JJ Watt has experience on both sides of the aisle in terms of being an NFL player and being an NFL media member.
Watt is one of the best defensive players of all time as a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year (tied for the most in league history) after playing 12 seasons as a defensive lineman with the Houston Texans (2011-2020) and the Arizona Cardinals (2021-2022).
He is now an analyst on CBS Sports “NFL Today” pregame show on Sunday’s, and Watt isn’t here for the takes in the football world from fans and media members alike that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa should have slid and protected his health on a fourth-down scramble in a 31-10 loss on “Thursday Night Football” against the Buffalo Bills. Watt feels like if Tagovailoa had done that and not picked up the first down, he would instead be ridiculed for not being a team player.
“I’ve seen a lot of conversations last night and this morning about ‘Tua needs to slide. He’s gotta get down. He knows he can’t take hits like that.’ I feel like a lot of those same people are the ones who would be crushing him if he slides and comes up short on fourth down in the red zone when his team is trying to muster any semblance of a comeback that they can. It’s a bit of a double standard in my opinion,” Watt said in a video he posted on Twitter Friday morning. “Everybody wants to see modern-day gladiators, but they don’t want the guilt that comes along with it. They want a guy to lower his shoulder. They want a guy to power through. They want a guy to get the first down. But then when he does that and gets hurt, they all want to say ‘no, no absolutely slide. Why would he do that? He’s got to protect himself. Why would he do that?'”
As a reminder to fans watching the game at home, Watt makes clear the yellow line that pops up on TV to indicate the first down is a broadcast graphic and not something the players see during game action….
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jj-watt-calls-out-double-standard-in-tua-tagovailoa-discourse-breaks-down-qbs-in-play-thought-process/
Author : Garrett Podell
Publish date : 2024-09-13 18:37:38
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