Former Steelers LB Arthur Moats Exasperated With The NFL's Focus On Money And How It Works Against T.J. Watt

The Pittsburgh Steelers have played six games so far in the 2023 season and are headed into their Week 8 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team as a whole has been playing inconsistent football. The offense cannot seem to get points on the board before the fourth quarter and the secondary defense looks a bit like Swiss cheese. However, there is one player on the Steelers who just might be the best player in the universe this season, T.J. Watt.  

Watt is having a banner year, one that makes him a serious contender for Defensive Player Of The Year (DPOY) for 2023 and possibly even the league MVP. Recently a former Steelers defender, linebacker Arthur Moats, shared his frustration over how the league is handling the attention given, or not, to Watt for his on-field heroics.  

On his podcast, The Arthur Moats Experience, Moats talked about Watt with his co-host Deke. Through the six games the Steelers have played in 2023, Watt has one interception, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, eight sacks, 16 tackles, and a touchdown.

Deke mentioned that the NFL recently posted on their Twitter/X banner "Myles Garrett DPOY" with the eye emojis, which according to him shows they have zero self-respect. They should at least be posting the actual best defender. Moats said he shouldn't expect it to end with the Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett. 

"When they put Micah Parsons just because, they're going to say, 'Well he plays for Dallas, so he sells better than T.J.'" You know that's how they're going to do it. It's Myles, then it's Parsons. That's how they pushing it bro," stated Moats.

They both agreed that Watt was the player who changed the entire tone of the Week 7 game against the Los Angeles Rams when he intercepted quarterback Matthew Stafford. If the season ended today, according to Deke, he would think there was definite sabotage happening at the league level if Watt was not named DPOY. 

At this point, Moats is chuckling, partially at Deke's passion, but also like someone who knows how the system operates. Moats flat-out stated that he doesn't believe it is as simple as straight numbers or stats. 

"There's just a lot of money in this bro. So when you start talking about why they push this guy versus pushing that guy, there's a lot of things that come into play. What's sexier? Having T.J. win multiple ones [DPOYs], but I'm like, I don't know how I feel about this Steelers team or T.J. got one. What if Myles gets one? Now we keep that rivalry hot."

Money is what makes the world go round and according to Moats, it's no different in football. He believes the league will look to promote rivalries for money - like the Steelers and the Cleveland Browns to be able to reap the financial rewards. He said he can see the league looking towards Micah Parsons and maybe Nick Bosa next to try to inflame or create other rivalries. 

"It goes back to why you don't have [Patrick] Mahomes on every single day. We're going to spread it around a little bit - we national! Let me get this guy, let me build him up a little bit, let me build up this guy over here - get you a little feature real quick. They ain't stupid man, they are real smart."

The players have to be somewhat deaf to all of the talk around the league. It serves no real purpose for Watt to be angry about Garrett being on the NFL homepage unless it somehow pumps him up against the Browns. 

Steelers' T.J. Watt Holds His Destiny In His Hands 

Moats mentioned that this is why you hear players say that they aren't particularly concerned with winning any awards. They know that the recognition might be nice, but it is fleeting and quick. The real goal is to win the Super Bowl and players have to help their teams figure out how to get there. 

If Watt won DPOY for the 2023 season, he would hardly be the first player to win it more than once. As Moats and Deke point out, Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt (T.J.'s brother) are among the players that have won it more than once. In cases like that, Moats said that they have to take it into their own hands. 

"Think about what they [Donald and J.J. Watt] did though. They literally went to the point where it was like all right, we can't even think about a debate with this thing. I think, for T.J., he's already shown that. I think he's in the middle of showing it right now. That's what he's going to do. You see him already in line, he's putting together one of them Freakazoids."

Right now, Watt is in control of his destiny. While he can't change how the reporters vote when it comes to award season, he can control the focus and production he has on the field. The year that Watt won DPOY in 2021, he had zero interceptions, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 22.5 sacks, and 64 tackles. As destructive as he has been so far this season, he seems on pace to surpass those numbers. 

Where do you think Watt stands in the DPOY race? Tell us what you think! Click to comment below.

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