In his first three seasons in the NFL, Justin Fields went up against some great defensive players, seeing first-hand what greatness on that side of the football looks like.
But it took just one game into his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers to see something he’s never seen before. That would be the dominance of star pass rusher and future Hall of Famer T.J. Watt.
Appearing on the latest episode of the “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast, Fields said that he never saw a player take over a game like Watt did against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1, a game in which Watt had 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles taken away due to bogus penalties, and finished with a sack, 4 tackles, a tackle for loss against the run and a fumble recovery. The lone sack that stood on the day came during the final play of the game to give the Steelers an 18-10 win.
“One guy, player wise, that I’ve been surprised with? I’m not gonna lie, we played Atlanta Week 1. I’ve never seen a player take over the game like T.J. [Watt] did,” Fields said of Watt, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I’m not gonna lie, like when I saw that, it was just, nah…”
That performance from Watt saw him perfectly time the snap and race home for a strip-sack on Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins late in the first half that should have kept the Falcons on the board. Instead, Watt was flagged for offsides and led to a Falcons touchdown one play later.
Later, he raced home for another strip-sack on Cousins on a big third down in the second half, but that was flagged for illegal use of hands to the face from cornerback Donte Jackson, giving the Falcons life and wiping another sack off the board for Watt.
Finally, on the final play, Watt got home, bringing down Cousins to win the game and taking a bow afterwards.
For Fields ,though, it wasn’t just about the performance on the field. It was Watt’s pre-game speech, too.
“I don’t know if he’s done that before. It was lit. Like…I felt like I was in a movie, dog,” Fields said of Watt’s pre-game speech. “Like, it was crazy because…I didn’t expect that when he threw his helmet down and yelled. Bro, I never seen that. Like, I didn’t expect that coming. So I’m like, I’m ready to go after that. I’m ready to go.”
Watt is a rather even-keeled guy, someone who doesn’t get too high or too low. Fields matches that, especially pre-game.
But when Watt speaks and shows emotions, others listen.
Apparently that was the case before kickoff against the Falcons. Watt spiked his helmet and had everyone fired up. For Heyward, that was just Watt being Watt. But for Fields, it was something he’d never seen before, which got him fired up. And then seeing the Steelers’ star player do what he did throughout the game solidified everything Fields saw and heard from the pre-game speech.
Hopefully there are more dominant displays moving forward from Watt that will continue to have an impact on Fields like the Week 1 showing.
Check out the full episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” below.
