The last two times he has been healthy for a full season, Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt has led the NFL in sacks. He is currently tied for the league lead in sacks per game—the Minnesota Vikings’ Danielle Hunter has half a sack more without having had a bye week—with 9.5 through eight games. And next up is a first-year starter in the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love, whose approach this week seems to be to not make too big a deal about it.
“I think every team has some good pass rushers and you see them every week”, he told reporters yesterday about facing Watt and Alex Highsmith for the Steelers this weekend, via the team’s website. “You just have to have a feel for where they’re at”.
That’s easier said than done, as any number of quarterbacks have found out over the course of the past half-decade. And they are learning that even if you know where Watt might be, you still have to keep an eye on Highsmith, who has 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles with an interception this year.
“T.J.’s a great player, plays with really good effort on every play, and I think their whole defense does a good job of that. Something we’ve just got to be able to match”, Love said. “He has a really good get-off. He’s a quick player, explosive, and he’s also powerful. He likes to go up top, try and get around the edge and squeeze the pocket in. He’s a quick pass rusher and he has some pretty good moves”.
“Pretty good moves” might not quite resonate in the same way that “little yellow towels” did in the Steel City a short time ago—not that it made a difference in the results of that game—but it’s still somewhat humorous to hear Watt’s skill set described in such a blasé manner.
To say that Watt has pretty good moves is like saying Mozart was pretty good at music or Kubrick was pretty good at movies. They don’t serve pretty good food at Michelin-starred restaurants. You’re not going to get pretty good service at a five-star hotel. And you’re not going to get just a pretty good move out of T.J. Watt.
He’s going to put moves on your right tackle that embarrass him. The only question is how many players you chip him with and how fast you can get the ball out. And the fact that he is the best pass rusher in the league that you’ll actually have to potentially worry about in coverage or batting the ball down only makes it harder to block him.
Love will get a chance to watch RT Zach Tom work against Watt’s pretty good pass-rush repertoire and see how he handles it. The second-year player has actually had a pretty fine season so far in pass protection, only charged with allowing one sack, but the Packers also haven’t faced, short of Maxx Crosby, many of the better left-side rushers in the league. Some have been pretty good but not elite.
