},"modified":"2025-09-14T15:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T15:07:18","slug":"thats-what-fuels-me-now-t-j-watt-focused-on-playoff-success-not-sack-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=92935","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;That&#8217;s What Fuels Me Now&#8217;: T.J. Watt Focused On Playoff Success, Not Sack Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ybmedia\/image\/upload\/c_crop,e_improve,h_1123,w_2000,x_0,y_126\/c_fill,f_auto,h_1215,q_auto,w_2160\/v1\/m\/c\/a\/ca0874a5dcec9e927bd67ca1dabe6af46d5c8c7c\/aug-9-2025-jacksonville-florida-usa-pittsburgh.jpg\" alt=\"I Don't Want to Just Blow Money': $123M LB T.J. Watt Recalls When He Got  Stuck in a Seat Flying Economy After Sacking Lamar Jackson Twice |  Yardbarker\" \/><\/p>\n<p>T.J. Watt has twice been made the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, and has won the sack crown three times with a Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2021. He has accomplished just about everything he possibly can at an individual level. But that\u2019s not what drives him, at least not anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talked to Watt about his sack drought, whether he still chases Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett. He said at one point I wanted to be known as the best pass rusher in the league. Now I think about getting deep in the playoffs,\u201d Watt said according to Cameron Wolfe on NFL GameDay Morning. \u201cI walk past those six Super Bowl trophies every single day and it eats at me that I have not done it yet. He said, \u2018It fuels me. It drives me. My family needs it. I need it. That\u2019s what fuels me now.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">TJ Watt told me they had an \u201cawful\u201d defensive film watch this week. It wasn\u2019t Steelers ball. He was vocal with team.<\/p>\n<p>Watt told me he feels different urgency now to claim the only thing he doesn\u2019t have, what eats at him &#8211; a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nflnetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nflnetwork<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLGameDay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NFLGameDay<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CfJV99DWbG\">pic.twitter.com\/CfJV99DWbG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CameronWolfe\/status\/1967219630415732765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Of course sacks and team success often go hand-in-hand, but there is such a thing as doing\u00a0<em>too much\u00a0<\/em>as an individual. Several Pittsburgh Steelers defenders pointed to the need for everybody to stick to their assignments after a rough Week 1 outing.<\/p>\n<p>Part of being T.J. Watt is getting double teams or chipped by tight ends and running backs on nearly every play. And the New York Jets very obviously made a concerted effort to run away from Watt all last week. Instead of chasing plays to make sure he gets the sack crown and individual accolades, Watt would rather stick to his assignment and make plays when they are available to him. Selling out for a stat can put the whole defense in a bad position.<\/p>\n<p>Watt very clearly felt snubbed in 2023 when Myles Garrett won Defensive Player of the Year over him. But it sounds like he\u2019s done caring about individual rewards for the final portion of his career. He has nothing left to prove other than team achievements. It would be a shame to have a Hall of Fame career without a single playoff win to his name.<\/p>\n<p>It also struck me that he said \u201cmy family needs it.\u201d The Watt family had three sons in the NFL, and just four playoff wins between them. J.J. Watt is another future Hall of Famer that never came close to bringing home the ultimate prize in the Super Bowl. T.J. Watt is the last chance for their great family to be immortalized in Super Bowl history, and it sounds like he is all-in on trying to make that happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>T.J. Watt isn&#8217;t focused on individual success any longer and now has a singular focus on team goals including a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;That&#039;s What Fuels Me Now&#039;: T.J. 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