Joe Flacco’s comments on T.J. Watt brought back an old Seattle Seahawks memory in a hurry.
On a recent episode of Netflix’s NFL series Quarterback - episode 6 of season 3 - Flacco looked back at a Week 11 game against the Steelers and the hit he took from Watt. After the play, Flacco publicly called it “just football,” but the Netflix version gave a different read.
Flacco said, "Man, he f-ked me up. He knew what he was doing, too.
He was like, ‘I’ve got a chance to hit him here. I’m gonna take full advantage.
It didn’t feel good. But that’s football.
That’s the Steelers defense.’"
That line lands a little differently when you remember what Seahawks fans saw in 2021.
That season, Seattle went to Pittsburgh for a Week 6 game with Geno Smith starting at quarterback after Russell Wilson had been hurt in a previous game. The Seahawks leaned on the run, with Alex Collins carrying the load.
In the third quarter, Collins was stopped on a run and got back to his feet surrounded by players from both teams. Watt was there, too, and even though the play was dead, he kept swinging at Collins in an attempt to force a fumble.
No flag came out on the play, since the NFL allows players to punch at the ball, but Watt was later fined. And the issue wasn’t just that he was going after the football - he was also landing shots to Collins’ stomach and chest.
That’s why Flacco’s remarks hit a nerve. He didn’t come right out and call Watt dirty, but he came as close as a quarterback can without saying the words outright. For Seahawks fans who remember that Week 6 sequence in Pittsburgh, the reaction probably wasn’t hard to understand.
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