J.J. Watt is on Team T.J. Watt. But great players can face greater scrutiny. And he isn’t surprised T.J. came out on the wrong end of an offsides call Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Weighing in on the questionable call, J.J. isn’t surprised to see the refs rule against T.J.
“Truthfully, watching it live and when I’m texting him, what I’m telling him, I said, ‘We both knew you were gonna get called for that one,'” J.J. Watt said on the Pat McAfee Show of the offsides call. “Just because it purely looked like it live. Not because he actually was offside, but he was so fast off the ball. He timed it up so perfectly. It literally looks illegal.”
Late in the first half, Watt screamed off the ball, beat RT Kaleb McGary, sacked QB Kirk Cousins, knocked the ball out, and recovered it. All in about 2 seconds. What should’ve been a massive play before the break was all for naught, the refs flagging Watt for jumping the snap count and being offsides. The next play, Cousins scrambled and hit TE Kyle Pitts for a touchdown.
Watching it back, it’s clear Watt times it up perfectly. Postgame, he explained there was a “golden nugget” of information that allowed him to time the snap. He’s working off the head bob of center Drew Dalman, firing off the ball the moment Dalman snaps it. You can see Watt key the ball inside of the tackle’s knee, allowing him to get the quickest jump possible.
“He does so much study, he does so much film work,” J.J. said of T.J. “And also just on the field, you’re just trying to pick up these little tips.”
Watt said the official told him after halftime he botched the call. Not that it did T.J. or the Steelers any good. Top pass rushers like him are under extra examination and it’s clear the NFL was emphasizing line play this weekend. Making sure the tackles were aligned legally and not too far back and making sure the defense wasn’t jumping early.
It was one of two sacks taken away from Watt in Atlanta. The other was negated by CB Donte Jackson’s illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty, a fair and correct call. Ultimately, Watt only ended the day with one sack, taking Cousins down on the final play of the game. Despite that, he still took over the game and will look to do the same against the Denver Broncos this Sunday, facing a quality right tackle in Mike McGlinchey.
