January 10, 2012

"It felt really good to get even a little bit of revenge for the Rose Bowl..."

"... because obviously that was a tough time for us as Badgers."

Former Badger, current Texan, J.J. Watt takes some satisfaction in what was the completion of a football narrative arc, when, in the playoffs, he intercepted a pass thrown by Andy Dalton, the current Bengal, former Horned Frog.

27 comments:

Nathan said...

Dalton is quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The delightfully named Joe Flacco plays quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.

Ann Althouse said...

Bengal. Sorry. Skimmed that too fast.

Ann Althouse said...

Meade is (most recently) from Cincinnati, so I feel bad about that.

Corrected.

Nathan said...

Four minutes! Now that's a corrections protocol.

Wally Kalbacken said...

That was a very sweet play.

Nathan said...

Had he been from Cleveland, you most certainly would not have made the same error, since today's Ravens were relocated to the Charm City from Cleveland.

traditionalguy said...

I remember Watt as the best Badger player in 2010, and in the 2011 Rose Bowl Game. He should have been drafted higher, as is now obvious.

It is interesting that Watt remembers the Little Sisters of the Poor's red headed QB that cooly kept the Frogs ahead for that entire game.

TCU leaves the Mountain West Conference and will play in the Big Twelve next year. So the Oklahoma and Texas teams can no longer hide from TCU with its monster private school student enrollment of 6800.

Beta Rube said...

It was very satisfying to see a Badger make a game changing play at a key moment in the playoffs.

I fear though that Palladian will dislike the dreaded Althouse sports infection even more after this post.

markbres said...

I do hope he knows the difference between a Horned Frog and a Duck.

Curious George said...

I just looked. Despite Watts TAINT last weekend the Badgers still lost the 2011 Rose Bowl.

kjbe said...

A big w00t went out, here, on that play...awesomeness!

Toad Trend said...

'...he intercepted a pass thrown by Andy Dalton,..."

That 'pass' was almost a 'strip', he was that close to Dalton. It was a great defensive play and an amazing display of eye-hand.

DaveW said...

What a great play, and a great young man Watt is too. Google the video and watch it if you haven't seen the play yet, it's worth seeing.

Has anyone seen an interception by a D-Lineman before? I can't recall ever seeing one, and Marino said on the pre-game show the next day he'd never seen it either.

That play, and the sack of Dalton by Watt 50 seconds later, turned the momentum in a game that was tied to that point. Arguably we won that game due to Watt's play. After that it turned into a rout.

DaveW said...

Oh also, that is being called locally the biggest play in Houston sports history in the last 20 years. That's how big it was for fans here, and also how big a hero Watt is to this town now.

Curious George said...

"DaveW said...
Has anyone seen an interception by a D-Lineman before? I can't recall ever seeing one, and Marino said on the pre-game show the next day he'd never seen it either."

Seriously? It doesn't happen a lot but it far from rare. I don't believe Dan Marino said that. The Packers BJ Raji had one against the Bears last year. Julius Peppers of the Bears has had more than few including two in his firstseason as a Bear.

MayBee said...

As a Big 10 girl, I loved that play. The Houston team has totally won me over (and not just because the QB is cute).

DaveW said...

I don't believe Dan Marino said that.

Then you'd be wrong.

traditionalguy said...

The announcers said that J J was a tight end first, then quit football, but came back and played as a defensive end.

The number of intercecptions that defensive players seem to muff or throw down always amazes me. They then act like their feelings are hurt by their rare mistake, but go do it again.

So learning to catch footballs two handed is a valuable learned skill.

MayBee said...

He walked on at Wisconsin after leaving Central Michigan and delivering pizza. I get really inspired by how hard some of these guys work to make their dreams come true.

Toad Trend said...

"Has anyone seen an interception by a D-Lineman before? I can't recall ever seeing one, and Marino said on the pre-game show the next day he'd never seen it either."

Its happened before, and I've seen it - usually on tipped balls. But a direct interception of a thrown ball by a d-lineman is rare.

I don't doubt Marino said it but it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Dan isn't a rocket scientist btw.

MayBee said...

I thought the game last night was very satisfyingly horrible, after a season of commentators over-drooling about the SEC.

DaveW said...

Googling around a bit I see plenty of guys having caught tipped balls, but not direct INTs like that one. I think what Marino said was he'd never seen "anything like that", which perhaps puts it in a bit different context.

Brian Brown said...

Speaking of football, this seems tragic:

A body recovered from the Fox River in Oshkosh, Wis., is that of Michael Philbin, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's son, according to police.

They are still looking for the cause of death.

SunnyJ said...

Anyone that watched JJ play for the Badgers could not be surprised, since he always had a hand up! It was great to hear his team mates state that he does it all the time in practice.

He's made himself an "Outlier"..read the book...I think it was blogged about here before. 10K repetitions of anything is what sets people that become phenoms or experts apart from everyone else. JJ saw that opportunity and trained himself for this moment for years.

Great to hear that he is being appreciated in Houston!

Ann Althouse said...

I'm pleased to be in Texas as a Badger is a big hero.

Curious George said...

traditionalguy said...

The number of intercecptions that defensive players seem to muff or throw down always amazes me."

That's why they are on defense. A cornerback is simply a wide receiver with bad hands.

DaveW said...

Watt's pick made the New York Times:

Texans Rookie Makes a Play as Big as His Dreams

Your Badger boy made the big time.