Greg Cosell’s NFL Classroom: 10 plays that define J.J. Watt’s dominance

This summer, NFL Films’ Greg Cosell will be doing a series of posts for Shutdown Corner taking a deeper look into the finer points of football, explaining how fans can look for the subtle nuances that make the game so interesting beneath the surface.

I love coming in and putting on the tape of J.J. Watt.

We all know how productive the Houston Texans defensive end is, but I appreciate how he does it.

When you watch a broadcast, the announcers will talk about what a great athlete Watt is. And he is definitely a great athlete. But there’s so much more to his game. He combines every essential positive attribute you’d want in a high-level defensive lineman. Then you include the tremendous athletic ability, and it’s practically unfair.

I want to show you 10 plays from last season that show off all of Watt’s various skills, and get down to the essence of what makes Watt so great. You’ll see him win plays in just about every way conceivable for a defensive lineman. He’s an impressive guy.

Week 1, sack vs. Washington Redskins

On this play, Watt shows great technique. He gets his inside arm past the outside shoulder of the tackle. It’s athleticism too, because after he gets the arm past, he moves his feet really quickly to straighten out. Some guys could do the first part, and get their inside arm past the tackle, but then they’d get pushed upfield. This is a great example of flattening to get to the quarterback.

A replay on the television broadcast clearly showed how getting his arm underneath allowed him to beat the tackle to the outside.

Week 3, sack at New York Giants

This is a classic example of understanding the leverage game. The tackle is done. Not because Watt is incredibly strong, though he is. The tackle could weigh 500 pounds and he’d be done on this play, because Watt uses leverage once the right tackle gets overextended and his foot is off the ground. That’s knowing how to play.

I work with Darrell Campbell, a former defensive lineman at Notre Dame and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he can explain what Watt did here better than I can:

“When we say he understands the leverage game, it’s in between the steps in the offensive lineman’s set,” Campbell said. “When you pass set back, at any given time you’ll be on one foot when you kick. It’s hard to move a 300-pound offensive lineman. But if you have functional strength and mobility and understand moving him in between steps, that’s what frustrates offensive linemen. That’s why you see 300-, 320-pound linemen get tossed, because some players understand the nuances of gaining leverage between steps.”

These shots from the television broadcast show how he gained the leverage. 

Week 6, sack vs. Indianapolis Colts

This is mostly just Watt’s pure speed on display. Keep in mind that Watt is listed at 289 pounds. But he has the ability to simply beat a tackle with his speed. But also note an underrated element (and we saw it before in the Washington sack) is that Watt has the ability to flatten to the quarterback at the top of his rush. He doesn’t have to gather himself to flatten. Many guys do because it’s a change of direction, but Watt doesn’t waste any motion. That’s an overlooked strength of Watt’s game; it takes a lot of athleticism and also core flexibility. That core flexibility and strength comes from his work ethic. 

Great speed helps him beat the tackle, then he has the rare ability to flatten and get to the quarterback before he can step up in the pocket or get rid of the ball. Without that this isn’t a sack.

Week 8, sack at Tennessee Titans

What a move this is. And it’s Watt’s intuition that’s on display.

This is a stunt, with Watt lining up at tackle. Instead of just beating the player to the outside — which the stunt would suggest he do — Watt intuitively knows the tackle has to overextend to block him to the outside. So he beats him back to the inside. 

This is where the intuitive understanding of how to play comes in. He’s doing these things without thinking. But he’s doing it for a reason. He understands how the game works, like a quarterback who automatically knows how to react if a defender plays a certain way. You might think from watching the first time that this is just Watt being a great athlete, but he got this sack because he understands how to play his position.

Week 10, sack at Tennessee Titans

This is Watt’s physical power on display. He lines up at tackle against Titans guard Chance Warmack, a 323-pound former first-round pick. It takes a lot of strength to get by Warmack and get the sack as Warmack holds him (you’ll see on plenty of these plays that linemen hold Watt but he gets to the quarterback anyway). And once again, Watt flattens well. It’s also great quickness for a big guy. He sets up Warmack to the inside on the snap, then works back. But mostly I’d check off “power and strength” on this play.

Week 13, sack vs. Tennessee Titans

You lose track of how big Watt is when you watch him move. He moves like a speed rusher sometimes but he’s almost 300 pounds. That gives him options because opposing linemen lose their technique against him. And he understands exactly how to exploit that.

