An ugly night for the Steelers has gotten even worse. The Steelers are trailing the Vikings by a significant margin on Thursday Night Football, and the team will have to finish the game without their best player. The team announced that linebacker T.J. Watt has been ruled out for the game with a groin injury. Watt was previously labeled with a questionable tag after exiting the game in the second quarter.
Watt had a tackle and a QB hit before exiting tonight’s contest. In his 10 previous games this season, the 27-year-old had collected a league-leading 16 sacks and 16 tackles for loss. Watt also has 47 total tackles, 26 QB hits, and four forced fumbles.
The linebacker previously missed a pair of games this season thanks to separate hip and knee injuries, and he had to exit an additional two games due to injury. He also spent a week out of practice after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Prior to this season, Watt had only missed a pair of regular season games in four seasons.
The Steelers are lacking linebacker depth at the moment, leaving Derrek Tuszka as the only option to replace Watt in the lineup. The former seventh-round pick has seen time in 10 games for Pittsburgh this season, collecting nine tackles. The 25-year-old has seen an uptick in snaps over the past few weeks, averaging 20.75 defensive plays per game between Week 10 and Week 13.
The Watt family injury. How many has JJ had?
With big contracts come big responsibilities
rip Demaryius Thomas 🙁