Joe Starkey: What does T.J. Watt do for an encore?
T.J. Watt is nothing if not economical.
Watch him rush the quarterback. There is barely any wasted motion. Now listen to him talk. There is none.
The Steelers’ rookie linebacker moves quickly toward the point, whether he is discussing the prospect of breaking out some new pass-rush moves (“I guess you’ll have to wait and see”) or identifying why, precisely, he believes the Steelers took him 30th overall in April’s NFL Draft.
“I’m here for a reason,” Watt told me two days before his NFL debut in Cleveland, where he would square off against Hall of Famer-in-waiting Joe Thomas.
Reason being?
“Pass rush.”
A little more than 48 hours later, after a 21-18 victory, the Steelers included these little nuggets in their postgame notes:
• “Watt became the third player in NFL history to record 2.0 sacks and an interception in an NFL debut, joining Charles Glaze (Oct. 4, 1987) and Tommy Haynes (Oct. 4, 1987).”
• “Watt is the first Steeler with at least 2.0 sacks in his NFL debut since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 (previous mark: 1.5, Kenny Davidson, Sept. 9, 1990 at Cleveland).”
On the first note, it should be mentioned that Charles Glaze, a converted wishbone quarterback from South Carolina State, and Tommy Haynes, a Southern Cal cornerback who picked off Mike Tomczak in the Rose Bowl, were replacement players during the NFL players’ strike of 1987 — Glaze in Seattle, Haynes in Dallas.
In reality, then, Watt became the first legitimate NFL player with a two-sack, one-pick debut. Not even older bro J.J. could boast of such a feat.
On the second note, Kenny Davidson, a defensive end out of LSU, could serve as a reminder that one game does not necessarily foretell a season or a career. He sacked Oilers star Warren Moon the next week but recorded only one sack the rest of his rookie season. He finished with a respectable 16 sacks in 93 NFL games with three teams. But it wasn’t Kenny Davidson I thought of as Watt’s day progressed.
It was Jarvis Jones.
Watt, after all, is essentially replacing Jones, who instead of becoming the Steelers’ Next Great Pass Rusher became an all-time Great Draft Bust. Amazingly, Watt accomplished nearly as much in one game as Jones did in his entire four-year career here.
If that sounds mean, I apologize. I’m just the messenger. Read it and weep:
• Jones: 50 games, six sacks, two interceptions.
• Watt: One game, two sacks, one interception.
That said, this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-Sunday league, so there’s a new question regarding Watt: What can he do for an encore?
He faces another stiff challenge in Minnesota Vikings left tackle Riley Reiff — a player the Vikings lavished with a $58.75 million contract in free agency. Reiff is part of an entirely new line that will be playing its first road game together and battling the
Heinz Field “mystique” (or so Big Ben hopes). He was perfect Monday night against New Orleans, allowing no quarterback pressures.
Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford was sacked just once and hit twice. That must change, assuming he plays despite a knee issue, because when Bradford has time, he is more accurate than a calculator. He completed an NFL-record 71.6 percent of his passes last season and upped that 84.4 (27 of 32) against the Saints.
Watt will go into his first career home game with the same mindset he took to Cleveland. The same he took into every game at Wisconsin, too, and quite frankly the same that emanates from his locker stall — in the far corner, next to Ben Roethlisberger’s — on a quiet Friday afternoon.
Which is to say, a disarming mix of death-stare intensity, light-hearted humility and eerie calm.
“A lot of people say I’m very calm outside of football,” Watt said. “But then once I’m on the field, it’s go time. There’s no time to wait. It’s time to go and really showcase your talents.”
Watt insists he does not feel nerves (it’s more likely the butterflies in his stomach are so scared of him they curl into a ball).
“If you’re nervous before a game, it means you didn’t prepare the right way,” Watt said. “I feel like before games I’m pretty calm. I usually feel really good about how I prepared that week, and I’m just ready to go.”
He better be, because once the ball's kicked off Sunday afternoon, Cleveland will be a distant memory.
Sam Bradford will be front and center.