{"id":76808,"date":"2026-01-03T06:03:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/76808\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T06:03:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:03:33","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-lb-tj-watt-calls-dry-needling-mishap-a-fluke-and-hopes-to-return-vs-baltimore-ravens-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/76808\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers LB TJ Watt calls dry-needling mishap a \u2018fluke\u2019 and hopes to return vs. Baltimore Ravens \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 T.J. Watt is ready to take a break from dry needling and get back to work on the football field.<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker is hopeful to play Sunday night when the Baltimore Ravens visit with the AFC North title on the line. The perennial Pro Bowler has missed each of the last three games following a mishap during a dry-needling treatment that led to surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watt, 31, called the accident, which was administered by a member of the club\u2019s athletic\/medical staff, a \u201cfluke.\u201d He, like many NFL players, has used the treatment \u2014 in which needles are inserted under the skin to target trigger points such as knotted or tender areas in muscles \u2014 for some time.<\/p>\n

NFL playoff picture: Final week of regular season arrives with No. 1 seeds still undecided in AFC and NFC<\/a><\/p>\n

While Watt didn\u2019t rule out turning to it down the road, he added with a grin that it won\u2019t be a part of his recovery regimen in the short term.<\/p>\n

Watt experienced discomfort after having treatment at the facility Dec. 10. He went to the hospital<\/a>, where the 2021 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year was told he needed surgery to fix his lung.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously very scary,\u201d Watt said. \u201cJust a significant amount of pain at the same time you\u2019re going to work, and then all of a sudden you need surgery. It sucks. Just a lot of unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watt sat out three critical games while recovering. The Steelers went 2-1 during that stretch \u2014 doubling the win total the club had without Watt in the lineup during the first eight seasons of his career \u2014 and can win the division for the first time since 2020 by beating the Ravens on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Watt called the rehab process \u201cunique\u201d but felt really good after practice Friday at Acrisure Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no limitations,\u201d Watt said. \u201cI tried to simulate as much as I could with shoulder pads and stuff like that. But you can only simulate so much. So I feel really good right now. Hopefully that\u2019s the case on Sunday as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watt declined to get into specifics about how he was affected physically, instead focusing on what he can do to help the Steelers get into the playoffs. They have reached the postseason five times during Watt\u2019s career but have yet to advance.<\/p>\n

Chicago Bears center Drew Dalman is among the NFL players who use dry-needling treatment \u2014 despite the risks<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows the magnitude of this game,\u201d Watt said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of going out and getting it done. That\u2019s kind of the key. Everybody knows how important these games are. Everybody knows this is what you train all offseason, your whole career for games like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watt, who receives a significant amount of attention from opposing linemen, tight end and running backs, has just seven sacks this season, his lowest total in a year in which he\u2019s played at least 13 games since his rookie year in 2017.<\/p>\n

Longtime teammate Cam Heyward said the Steelers need Watt to do \u201cT.J. Watt\u201d things against the Ravens. Watt has 17 of his 115 sacks against the team\u2019s longtime rival.<\/p>\n

While Watt is well aware of the one major hole on his resume, he\u2019s also simply happy that he may have a chance to make an impact instead of watching from afar or on the sideline as he was forced to do while recovering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad to have the doctors that we had, the surgeon that I had,\u201d Watt said. \u201c(And) to be able to be here playing football games this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 T.J. Watt is ready to take a break from dry needling and get back to work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[241,1418,73,75,74,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-76808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh","11":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","12":"tag-pittsburgh-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}