Not just his big brother but now NFL analyst, J.J. Watt has kept close eye 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. Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, J.J. says 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 has tracked, New York Jets RB Breece Hall and Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker have ripped of 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 grilled Steelers’ defensive coordinator Teryl Austin for not compelling teams to run towards 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 can 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’s resume draws makes the numbers little surprise. The Jets started a rookie right tackle to open the season and were intent on giving him plenty of help. Seattle had a similar gameplan to the point where 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 for 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 or more blitzing and better scheme. Watt nearly recorded a sack on Seattle’s opening drive Sunday, a step away before QB Sam Darnold completed and converted over the middle.
Difference between a big play for the offense and defense is often a literal step. One step away from a sack in all three plays.
Instead? 3rd down conversion, TD, 3rd down conversion. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/NZFtzRD8tZ
— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) September 16, 2025
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.
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