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pittsburgh– tj watt He said he is “excited” to play against the Baltimore Ravens Is recovering from a partially damaged lung after missing the last three games.
“I feel great,” the pittsburgh steelers The star said this on Friday, speaking for the first time since the December 10 incident and subsequent surgery. “Honestly, I don’t know if I could have said this a week ago, but I’m feeling really good. Really confident about the week of practice and excited to play.”
Watt was a full participant in practice Friday for the first time since the injury and has no injury list for Sunday’s game. He said he has not discussed playing on snap count for the winner-take-all AFC North showdown.
“It’s still very early,” said Watt, who has seven sacks, two fumble recoveries, an interception and 10 tackles this season. “Like I said, I had a good week of practice. I had no limitations. Tried to simulate as much as possible with shoulder pads and things like that, but you can only simulate so much. So I’m feeling really good right now. Hopefully it’s the same on Sunday.”
Elaborating on the condition that resulted in his hospitalization and surgery, Watt said he was in “considerable” pain after undergoing dry needling treatment at the team facility.
“It just didn’t feel right,” he said. “After a while, I started having a lot of pain. Ended up going to the hospital and, as you guys saw, requiring surgery, and the recovery was just different because it was something I wasn’t used to, but I’m so grateful for everyone here. … It’s been very unique, but I feel great sitting here today.”
Watt said he has used dry needling in the past and has always been at the team facility, calling what happened “obviously a fluke thing.” However, Watt said he won’t be doing any dry needling treatments anytime soon.
He said recovery was difficult to navigate because it is unlike anything he has experienced.
“Anytime you spend two or three nights in the hospital, it sucks,” he said. “But luckily I have a great support system here, with my wife, obviously, with my family. Everyone on the team was really supportive, and I think, more than anything, it was just trying to figure out how to come back and attack.
“It’s not like a knee, so it was just new feelings. It was a surgery I wasn’t very familiar with, but I’m very happy with how good I feel right now.”
He said he has no hard feelings towards the team after being treated at their facility.
With his team competing for a playoff spot in the regular season finale, Watt said it was a priority to return for this game.
“Oh huge,” Watt said of his inspiration. “I mean, it’s a huge game. Obviously, we started the playoffs a week early, and we get a home game. Really excited to get back in front of Steeler Nation and leave everything on the field.”
