J.J. Watt admits he felt ‘FOMO’ before Steelers’ game against Titans

J.J. Watt is enjoying his first year of retirement since stepping away from the NFL at the end of the 2022 season. However, a recent trip to Pittsburgh for a game between the Steelers and Tennessee Titans had him rethinking his decision to hang it up — at least for a moment.

Watt was visiting his brother T.J. before the Steelers’ Thursday night football game against the Titans last week. He got to spend some time around the house while his brother went through the usual pregame routine of blaring music and getting in the zone.

As T.J. got the music pumping and the juices flowing, and that created a little bit of “FOMO” for the older Watt brother. J.J. admitted as much on Wednesday’s edition of “The Pat McAfee Show.“

“As the music starts going, and it’s getting closer and closer and he’s getting ready to leave, we started talking about the pregame,” J.J. said. “That’s the first time I was like, ‘Man, I wish I was doing this right now.’ For that moment, I was like, ‘I do wish I was getting ready for a game.’ Just that feeling, that adrenaline, and being able to see it and feel it in the house. It was the first time that I actually had that FOMO about it.”

That feeling didn’t last too long for J.J. Watt. At the most, it lasted for a few hours before hopping into the car with T.J. for the ride home.

“After the game, when we’re driving home and he’s talking about, ‘My finger hurts. My wrist hurts. My heel hurts,'” Watt said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s why I don’t do it.’ There’s plenty of reasons why.”

Watt did hang around in Pittsburgh and worked out at the team facility on Friday, but it doesn’t sound like he has serious interest in making a return. That is, as long as he manages to stay away from his brother’s house for the rest of the season.