We have all seen the replays of Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt beating an offensive tackle off the edge, only to see the OT put him in a headlock and grab his shoulders just to slow him down.
Then we look for the officials to throw a flag and unfortunately, it rarely comes. Typically when it comes to star players, they get preferential treatment from the refs like quarterbacks getting soft roughing calls and wide receivers getting away with offensive pass interference on many players.
But this isn’t the case for Watt. In fact, according to former official Gene Steratore, it works the other way around.
“There’s the phrase, ‘They’re holding on every play.’ Yes, to some extent, they are,” Steratore said. “Does it rise to the level of a foul? And a lot of times with TJ, just because he is just so good, it’s like, ‘Yeah, it did rise to the level of a foul again.'”
So is he saying the foul happens but because it’s Watt they don’t throw the flag? As if to imply Watt will never get a fair shake from the officials because he’s just too talented.
