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BALTIMORE — Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt tied Michael Strahan’s NFL single-season sack record with 23 seconds left in the first half of Sunday’s 16-13 overtime win against the Baltimore Ravens.
The win kept the Steelers’ playoff hopes alive in Ben Roethlisberger’s likely last regular-season game as the Steelers’ quarterback. With the Jacksonville Jaguars’ upset of the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers will make the playoffs as the No. 7 seed as long as the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers don’t tie in the Sunday night finale.
Watt not only recorded the historic sack for a 22.5 total this season, he also had three quarterback hits, a tackle for loss, a batted pass and a forced fumble — all despite being doubled most of the game.
Watt got his lone sack of the afternoon with 23 seconds left in the first half, coming around the edge to beat Ravens tight end Eric Tomlinson and left tackle David Sharpe and bring down Huntley for a loss of three near the goal line.
He hugged and high-fived his teammates on the field before the next play. Before that official sack, Watt had two near-sack opportunities. On the first, he appeared to sack Huntley and force a fumble as Huntley scrambled to recover from a botched snap. But Baltimore Ravens’ scorer officially listed the play as a forced fumble.
Then, late in the second quarter, Watt wrapped up Huntley and brought him down with Cam Heyward’s help. But Heyward was whistled for unnecessary roughness and the half sack was negated.
Watt reached tied Strahan’s 2001 milestone despite missing two complete games and nearly all of a third.
To get to this point, Watt played through multiple injuries, including a lingering groin injury and a hip and knee injury sustained on a sack of Jared Goff against the Detroit Lions.
Watt, voted the Steelers’ MVP by his teammates for a third consecutive time, entered Sunday’s regular-season finale just one sack away from tying the record after bringing Cleveland Browns…
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Source : espn
