Mike Tomlin inadvertently minimizes T.J. Watt's impact on Steelers

T.J. Watt is undoubtedly the Steelers' best player, which is saying a lot on a playoff team, with multiple future Hall of Famers. 

Yet, on Tuesday, Coach Tomlin didn't have a defeatist attitude when announcing that Watt would be out. 

In fact, he almost went to far the other way in an effort to rally his team:

'We've Played Without a Lot Of People This Year"

"Obviously, playing without T.J. [Watt] is significant, but to be quite honest with you, we've played without a lot of people this year," said Coach Tomlin when asked about the team's plan without T.J. Watt. "It's just another opportunity for us to strike a blow for team and to display what team really means, a collective of individuals that work together in an effort to produce an outcome. It's not gonna be a one-man job in terms of replacing T.J. Just like I stood before you and said similar things when Cam Heyward missed a block of games, it is gonna be a committeed approach. Even in doing so, we better strengthen our output in other areas, because T.J. is one of a kind. But that's ball, there's an attrition component to it. That's what makes it the ultimate team game."

Coach Tomlin obviously can't wave the white flag in the middle of a playoff run, but he knows he sold Watt short when describing what it's going to be like to play without him. 

Since Watt was drafted by Pittsburgh, the Steelers record is 69-33-2 in games that he's played. 

Without Watt? 

They're 1-10. 

So I'm all for keeping the confidence high among the team. And to be frank, while Buffalo is the hottest team in the NFL, they aren't exactly world-beaters in my opinion, even if Vegas would like to make you think they are. 

Winning without Watt won't be easy, but Pittsburgh wasn't even supposed to make it this far, considering they had a 3% chance of making the playoffs just weeks ago. 

Shocking the football world isn't off the table.