On the surface, T.J. Watt’s 14 sacks are a number most players would give anything to have. He still has a chance to break his and the NFL sack record of 22.5, of which Watt tied in 2021. But if it wasn’t for some controversial stat changes, Watt could have more sacks this season.
Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, J.J. Watt said he believes some of the frustration T.J. shared following Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals comes from losing out on some sack stats.
“I think that’s part of the reason he feels a little certain type of way,” J.J. told the show.
J.J. is referring to two plays over the last two weeks. The first came against the Cincinnati Bengals, T.J. converging on QB Jake Browning alongside with Cam Heyward. Initially, T.J. and Cam split the sack before it was changed to give Heyward full credit.
The second came in Sunday’s loss against the Arizona Cardinals. Coming in free off the edge, he was the first to touch QB Kyler Murray. Initially, he was given the entire sack before it was changed and split between him and Alex Highsmith. Seeing the change while working at the CBS Sports Studios for the pregame and halftime shows, J.J. couldn’t believe the reversal.
“I know very well what the criteria is for getting a sack and getting a half-sack,” he said. “The half-sack they took away from him this week was truly bizarre.”
Take a look at the play.
In J.J.’s eyes and experience, the rule is the first player to touch a quarterback sliding and basically giving himself up gets full credit. And Watt appears to tag Murray before Highsmith. Having played in the NFL and dealt with the same, J.J. explained how the review process has changed over the years.
“There used to be a review process during the week,” he said. “Where if you had one that you wanted to dispute, you had your team turn in the play, a video with a written thing saying this is why we believe the stat should be changed. Now, they’ve recently changed it to there’s a team in New York that does in-game changes. So they’ll watch the plays back…change the stats in real time.”
Perhaps the statistician believed that because Watt sort of rolled over the top of Murray first, he and Highsmith ended up touching him at the same time.
While T.J. isn’t one to get caught up in numbers, the reality is these things do matter. In a closely contested DPOY race, every sack matters. And if Watt gets close to the sack record, missing out on these two plays could be the difference. In 2021, a controversial aborted snap not credited as a sack against the Baltimore Ravens led to Watt only tying the record instead of breaking it.
Still, it seems like T.J.’s main frustration comes from not the scorers but the refs not flagging offensive tackles for holding him. As we noted yesterday, Watt’s only drawn one holding call this year while rushing the passer. He’s certainly been held more than that.
Watt will look to take out that frustration against the New England Patriots’ offense with QB Bailey Zappe sacked five times on 30 dropbacks in last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
