With the rest of the NFL and the national media needing a reminder, Pittsburgh Steelers’star outside linebacker T.J. Watt showed them in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons that he’s the best pass rusher in football, period.
Watt had a sack, a fumble recovery, a tackle for loss against the run, and should have had an even bigger day if not for some incompetent officiating. Thanks to some calls from officials, one of which an official admitted he botched, Watt had two sacks and two forced fumbles taken away from him.
Despite those two calls against him, Watt still finished as the second-highest graded pass rusher in the NFL in Week 1 from Pro Football Focus, behind only Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson.
For former NFL defensive end Chris Long though, there is no question that Watt is the best in the business.
“Every corner of the game he plays at an elite level,” Long said on the latest episode of “The Green Light Podcast,” according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “The thing about T.J. Watt that I don’t think people understand is for all the great hand work, and he might be the best technician in the league, is he’s also the best at the top of the rush. There are very few guys, period, that can turn…the top of the rush. Flip your hips, sink a rip. His rip is intentional. It’s useful. And he can turn that inside toe 90 degrees. There’s not a lot of guys who can do that, until he can’t do that.
“He’s gonna be good for 15 [sacks] a year. So he’s at a hundred. A fun conversation is, where do you think he ends up? I think he’s got a shot at like 160. You don’t put a ceiling on him.”
There is no denying Watt’s abilities. He is a great technician as a pass rusher, something for which Long has credited him in the past. He uses his hands well early on in the pass rusher and hits moves with consistency due to technique, allowing him to get to the quarterback time and time again.
His effort is off the charts, too, allowing him to get some chase-down sacks, too. They all count the same.
Sure, his pass rush-win rate isn’t the best in the game, but when a former NFL defensive end with 70 career sacks credits you for being elite at every aspect of the game, you take notice and respect it.
If Watt can stay healthy and continues to have a drive for the game, there’s no telling just where he’ll end up with his sacks numbers when it’s all said and done. He should be able to eclipse 100 career sacks rather quickly this season and will continue to cement his Hall-of-Fame candidacy.
Who knows? If he keeps up the pace he’s on for the next 10 years, he might be the greatest ever. But banking on 10-15 sacks a season for at least the next five seasons seems rather reasonable and would put him within distance of 160 career sacks. Crazy to think about.
But that’s where we are with Watt.
