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Sorry, Gene, but J.J. Watt was not a 'defensive monster' vs. Jaguars

There's a lot being made out of J.J. Watt's performance against the Jaguars. And a lot of it just isn't true.

By Ryan Day
Richard Dole-USA TODAY Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars gave up four sacks in their 27-13 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. J.J. Watt was credited with three of them, prompting continued praise to be heaped upon one of the league's MVP candidates.

Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union went so far as to call Watt a "defensive terrorist" which is 1) wildly inappropriate phrasing and 2) fairly inaccurate.

He explains how backup lineman Sam Young, who has made just a handful of starts in five-year journeyman career, got "a harsh lesson" on Sunday.

"Pity Sam Young, the Jaguars’ stop-gap at right tackle," wrote Frenette on Sunday night. "It was such an unfair matchup from the outset, like sending a tomato can into the ring to try to neutralize Mike Tyson."

Except, well, Young didn't play that badly. Did he play well? No. Was he Watt's door matt on Sunday? Absolutely not.

Yes, Watt added three sacks to his season total on Sunday, and he was in the backfield a number of times, but let's take a look at just how much havoc he really caused.

Sack #1: Missed chip block

The play is obviously a play-action bootleg to the right, with Bortles likely throwing to tight end Marcedes Lewis on the run. Watt lined up over the gap between Young and Lewis and runs free to the quarterback, but it doesn't look like Young was even supposed to block Watt. It looks like Lewis was supposed to chip block him on his way into his route and missed his assignment.

What's hilarious is that this sack pushed the Jaguars back seven yards, but then Watt was penalized for encroachment on the next play so hahahahahahaha.

Sack #2: Blake falls down

First, if you even begin to think this is on Young, Watt is lined up over left tackle Luke Joeckel, not right tackle Sam Young. Second, this is clearly another bootleg that had Bortles not lost his footing it wouldn't have been a sack. Hell, Watt took such a bad angle, he almost missed the sack even with his target falling down on the ground.

Big man J.J. Watt... tackling guys on the ground. Bully.

Sack #3: Finally, an actual sack

We're at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Watt gets his first actual sack. Here, he clearly beats Young and gets to Bortles too quickly for this to be thought of as a coverage sack.

As for the impact Watt made aside from sacks, he's credited with just three "wins" against the Jaguars offensive line, all coming against Young. None against Joeckel or Brandon Linder whom he also lined up against.

There was another Jaguars player who had a tough day against Watt, however.

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