Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt tied the NFL’s official single-season sack record by dropping Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley for a loss during the first half of a Week 18 game between the AFC North teams, but he thought he might have actually broken the record.
Watt tackled Huntley for a loss after the quarterback recovered a botched snap, but that was not ruled a sack by the league. During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show last month, Watt said that he used his phone at halftime to check to see if he’d been credited with a sack.
Watt said on Pardon My Take this week that he was kidding about using the phone, but the comments reached the NFL, which has a rule barring players from using their phones in the 90 minutes before a game and during a game.
“I jokingly said that I checked my phone of halftime of the Baltimore game, and the NFL took it as a real saying and fined me $10,000,” Watt said. “It’s just one of those things where I’m allowed to have my phone on me at all 90 minutes before the game, or during halftime.”
That’s a pricey joke for Watt, but it was cheaper than the $30,000 that former Saints wideout Joe Horn was fined for using an actual phone during a touchdown celebration nearly 20 years ago.
