Tomorrow, for the first I’m guessing in his life, former Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt is going to be watching his two younger brothers square off against one another, baby brother T.J. Watt with the home-team Pittsburgh Steelers and middle brother Derek Watt playing for the visiting Los Angeles Chargers.
Being that the game is at night and his Houston Texans play at 1 PM, J.J. will have the opportunity to tune into the game while the rest of his family is in Pittsburgh supporting his little brothers. And while he watches, the only think he can think to hope for is…a tie.
Derek, the fullback for the Chargers, and T.J., an outside linebacker, play on opposite sides of the ball, so unlike Maurkice and Mike Pouncey, they will literally be colliding in-game, most likely. T.J. was already clear in establishing that no cut blocks are allowed, but everything else is fair game.
“I hope T.J. gets a couple sacks,”, J.J. said. “I hope Derek gets a touchdown or a carry, has some great blocks. I mean, he’s a fullback. I hope the game, I don’t know, I guess ends in a tie. I guess that’s probably the best thing for everybody”.
T.J. enters the game with 10 sacks on the season, as well as four forced fumbles. While Derek, as a fullback, doesn’t get nearly as much playing time, he has been an asset to one of the league’s best rushing attacks including Melvin Gordon, who will not play in this game due to injury.
“I’m very lucky”, the eldest sibling said. “I’m very proud of them and I can’t wait to watch the game. I haven’t figured out yet—what I’m cheering for or what I’m supposed to be looking for because now they’re on both sides—they’re going against each other”.
It’s fair for three siblings all to be in the NFL at the same time. the Gronkowskis have had three siblings in the league, but it didn’t work out for them all to be on rosters at the same time. The Steelers are of course part of another trio with the Edmunds family, of which they have two.
That includes elder brother, running back Trey Edmunds, who is on the practice squad. Middle brother Terrell Edmunds is their starting strong safety, while Tremaine Edmunds is up in Buffalo. They both were drafted in the first round this year, the first brothers to ever accomplish that in the same draft.
As for the Steelers and J.J.’s wish, however, they’ve already had a tie this year and every player has pretty much said that it felt like a loss, so they will not be in a hurry to settle on such an outcome a second time if it can be avoided.
