Steelers 20, Chargers 10
TJ WATT: I'm not surprised by the performance. He went out there and played with a lot of swag and confidence.
Q. TJ, I was in Atlanta, I said, a couple of my colleagues said, what do you fear about T.J. Watt the most? He said, he may not be the greatest guy, but he always makes plays when they need them. I was thinking today, is that a weight on you sometimes, that people expect you to kind of rescue the defense when it's needed?
TJ WATT: No, no, and I mean, it's just going out and playing football and trusting it all in my film study and my instincts and my abilities to prepare throughout the week and get my body right to go out and prepare and make plays for my defense.
We have so many guys on this defense that are capable of making plays, taking games over, and I'm just trying to be a small part of it.
Q. Their style of play on offense and the challenges that it presents, how do you feel you responded to that as a defense?
TJ WATT: Good. Obviously stopping the run, I don't have the stats up here, but it didn't seem like they ran for a lot. We were able to shut them down in the second half. Obviously the backup quarterback went in, and when it gets to one-dimensional spots, we have so much depth on this defense on the back end and up front that we feel very confident with our pass rush and the guys in the back end to make some big plays when we need it.
Q. You mentioned having fun out there. You held them to zero yards in the second half. How much pride do you take in that?
TJ WATT: Huge. This week was two trains on the track, two top defenses coming in. We know they love to run the ball, we love stopping the run. Haven't looked at the film yet, but it seems like we out-performed today, but that's a hell of a football team, and it means nothing if we don't get back in the lab and learn from all this and keep going.
Q. To Nick, a fourth-round pick, probably overlooked because of his size. Why is he able to have success in spite of his stature?
TJ WATT: That kid has supreme confidence in himself. You can't tell him anything. I respect the heck out of it. He's going to do everything that he possibly can to perform. He's going to ask every question. He's going to turn over every stone and just bust his tail.
I respect the heck out of Nick, and I'm glad that he had the day that he did today.
Q. How much have you seen him grow since last year to this year?
TJ WATT: A lot. Even him, Keanu, just those second-year players. Joey, you see the jump because you're so much more comfortable out there. You're not just out there saying, I have the curl flat this drop. It's, okay, I know what I have, I can hear, I can use all of my senses and diagnose what I think is potentially happening on this play, and that's why I think you see that jump from those guys from year one to year two.
But with that being said, it's because they want to learn, and he's capable of doing it, and he's able to apply what he learns to the game field, which is huge.
I'm sick of talking about Herb. Let's stop this now.
Q. Coach made a point about you guys proving that you had the best defense on the field today. Was that a big rallying cry for your group coming in?
TJ WATT: I don't know, we have a confident group. Obviously they knew they were a top defense. We don't do a lot of talking, we just like to go out on the field and play and have fun, and I feel like we did that today.
Q. How does your depth impact what you guys do?
TJ WATT: It's huge, to be able to rotate, to be able to be fresh. There wasn't even that many plays in the first half even -- I think it was the third quarter there wasn't a lot of plays, either.
But when you do have that rotation up front and in the back end, it just -- anybody can make a play on this defense, and everybody is training and preparing like they're the starter, and that's why you see so many guys out there making plays.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports