T.J. Watt has the perfect meme for his Defensive Player of the Year snub

T.J. Watt can’t be happy about being passed over for Defensive Player of the Year. But his response on Twitter shows he’s taking it the right way.

More than a few NFL fans were surprised to see T.J. Watt passed over for Defensive Player of the Year. The honor went to Aaron Donald of the Rams who, as Watt’s brother J.J. pointed out, trailed in nearly every statistical category despite playing an extra game this year.

Reasonable people can disagree but Watt had an extremely strong case and played an incredible season, as the disruptive leader of arguably the league’s best defense. Like his brother though, he appears to be taking the high road and responded to the snub with the perfect meme:

How did T.J. Watt respond to his Defensive Player of the Year snub?

If you’re a fan of Watt and the Steelers, this response is a best-case scenario. He’s not getting lost in the pettiness, he’s implying a plan to follow the Jordan template — using a snub to fuel greatness.

The meme Watt shared comes from the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance, which premiered on ESPN last spring. It’s not actually a direct quote from the film but throughout the 10 hours, Jordan repeatedly recounts using the tiniest of slights (real and, sometimes, imagined) to fire himself up to destroy opponents.

Watt may already be on this path, even before this snub. Last year, he finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Stephen Gilmore and Chandler Jones and used that to fuel the ridiculous season he just finished. Who knows what heights he can reach next year after getting passed over for a second time?