Now a few days removed from a thrilling win over the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in which the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown, the debate regarding Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt’s form tackle on his strip-sack of Bengals QB Joe Burrow continues.
Not from the players involved themselves, either. No complaints were made there.
But a certain section of the Bengals’ fan base accused Watt of being dirty, which riled up his older brother, J.J. Earlier in the week, J.J. came to T.J.’s defense on social media, showcasing just how textbook the tackle was from T.J., who grabbed and rolled Burrow’s leg, just like it’s taught.
That noise hasn’t quieted, which led to J.J. defending T.J. further on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday afternoon.
“There’s some idiots out there. That’s just the fact of life. And I just simply provided a nice, clean link to a Seattle Seahawks tackling drill. That was the exact tackle that he made right there, which is the way that NFL players are taught to tackle, to protect themselves and the person that they’re tackling,” J.J. said of T.J.’s tackle of Burrow on the fumble, according to video via The Pat McAfee Show. “You don’t wanna hit guys too high. You don’t want to hit guys too low. You don’t want to hit guys too hard. You don’t wanna hit guys here and there.
“So what we have taught is a gator-roll tackle, where you tackle at the waist, the upper legs, and you roll to get the guy down to ensure he gets down. That is a picture-perfect example of that. And if you want to cry about it, that’s your own problem. Go play a sport and try it yourself and see what it’s actually like on the field instead of sitting behind your computer in the basement complaining about it.”
It’s not a surprise that J.J. came to his brother’s defense. It’s what older brothers do.
The fact that it needed to happen is rather ridiculous and shows just how absurd some parts of certain fan bases can be when it comes to lacking knowledge about the game they love.
What Watt did was as clean as it gets. As McAfee said to J.J. Watt in the clip above, it was textbook. It’s how it’s taught, and Watt executed it at a high level. In the process, he kept Burrow from being able to recover the fumble, which led to Steelers OLB Preston Smith recovering it for the turnover.
Watt just gator rolled like it’s taught. He didn’t twist the ankle or wrench it. And Burrow didn’t even react to the tackle attempt from Watt, which is rather telling. If the quarterback being taken to the ground didn’t have an issue with it whatsoever in the moment, or even in the days afterward, why should anyone else?
It’s not as if Watt went full Nathan Shepherd of the Saints.
Watt executed the “wrap and roll tackle,” which is taught at every level of football across the country. It’s not new, it’s not dangerous and it is certainly not dirty.
If anyone knows that it is the future Hall of Fame defensive lineman.
