Mark Madden: How to boost T.J. Watt's recognition, Justin Fields' production and more sports notes

LAS VEGAS — Behold, refreshing sports notes! Jotted down on a bedside notepad between blackjack sessions at The D on Fremont Street. Read ’em twice. Double down.

• J.J. Watt saying that brother T.J. doesn’t get the recognition he deserves puts the “duh” in dumb. T.J. is universally praised, has been four-time, first-team All-Pro and was NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2021. The Watts are still antsy in the pantsy because T.J. didn’t get Defensive Player of the Year last season. Which he deserved, but too bad. You know what might up T.J.’s profile? Winning a playoff game.

• Ex-Buffalo Bills GM and Pitt product Doug Whaley said the Steelers should consider benching Justin Fields to drive down Fields’ price if the Steelers want to re-sign him. This explains why Whaley hasn’t worked in the NFL since 2017. But he may have a future as a Pirates executive.

• What will be bigger: The hype for Fields playing well and winning, or the criticism when Fields performs poorly and loses a few? Because the Fields that played in Chicago might still be lurking.

• It remains unthinkable that Fields isn’t running the ball more. In fact, his carries are decreasing: 14 at Atlanta, eight at Denver, six vs. the Los Angeles Chargers this past week at Acrisure Stadium. Fields’ rushing yardage — 2,200 during three seasons with Chicago — is the only thing that distinguishes him positively from other quarterbacks. To reinvent him as a pure passer seems quite the leap of faith. No athlete ever prospered by minimizing his biggest strength.

• The Steelers defense has been excellent. But it needs more takeaways because that offense still isn’t very good and needs more short fields to sustain the team’s conservative approach.

• When will the Steelers lose their first game? The toughest foes in their first eight are Dallas and the New York Jets, both overrated and both at home. It’s easy to imagine the Steelers being 8-0 at the bye week. Disclaimer: The 2020 Steelers started 11-0. I said they were the worst 11-0 team in NFL history and was proven correct when they lost five of their last six, including a home playoff defeat vs. Cleveland that saw them trail 28-0 after one quarter.

• The Steelers erred by drafting tackle Troy Fautanu in this year’s first round when he’d been red-flagged for knee issues at college. You gamble in later rounds. Not the first. Fautanu might wind up at right guard next season if the Steelers re-up left tackle Dan Moore, which they should. Moore has started all of his four seasons since being drafted in 2021’s fourth round, missing just two games. He’s earned it.

• In October, the Steelers don’t have a single game scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern. That’s a crime against football.

• The Cincinnati Bengals are done. Starting 0-3 is a death sentence, and the Bengals don’t have the mentality to be one of the rare teams that recovers. By the time the Steelers visit Cincinnati for Week 13, the Bengals will have been in the tank for weeks.

• Drafting a quarterback high is such a crapshoot. Jayden Daniels was brilliant when Washington clubbed the Bengals on Monday night. C.J. Stroud seems like the real thing in Houston. But Bryce Young looks a bust in Carolina. Anthony Richardson is haphazard in Indianapolis. Then there are late bloomers like Geno Smith in Seattle and perhaps Sam Darnold in Minnesota. Caleb Williams is starting off badly in Chicago.

• Buffalo’s Josh Allen is the best quarterback in football right now and the MVP so far.

• Todd McShay (ex-ESPN) says that Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is off to slow start (eight catches for 69 yards in three games) because he spent the offseason partying with gal pal Taylor Swift. Exclaimed McShay: “Just look at (Kelce’s) face!” It’s hard to argue. Kelce looks like a wartime president.

• It’s absurd that anyone thinks San Diego outfielder Jackson Merrill is a threat to get NL Rookie of the Year ahead of Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. Merrill is having a great season: 24 home runs, 89 RBIs. But Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball (1.99 ERA, 167 strikeouts in 131 innings) and has been hyped out the wazoo. If not for Chris Sale’s monster year in Atlanta, Skenes might win the NL Cy Young Award.

• Skenes’ final start in 2024 takes place Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Not far from Broadway, where they would call that an audition.

• In her first WNBA playoff game, Caitlin Clark got blatantly poked in the eye. No call. Clark’s rookie season is over, she rejuvenated the profile of a niche league, and those nitwits never figured out who butters their bread.

• The player who poked Clark in the eye is romantically involved with one of Clark’s teammates. So the odds of retaliation were somewhat less.

• The WNBA’s Angel Reese is on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s “50 Most Influential Athletes” issue. I don’t doubt Reese’s impact. But given the NFL’s far superior visibility, isn’t it likely that 25 or so NFL players are more influential? What about MLB or the NBA? Was that list compiled with an eye on accuracy or on diversity?