Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt joined Sports Illustrated to discuss the longevity of Mike Tomlin, why Kenny Pickett is underrated, and J.J. Watt's investment in Burnley Football Club.
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00:00 I'm Robin Lumber joined now by Pittsburgh Steelers star
00:02 defender TJ Watt, who's here with us on behalf of Stickers
00:06 as they'll be dropping items in their Luck Shop
00:08 as part of the Rookie Mistake program.
00:10 Not a rookie mistake from your coach over the weekend,
00:13 though, TJ.
00:14 Tomlin, Coach Tomlin had you switch sides
00:16 a bit during the game.
00:18 He's never had a losing season in his career.
00:21 How does he keep things fresh?
00:23 What is it about him that lets him have so much success?
00:26 He's very even keeled.
00:29 It doesn't matter if we're on a win streak or a lose streak,
00:31 you're going to get the same guy week in and week out.
00:34 And I've been with him for seven years now.
00:36 And I've always appreciated him for that.
00:38 And not panicking when things are in rough shape.
00:42 And we've started seasons where we've had, I think,
00:45 one and three starts before, or two and four starts before.
00:48 And it's nice to have it flipped around this year
00:50 and before, too.
00:51 But we are nowhere near satisfied.
00:53 And Coach T at the helm always leads to good things happening.
00:58 So I appreciate him.
01:00 And I love playing for him.
01:02 Speaking of that record, I don't really
01:03 hear the Steelers mentioned in the contenders' conversations
01:07 as of yet.
01:08 Do you think people are sleeping on the Steelers?
01:10 I don't know.
01:11 And I don't really care, honestly.
01:12 At the end of the season, all that stuff
01:14 takes care of itself.
01:15 It's still so early in the process
01:17 that if we just take care of our business,
01:19 it won't matter what people are saying.
01:21 Now, you've been taking care of your business.
01:24 But there are a lot of great defensive players in the league
01:27 today.
01:27 Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, Miles Garrett.
01:30 Do you consider yourself the best defensive player
01:32 in the league?
01:33 Oh, I don't know.
01:34 That's another thing where it's not for me to say.
01:37 Truly, I could care less what that conversation looks like.
01:41 I'm just trying to be the best player I can be for my team,
01:43 the best teammate I can possibly be.
01:45 And at the end of the day, I'm just
01:46 trying to help win football games for my team.
01:50 Who's a better duo, a football duo, JJ and TJ Watt,
01:53 or Travis and Jason Kelsey?
01:57 I don't know.
01:58 Like I said, I'm too involved in what I'm doing here
02:01 to really get involved in everything that's
02:04 going on with the media and everything
02:05 outside of the Steelers facility.
02:07 I'm too busy.
02:08 All right, well, what about going up
02:10 against your brother in football,
02:12 the other kind of football?
02:13 He invested in Burnley.
02:14 Do you think you'll ever invest in the Blackburn Rovers,
02:17 start a little sibling rivalry?
02:19 I don't know, maybe one day.
02:21 But not at the moment.
02:22 I'll let him have it.
02:24 I enjoy having a team to root for in Burnley.
02:27 And I know JJ's having a fun time with his investment.
02:30 And I'm just happy that he's finding something
02:33 to do after retirement that keeps him busy.
02:35 How about Kenny Pickett?
02:36 How do you see him progressing under center for the team?
02:39 Where is he in his growth?
02:41 Yeah, I mean, I think he's continuing
02:43 to grow each and every week.
02:45 He's doing a good job of blocking out the outside noise.
02:49 I know there's a lot of people that aren't necessarily Kenny
02:53 Pickett believers at the moment.
02:55 But I feel like all he does is continue
02:56 to prove people wrong.
02:58 And none of us inside that building are surprised at all.
03:00 We see the work that Kenny puts in.
03:02 We see the passion that he has for the game.
03:04 And he has a lot of moxie.
03:06 He's had moxie since he's come in.
03:09 It's hard to play that position.
03:10 It's the hardest position on the field.
03:12 And it's a reason why there's some guys that
03:14 don't have as much success as the other people.
03:16 And I think Kenny's continuing to grow each and every week.
03:19 And he has that clutch gene.
03:20 I mean, you look back at this past game,
03:22 to be able to drive down the field
03:24 and close out a game for us in big time moment is huge.
03:26 And I think that Kenny's only going
03:28 to continue to get better as he's in this system
03:31 and as he gains confidence.
03:32 Well, as you get past the rookie mistakes,
03:35 hopefully you start benefiting from the skills and the luck.
03:37 Tell us about what you're doing with Snickers.
03:40 Yeah, so I'm partnering with Snickers and the Snickers
03:42 Luck Shop.
03:43 I mean, each and every week, there's
03:45 fans out there that have that lucky item that they have
03:47 to have with them, whether it's like my grandpa had
03:50 the Lucky Suspenders every time the Packers were playing
03:52 growing up.
03:53 If he didn't have his suspenders on,
03:54 they weren't going to win the game.
03:55 So the Snickers Luck Shop is a way
03:58 for you to have that lucky item available to you
04:01 if you don't have a lucky item to wear each and every Sunday.
04:04 Or if you have that lucky item that isn't necessarily
04:07 bringing your team luck, you can go to the SnickersLuckShop.com.
04:10 And for only $7.77, you're not going to break the bank.
04:14 You can buy one item or multiple items,
04:16 whether it's a piece of turf from your team's home stadium
04:19 or it's a team-issued sweatshirt.
04:21 Just having an item to be able to bring your team
04:23 luck on Sundays is a good way to have Snickers
04:27 welcome in the NFL family.
04:29 TJ, appreciate the time.
04:30 Good luck the rest of the season.
04:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]