Dear Trent Jordan Watt,
I know you go by T.J. And that people know you as T.J., especially all those quarterbacks you have sacked and all those offensive coordinators you have deprived of perfectly good REM. I recently asked the great Dick LeBeau why he signed his book, “Legendary: The 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers Defense, The Zone Blitz, And My Six Decades In The NFL,” to you starting with “Trent Jordan.”
“I want him to know that I know his real name,” LeBeau told me.
That is the ’ol ball coach for you, Trent Jordan. He was like that with his guys, too, always letting them know that he saw them as more than just football players. Speaking of which, he thinks you’re a hell of a player. I know that is like saying the sky is blue — and that the George Pickens Experience is worthy of a roller coaster at Kennywood Park — but man, Dick LeBeau has the utmost respect and admiration for you.
“He embodies everything that we talk about,” LeBeau told me. “What the Troy Polamalus, the James Farriors, the James Harrisons of our teams exhibited on the field, he does it. That he even knew who I was was impressive to me.”
George Von Benko – he and I authored the definitive story of the 2008 defense with LeBeau — recently gave you a copy of the book with the message of how much Dick LeBeau would have liked to have coached you. Von Benko relayed your message back to LeBeau that there may not have been room for you on that 2008 defense.
“I laughed and said, ‘Oh yeah, I would have had to come up with a new 2-5 front.’ We would have had five linebackers [on the field] if we had him because none of those guys were going to sit,” LeBeau told me. “I would have stayed up all night a few nights getting that done. You’re not sitting T.J. Watt down, I’ll tell you that.”
Finally! A coach you would have kept up at night for a reason other than trying to contain you. That, Jermaine Eluemunor became the latest to find out, is like trying to contain a tidal wave with a Dixie cup. And so another honor for you, Trent Jordan, in a career brimming over with them.
Dick LeBeau was part mad scientist and part risk manager. That is the most succinct way of explaining how the Pro Football Hall of Famer hatched the zone blitz—finding different ways of pressuring QBs without leaving the back end of his defenses totally exposed.
What he could have done with you, James Harrison, and LaMarr Woodley on the generational 2008 defense, well, the mind races.
Nothing would be cooler than if you and the man who spent 59 years in the NFL as a coach and player finally met. Maybe it will happen in early December. LeBeau will be officially inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honors on Dec. 7 with Jason Gildon, Casey Hampton, and Willie Parker. The next day, the four will be honored on the field during the Browns game at Acrisure Stadium.
Dick LeBeau would love nothing better than to shake your hand but also knows that you will be working that weekend. Just know how much he enjoys watching you.
And how much he is pulling for you and the organization that is still near and dear to him.
“My life has been football, and most of it around very few teams, and the Steelers won two (Super Bowls) while I was with them, so I root like hell for the Steelers,” LeBeau told me. “I’m flattered that some of the players know who I was.”
Especially you, Trent Jordan.
