T.J. Watt's Return Hits Roadblock

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt is on the road to recovery after tearing his pectoral earlier this season, but now he'll be out even longer after getting knee surgery.

According to ESPN, Watt underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair an injury that he had been dealing with since the preseason.

While it's great to get any lingering injuries repaired, it does extend Watt's recovery timeframe.

After tearing his pec against the Bengals in Week 1. The original expectation was that this would keep him out of action for six weeks. That meant that he was originally scheduled to return Week 8 meeting with cross-state rivals the Philadelphia Eagles.

The knee injury is thought to add just one week to that, meaning Watt might be able to make his return as soon as Week 9 when the Steelers play the Saints.

I'm sure this wasn't the thought process in the Watt camp, but things have been so abysmal in Pittsburgh. Look no further than their 38-3 beating Sunday at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.

There's no point in rushing a return to action. Make sure everything is healed properly before you pop back in the lineup.

It sure looks like the Steelers will be well outside the playoff picture unless there's some kind of miraculous turnaround.

TJ isn't the only Watt brother dealing with some injury or health concerns. JJ Watt of the Arizona Cardinals had a scare last week. He went into A-Fib and had to have his heart shocked.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.