One of the more memorable moments from what was otherwise blowout wins for the Cincinnati Bengals over their two encounters with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year was Joe Burrow getting into it with T.J. Watt.
In short, Burrow threw a pick and got planted by Watt, but otherwise laughed off what seemed like excessive stuff on the part of Watt by pointing at the scoreboard.
Watt recently opened up about this on the “All Things Covered” podcast with Bryant McFadden”
“He [Burrow] threw a pick and I got up and I basically just stood in front of him like we’re right here. I’m just waiting for him to make a football play because that’s what the refs always say. If he makes a football play as a quarterback, then you can block him, but if he doesn’t, you can’t block him…”
…Then he starts to drive me back a little so then I’m like alright, I’m not gonna look bad here. You’re not gonna drive me back. That’s when I kind of flipped the switch and that’s when I just dumped him.”
While Bengals fans view it differently, Watt’s stance is that he waited for Burrow to make a move, which happened, then he took action.
Either way, Watt goes on in the interview to reveal that Burrow approached him later and told him he was cool with it, something Burrow confirmed right after the game. Bengals players commented on the scuffle at the time too, with media members like Kirk Herbstreit also weighing in on the topic.
