OLB T.J. Watt has a sack in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first three games of the season, and the Indianapolis Colts want to make sure he doesn’t make it four games in a row. Speaking to the media yesterday, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said the Colts need to know where Watt is lining up on each play.
“Yeah, it’s one of the key questions in this league for every offensive coordinator, every offensive staff because in this league there are these just phenomenal players on some of these defenses, and T.J. Watt is certainly one of those. We’ve got to know where he’s going to line up and how he’s likely to align within their scheme – sort of what his role is likely to be defensively each play, and how we can go best attack the defense just like you said,” Cooter said via Colts.com.
The Steelers will be down OLB Alex Highsmith against the Colts due to a groin injury., although Nick Herbig had two sacks last week after replacing Highsmith. Still, without Highsmith on the other side, the Colts can pay more attention to Watt, and Cooter said the team will have a plan for him.
“Ultimately, for our guys, they ought to go play ball. Whatever the job is on that play, the job will be, but we sure kind of take pride in evaluating each defense that we play and the great players on the defenses that we play and trying to minimize their impact like you said. Easier said than done sometimes. Like I said, T.J.’s, a phenomenal player – has been for a long time, but we’ll certainly have a plan for him,” he said.
The last time a coach said he wanted to minimize Watt was in Week 1 when Raheem Morris said he didn’t want to let Watt wreck the game. He ended up admitting that Watt did indeed wreck the game in his postgame press conference, and Watt is the type of player who can make an impact no matter what the offense is throwing at him.
The Colts do have a talented offensive line, as it’s the No. 1 rated offensive line by PFF. RT Braden Smith has been a steady and solid contributor for Indianapolis, and he boasts a 75.1 pass-blocking grade per PFF. It’s not going to be an easy matchup for Watt, but neither was Joe Alt last week, who despite being a rookie had shut down Maxx Crosby and Jadeveon Clowney the first two weeks of the season while Watt was able to get the better of him for a sack in Week 3.
The Colts will likely give help to Smith to block Watt, but he’s not an easy player to stop or minimize. If the Colts do use multiple blockers to try and slow down Watt, that should help the rest of the Steelers’ pass rush in Herbig and Cameron Heyward, who had his first sack of the season against the Chargers, make an impact on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Watt is one of the best in the league at studying and watching tape to prepare ahead of matchups, and he might have an inkling on what the Colts could throw at him by watching what they’ve done the first few weeks of the season, including against another elite pass rusher in Danielle Hunter in Week 1. The Colts may have a plan but having a plan and executing the plan are very different, especially when it comes to trying to stop Watt. We’ll find out on Sunday if they’ll be able to execute it.
