When you think of an NFL offense using a silent count, it’s usually because the crowd noise is too loud. The offense is on the road and they have 70,000+ fans screaming to make it impossible for the offense to verbally communicate.
But in 2020, during the COVID year when fans were excluded from games, the New York Giants went on a silent count not because it was too loud but because it was too quiet.
Appearing on Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast that aired Sunday evening, T.J. Watt told the story of forcing the Giants to make an emergency switch early into the game.
“During COVID, we played in New York. We could hear the huddle call. We had the Giants on a silent count by the second or third series,” Watt said. “Me and Bud are just looking at each other like, ‘It’s on one.'”
While it’s logical that an absence of fans gave the defense unprecedented access into the huddle, it was one of those early-season adjustments teams had to make having never played under those circumstances before. COVID wiped out the entire preseason and the Steelers/Giants played in the Week One opener, meaning New York was getting used to an empty stadium compared to a year earlier when there were tens of thousands of fans in the stands. One of the lessons they quickly found out is when the crowd is silent, an offense has to be silent, too.
“They went to a silent count in an empty stadium,” Watt said. “It was incredible.”
The Giants’ offense struggled its way through the game, stalling out and punting on their first drive, though they got the ball back off a Diontae Johnson muffed punt that set up a New York field goal. On their third possession, the Giants lost four yards on three plays and punted.
Watt was an impact player early on with a goal-line hurry that nearly turned into a fumble. Later in the half, he opted against rushing and picked off QB Daniel Jones on the quick game, sitting and jumping as Jones tried to throw the ball right side. Teammate Bud Dupree chipped in two tackles for a loss and a QB hit. Pittsburgh’s defense won the day, sacking Jones three times, forcing a pair of turnovers, and holding QB Saquon Barkley to six yards on 15 carries.
Throughout the year, Watt discussed watching TV tape for the first time ever because it became to easy and clear to hear a quarterback’s cadence. He finished 2020 with a league-leading 15 sacks, ending up second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
It’s a situation that doesn’t work anymore with crowds back in the stands, but it’s a story no future player is going to be able to tell. And one of the many quirks of the 2020 season.