This is beautifully done. He sets up the tackle to the outside. One thing you’re taught as a left tackle is to not turn your body to the sideline. The moment the tackle turns his body to the sideline, Watt comes back inside. The tackle can’t recover back inside. It’s almost like a receiver running a route on a cornerback, and when the cornerback declares to the inside or the outside, there are certain things he can’t cover. This play is similar. As soon as the tackle turns to the sideline, he can’t recover to the inside and Watt knows that. And the reason the tackle loses his technique is that Watt is so fast to the outside (remember that Colts sack from a couple examples ago). This is just a great counter pass-rush move and understanding the game very well.

Week 3, tackle for loss at New York Giants

This is just ridiculous. The flow of the play goes to Watt’s right. The left tackle (who doesn’t play this very well), expects Watt to go with the flow of the play. That’s what most defensive linemen will do, as they play their responsibility. Watt doesn’t go with the flow of the play, as theoretically he should. He takes a quick jab step to his right to get the tackle moving that way. And he’s too quick through the hole for the guard to pick him up. And look at the closing speed to drop Rashad Jennings for a 6-yard loss.

The tackle whiffs because he doesn’t expect Watt to do this, because so few players are quick enough to get out of their gap responsibility like this and make a play. We’ll see some other examples of Watt doing things that you wouldn’t say a defensive lineman “should” do in terms of his gap responsibilities, but he’s so good that he can simply make plays other guys can’t.

Here’s Campbell again: “He’ll do things that are unconventional. Case in point, if you have him lined up as a five-technique (a defensive end shaded to the outside of a tackle) and he’s one-on-one with a tackle, you’d think that if they’re running a play to his side, he’d typically just step outside and ride the play out, then shed and go to the ball. But he can swim the guy, get up the field and make the tackle. You’re not supposed to do that. It’s too hard to do that. But he makes it look effortless. He makes it look like you’re not even there. He’s fun to watch.”

Week 6, tackle for loss vs. Indianapolis Colts

Again, the flow of the play is going to Watt’s left, then he slips inside the guard and runs down the running back from behind That’s not his gap, if you map it out, so he’s not supposed to go inside of the guard. This isn’t as dynamic as the previous example, but he has such confidence in his ability to catch a running back from behind that he’s willing to go inside the guard — which in theory you wouldn’t coach a normal player to do — and make the play. There are very, very few players in the league who can go inside of a guard like this and make a tackle for a loss.

Week 14, tackle for loss at Jacksonville Jaguars

There are a lot of skills on display here. Very strong hands to control the tackle. He understands leverage, shedding the tackle once he crosses his feet (which is terrible technique, but again, you’re facing J.J. Watt and he forces plenty of lineman out of proper technique). Watt has strong lower body explosion after he sheds the blocker. And again, Watt goes inside when he probably should be keeping contain — there is nobody outside of him —because he has the confidence that he can catch Denard Robinson, who ran a 4.4 at his combine by the way, before Robinson gets to the outside. The tackle can’t expect Watt will do this because he knows Watt should be setting the edge. Unbelievable.

Week 16, tackle for loss vs. Baltimore Ravens

So you say, “You have to double-team Watt on every play!” Well, opponents do double-team him a lot. And let’s look at what happens when the Ravens send two of their best linemen to double-team Watt on a run play.

Again, when you call on right tackle Ricky Wagner and right guard Marshal Yanda, two excellent linemen, to double team Watt and he does this, what is going through your head as a play caller?

And one other thing to note about the play is Watt’s hands, which are so tremendously quick to shed the guard and get into the backfield. Watt is helped out by the blitz from the outside, which funnels the play back inside to him, but the Ravens sent two very good linemen at Watt and both of them barely got a piece of him.

This is why I enjoy watching Watt on film. When a player is this athletic, understands his position like he does and has this many tools at his disposal and knows how to use them all so well, how do you even go about trying to stop him?

Previous “NFL Classroom” posts
What to watch before the snap
Sometimes, the defense wins
Understanding why INTs happen (Part 1)
Understanding why INTs happen (Part 2)
Evaluating QBs with “Jaws”
One amazingly complex, simple-looking play

– – – – – – –

NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.