Steelers must be on the watch for JJ Watt
Like a lot of freshmen recruits when they first arrive on campus, Antonio Brown wanted to get settled at Central Michigan University before fall football practice began. Most of that orientation involved getting situated in his dorm room with several of his other new teammates and determining what his new home was like.
Practice wouldn't begin for another two days at Central Michigan, a Mid-American Conference school in Mount Pleasant, Mich., but that didn't stop one of the other recruits -- a freshman tight end from Pewaukee, Wis. -- from wanting to get an early start.
So he gathered some of the new players and took them to do some running drills with him at the stadium.
'Camp didn't start for 48 hours and he's leading all the freshmen and saying, 'We're going to the stadium, we're going to run 100s, 110s,' and everyone is following him,' Brown said, recalling the start of his freshman season in 2007.
That work ethic was not surprising. The tight end was J.J. Watt.
'I was just trying to do whatever we could to get a jump-start and to show the coaches, show the team, that we were ready to roll,' Watt said the other day, recalling the moment.
Watt lasted only one season at Central Michigan before transferring closer to home to Wisconsin. That was where the Badgers put him on the scout team and switched him to defense because they were short on defensive linemen.
While Brown was named the MAC's freshman of the year in 2007, Watt began forging a new career at a new school. Brown recalls the one season he shared with Watt.
'He was pretty big,' Brown said. 'And he really wanted the ball a lot, too.'
'I didn't get my wish, that's for darn sure,' Watt said. 'He took all the balls. He deserved them.'
Watt still wants the ball a lot, even on the defensive line for the Houston Texans, and it's not surprising how he keeps finding ways to get it in his hands.
He intercepts passes, bats throws at the line of scrimmage and picks up fumbles. He even uses his old skills as a tight end to catch passes in short-yardage situations.
Seven years after they first met at Central Michigan, Brown and Watt have emerged as two of the brightest stars in the NFL.
Brown is a two-time Pro Bowl receiver who leads the AFC in receptions (41) and receiving yards (629). Watt has become the most dominant, disruptive, point-producing, game-changing defensive end the league has seen since Reggie White.
They will meet again tonight at Heinz Field when the Steelers (3-3) play host to the Texans (3-3).
'I just remember he was one of the best I've ever seen in my life,' Watt said.
'You knew he was going to be the type of guy he is today,' Brown said.
It has been a long time since the league has seen anyone like Watt.
At 6 feet 5, 289 pounds, he is a frightening combination of speed and athleticism, strength and intensity. He lines mostly at left defensive end for the Texans, but he spends so much time moving around up front that probably every Steelers offensive lineman will get a chance to block him. If they can, of course.
He already has scored three touchdowns this season -- two on defense, one on offense -- which is more than Le'Veon Bell, Heath Miller, Markus Wheaton, Dri Archer and Justin Brown combined. That's the most touchdowns by a defensive lineman since 1985, and the season isn't half over.
'When he lines up inside, he reminds me of Howie Long,' said former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, a studio analyst for CBS Sports. 'When he lines up outside, he reminds me of Bruce Smith. But he's a modern-day Reggie White because they put him places and make it difficult to block him.'
It's not just that Watt can pressure the quarterback as well as any defensive player in the NFL. To be sure, he has a team-best four sacks and leads the league with 20 hits on the quarterback. Since that stat began being kept in 2000, no player has ever had more than 40 in a season. Watt is on pace for 53.
But he also has seven tackles for a loss, six passes batted at the line of scrimmage and has returned an interception (80 yards) and fumble (45 yards) for a touchdown.
'How he touches the ball and routinely disrupts the flow of the game is incredible,' Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
In Week 2 at Oakland, Watt showed off his old receiving skills when he lined as a tight end and caught a 1-yard touchdown from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on the opening series.
It's just all part of the package.
'He combines elite-level strength with elite-level quickness and an elite-level first move with elite-level counter moves,' said former Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos guard Mark Schlereth, an ESPN studio analyst. 'When you're playing against a guy like that, he's got so many things he can get you with that it makes it incredibly difficult to prepare and plan for. It makes it a nightmare.
'You look at it and, quite frankly, he's like this perfect football player.'
Since entering the league in 2011, Watt has knocked down 33 passes -- 10 more than any other defensive lineman in that span. That knack has earned him the nickname, 'J.J. Swatt.'
In 2012, he batted down 16 passes to go with a franchise-record 20½ sacks and was named the league's defensive player of the year. His diverse numbers this year make him a legitimate candidate to be the first defensive player since Lawrence Taylor in 1986 to win the league's MVP award.
'I played against LT, I played against Reggie White, I played against Warren Sapp, Cortez Kennedy, John Randle,' Schlereth said recently on the phone. 'You put the elite-level guy from the last couple decades, I played against them. They are all unbelievable players.
'The one thing J.J. does that they don't do is have equal success, regardless how he lines against you. He can line against the right tackle and abuse him, he can line against the left tackle and abuse him, line over the right guard and abuse him, line over the left guard and abuse him. J.J. is equally good anywhere you line him up.'
Unlike a lot of defensive coordinators, Houston's Romeo Crennel does not require his defensive linemen to just fall on a fumble. Because of Watt, he gives them the green light to pick it up and run.
Watt did just that in the Texans' previous outing, picking up a fumble and running 45 yards for a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts.
'He is as advertised,' Cowher said. 'You watch this guy play, he's whistle to whistle. He's a guy who never stops giving everything he has. He's a special player and you better know where he's at.'
'He's not from around here,' said cornerback Ike Taylor, shaking his head. 'He's from a different place.'
He wasn't referring to Central Michigan, either.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
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