• last year
Pittsburgh Steelers DE T.J. Watt discusses comparisons with 49ers DE Nick Bosa.
Transcript
00:00 >> Are we away from the logo enough for makeup?
00:01 >> Yeah.
00:02 >> [LAUGH] >> A couple years ago,
00:08 you came to do the team stuff late,
00:11 kind of like Bosa's situation now getting your contract result.
00:14 What kind of maybe lag is there or is there any when you haven't been doing
00:19 everything with the team and then starting the regular season?
00:22 >> I mean, I don't really know if there's much lag.
00:24 If anything, it's fresh legs, it's a lot of want to and desire.
00:27 I mean, this guy hasn't been able to play football in a long time, so
00:29 you just want to come back and be as explosive and powerful and
00:32 show everybody the work that you've been putting in.
00:34 Even though you haven't been doing team activities, so
00:37 I don't think it's gonna hinder a guy like that at all.
00:40 It's just more of down the road, the soft tissue things of getting back into
00:43 football shape, but as far as week one, I think it's, I mean,
00:47 you can expect the guy to go out there and play his gut off.
00:50 >> You guys are the last two defensive players of the year.
00:52 I mean, how much do you kind of admire his game?
00:54 Have you taken anything from it?
00:56 Do you try to compare yourself to him?
00:58 Or do you just let that stuff all be?
01:00 >> Yeah, never comparison.
01:02 I think it's always just respecting a guy's game.
01:04 And I have a lot of respect for how he works in the pass, how he plays the run.
01:08 And I'm excited to get to see it in person.
01:10 >> TJ, you feel you guys were able to do at camp,
01:13 how is communication been, taking a big moment to hear you guys?
01:16 >> Yeah, communication's been awesome.
01:18 It's been great.
01:18 It's one of those points of emphasis for
01:20 what we got here, where we got the new guys and we're inside, back of them.
01:23 And UROV's been a tipping point, getting up in our ears,
01:27 making sure we know what the call is.
01:29 Been doing a great job dealing with the crowd and the whole week.
01:31 So I'm excited to show everybody what we've been doing.
01:34 >> Do you feel it's a big challenge with the Shanahan scheme?
01:37 It makes it some difficult to defend.
01:40 >> A lot of misdirection,
01:41 a lot of stuff that doesn't look similar to what you saw.
01:45 I mean, if it's stretch, it's gonna be stretch wrap.
01:47 There's gonna be a lot of different guys running, a lot of different guys.
01:50 It's 19, 23, 29, 30.
01:54 They do a lot of really good things.
01:55 They have a lot of really athletic guys that are gonna fall to, and
01:59 then obviously, 13 is a really capable play that you can't really do.
02:02 >> TJ, the last two years in season openers,
02:04 you guys have won some pretty big games against the Bills, against the Bengals
02:09 last year.
02:10 What's been the key to getting off to those fast starts in the season opener?
02:13 >> I think you just said it, just starting fast.
02:15 And Coach Tomlin always says, never warm up to it.
02:18 And that's been a point I've just saw through preseason,
02:21 as you guys have seen, is not just offense or defense or
02:24 special teams to try to culminate in team effort in starting fast off the gate.
02:28 >> How much do you like the challenge of playing one of the better teams in
02:32 a division in the very first game, getting that tough test right off the gate?
02:36 >> At the CNFL, every game is a tough game.
02:39 >> At the same time, though, the Bills and Bengals,
02:40 you guys see that pretty much every year.
02:42 You see a tougher, always-been-a-Bill,
02:44 more unfamiliar opponent from the NFC West.
02:46 >> I mean, yeah, if it's a non-division opponent, there's a little bit more to
02:49 learn, but you also have more time, more film to digest.
02:52 So like I say, every game is tough and this is no different.

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