Pittsburgh Steelers pass-rusher T.J. Watt gave fans and coaches alike a heart attack when he was briefly injured on a chop block. Here’s what he had to say on the matter.
Unfortunately, blocks like the one Detroit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson employed in the teams’ final preseason game are legal and commonplace around professional football. It’s a tactic players who are less-skilled at blocking use to ensure their quarterbacks aren’t left out to dry, especially against star pass-rushers like Watt.
By now, Watt is used to it. We can argue about whether or not he even should have been playing against the Lions to begin with, but Mike Tomlin is firm in his decision to start Watt.
“It’s a completely legal play,” Watt said. “I don’t have much to say about it. If there were a few words exchanged, it was something like ‘I’m sorry, I had to do that.’ I didn’t really have any words to say back to him or any frustration or anything.”
Steelers: T.J. Watt unbothered by chop block
Is there a solution to a chop block like the one Hockenson used on Watt? Not necessarily. Either way, it’s a bad look. In this case, Watt was injured. In another dimension, perhaps Watt got the quarterback and Hockenson was chewed out by his head coach during the next day’s film session.
Until it’s made illegal by the NFL rules committee, don’t expect anything to change.
“Like I said, it is a legal block so I can’t be too upset,” Watt said. “But it’s also one of those things where I don’t know what I can do differently in that situation. … Honestly I haven’t come up with a good solution because if I try to hurdle the guy and he doesn’t go low it’s a whole different story too.”
There’s nothing to do. Just hope you’re not the next victim, in Watt’s case. If you can believe it, he got lucky.
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