Wild Turn Of Events Has Rest Of Season For Steelers' TJ Watt In Serious Doubt

The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have had some kind of massive internal error regarding star edge rusher TJ Watt. The strong belief is that a member of the team's medical personnel made a grave mistake that led to the defender needing surgery for a hole in his lung. It was a scary moment and there still has not been enough clarity given to the situation. The team will be without the 2021 AP Defensive Player of the Year in Week 16, but the hope has been that he will return at some point during the regular season. Now, that is in doubt.

As Pittsburgh continues to push towards a playoff berth and AFC North division title, it may have to do so without one of the most reliable pass rushers in all of football. Despite it being reported several times that Watt's ailment is not some kind of life-or-death issue, there has to be more to the story because there is now some uncertainty that he will be making a return.

Top NFL insider, Adam Schefter, shared on Saturday night that not only will Watt be missing Week 16, but he also may not come back to the field at all, adding a whole different layer of intrigue to the predicament.

"After missing two games due to a partially collapsed lung, T.J. Watt’s return to play remains murky and uncertain, per sources," Schefter wrote. "Watt’s focus has been on getting healthy from his partially collapsed lung; returning to play is secondary, and has not been his focus. Doctors will assess how he feels next week to see if there’s even a chance to play in Week 17, but ideally Watt gets more time to recover from his lung injury that resulted in him being ruled out of Sunday’s game vs. Detroit."

The key part to the report is that Watt is looking at a return as secondary. For starters, this would make sense because of the severity of any kind of lung injury, but it also has to add a new element of curiosity to something that already has had fans trying to fill in a lot of blanks. There could be a legitimate chance of the defender not coming back to play in 2025.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin has been extremely cautious when using his words and answering questions about what is going on with one of his team captains. With Watt not speaking at all to the media, it is absolutely possible that there is much more to the story and the team is electing to keep specific details of the occurrences under wraps.

It seems as if there was a clear-cut way of providing a timeline for Watt's return as well as explaining what truly happened then it already would have be discussed in a public setting. That has not happened, and now Schefter is throwing a new spin on something that has been confusing enough. The lack of truly firm information continues to paint the picture that someone is trying to hide something.

Steelers Will Need Watt To Make A Deep Postseason Run

Pittsburgh has work left to do if the goal is to win the AFC North and be victorious in a playoff game. Watt has never had the pleasure of celebrating such a scenario throughout his incredible career. He would be as motivated as ever to perform in mid- and late-January. That is, however, if he is on the field. More news will continue to trickle out, but something simply isn't adding up.

Do you think that the Steelers are hiding something regarding what happened to Watt? Let us know in the comments below!

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