Coming out of the 18-10 Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons, much of the focus for the Pittsburgh Steelers was on the play of star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, which includes some of the plays that didn’t count for one reason or another due to penalties.
One of those plays was a perfectly timed jump at the snap that allowed him to turn the corner and sack Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins in the red zone, forcing a fumble and recovering it in the process. The play should have sent the Steelers into halftime with a 6-3 lead on the road.
But the play was flagged for offsides as the official deemed Watt to have gotten off the ball too early, negating the sack and turnover. The very next play, the Falcons scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to tight end Kyle Pitts, giving the Falcons a 10-6 lead.
Watt was furious, and he had every right to be. It appears that he timed it perfectly and wasn’t offsides. At the half, the official apparently admitted to Watt that he botched the call.
While a lot of conversations are happening still about the poor calls in the game and the struggles from the officiating crew, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is impressed by Watt and his ability to study film, find nuggets from the opposing offense, and then implement them into action in the game.
“With all that, and when he finds a nugget, that’s what happens when he finds a nugget. It gets really bad for the other team. So he finds a nugget quite often. And, you know, it’s really more a testament to T.J. and his film study and the things that he does to get himself ready for a game, that he’s able to find those things, because they’re out there for everybody to see. It takes a special kind of guy to study the tape and do what he does and find it and put it into action,” Austin said of Watt to reporters Thursday, according to the official transcript provided by the team. “He’s awesome. I just, I enjoy it. I’m like a fan. I enjoy it. I’m like, ‘Whoa. Wow. That was pretty, that was really nice,’ you know, and that’s awesome. I like that. I like that he loves football like that.”
Watt loves football and loves to study the game every chance he gets.
As he gets older and more experienced, he’s starting to find another level to his game from a mental aspect, which is another way for him to search for an advantage against his opponents. While some guys have that in their game and have all the information needed entering the game, they don’t always translate that information to the field.
Watt does, and it’s something that is quite exceptional to Austin, who has seen Watt in action up close for years.
Being able to pick up on the head bob from Falcons center Drew Dalman when the Falcons were in silent count was huge, and Watt was able to translate that to the field, making what appeared to be an impact play. Even though the officials called him offsides and ultimately got it wrong, it doesn’t take away from just how great of a play it was. The fact that it was created off of a nugget Watt picked up in film study is all the more remarkable.
Can’t wait to see what nuggets he finds for Week 2 against the Broncos under head coach Sean Payton to give him an advantage in the Mile High City.
