Steelers Now
During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, J.J. Watt provided an update on his brother T.J. Watt’s unexpected lung surgery that kept him out of Monday night’s game against the Miami Dolphins.
Watt suffered a partially collapsed lung last Wednesday after undergoing a dry needling procedure following his workout at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. He was taken to a local hospital and had a procedure to repair the injury, and was released.
“Yeah, he’s working through it. He’s working through it,” J.J. Watt said. “It’s obviously not somewhere that he expected or would like to be. Just handling the situation day by day and making sure to find the appropriate and proper steps to get back to where he would like to be.”
Dry needling is an acupuncture-like physical therapy treatment used by physical therapists to treat pain and movement impairments.
“Yeah, I would say unexpected is the appropriate word,” Watt told McAfee. “Dry needling is incredibly common. Anybody who’s been in the league has probably done it at some point. He was certainly not anticipating being in the hospital and getting lung surgery.”
The NFLPA is aware of the details surrounding the incident, and could begin an investigation.
"TJ is working thru it and he's handling the situation day by day..
It's obviously not something that he expected and he's finding the proper steps to get back to where he would like it be" ~ @JJWatt
Please send him our positive vibes #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/jRX7lDXjji
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 17, 2025
Tomlin didn’t rule Watt out for Sunday’s contest against the Detroit Lions, he also didn’t provide much of an update on his status.
“I’ve got no new news on T.J.,” Tomlin said. “I’m sure I will a later in the week, but I haven’t heard any new updates regarding his availability or what that looks like as he starts to work his way back to us.”
When pressed for more details about Watt’s status and how the injury occurred, Tomlin stonewalled. Tomlin first said he didn’t know if Watt had yet returned to the team’s facility.
“I don’t know if he’s been in the facility yet, because I’ve been in a dark room in the back,” Tomlin said. “He might be in the facility as we speak. I don’t have a lot of the answers to that. I was just trying to be transparent when I said I didn’t have any new information as I stood here today.”
Asked specifically about the dry needling procedure that apparently injury Watt, and whether there will be changes to the team’s procedures as a result, Tomlin declined to answer.
“I have no new information regarding that,” Tomlin said. “None whatsoever.”
Alan Saunders contributed.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: J.J. Watt Gives Update on T.J. Watt After Lung Injury: ‘He’s Working Through It’
