Not just his big brother but now an NFL analyst, J.J. Watt has kept close tabs on T.J. Watt through the first two games of the year. Without a sack this season and in his last six regular-season games, the pressure’s on for him to make a play. On The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, J.J. said everyone else, including the coaches, must do their job, too.
“This has been happening, ” Watt told the show of teams running away from T.J. Watt. “This is a very legit, and if you turn on the tape, it is extremely evident to see what’s happening. The ball is running away from him almost every single time and they’re having significantly more success over that way as opposed to when they went towards him.”
As our Josh Carney tracked, New York Jets RB Breece Hall and Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III ripped off their best runs away from Watt. Though most teams are right-handed, offenses are flipping the script to avoid running Watt’s way.
Earlier, Charlie Batch questioned why Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is not compelling teams to run toward Watt. J.J. says it isn’t that easy.
“Offenses have alerts, they have charts,” he said. “They’ll just flip the play to the other side.”
J.J. Watt noted the Steelers’ defense could use more stunts and shifting the front to combat teams consistently running to their left and the Steelers’ right. Now down Alex Highsmith, that side of the defense must do a better job holding the point of attack, getting off blocks, and tackling.
As a pass rusher, Watt’s come up empty-handed. J.J. thinks his chances to win have been few and far between.
“A lot of chips, a lot of double-, triple-teams,” he told the show. “If you look at the numbers, I think he’s had literally six legitimate one-on-one pass rushes this year.”
Bad run defense coupled with the attention Watt draws make the numbers little surprise. The Jets started a rookie right tackle to open the season and gave him plenty of help. Seattle had a similar game plan to the point where Watt drawing the eyes of three blockers led to Jack Sawyer picking up his first NFL sack.
Pittsburgh spent the offseason vowing to move Watt around. That’s been evident but only in small dosages through two games. Per our charting, he’s aligned on the right side on 3.8 percent of his snaps while aligning as an off-ball linebacker 1.9 percent of the time.
“He’s been rushing in one spot his entire career,” J.J. Watt said. “So it’s old dog, new tricks. It can be hard to get a guy to do that. But actually, if you watch, he’s had a couple successful rushes on the right side so far this year. But they have to do something there.”
Watt played on the right side his rookie season before flipping to the left in 2018, citing comfort reasons for the switch. Pittsburgh will continue toying with freeing up Watt. Playing him on the other side alone won’t solve everything. It will come with the combination of more blitzing and better scheme. Watt nearly recorded a sack on Seattle’s opening drive Sunday, a step away before QB Sam Darnold completed a chain-moving pass over the middle.
A reminder of the slim margin between a big offensive and defensive play. But for someone as highly paid and as valuable as Watt, all that matters is better results. For him and this defense.
