CINCINNATI -- When Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson first pulled up film earlier this week of Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, his jaw dropped.
He knew to expect amazing play on the film, but he wasn't quite prepared for just how athletic and domineering the big lineman really was. His first thought? Three words.
"Lord. Have. Mercy."
It's safe to say, Jackson and the Bengals have had their hands full coming up with an offensive game plan this week.
"He is good. Oh my God," Jackson added. "He's a man-beast. He is. I mean, what can you say? Whatever superlative that you want to use, you can use it. He's as good as I've ever seen to play the game. He plays with unbelievable energy and tenacity, determination, desire. He makes a lot of football plays."
Watt enters Sunday's game at NRG Stadium against the Bengals with 44 tackles, 9.5 sacks, four recovered fumbles, two forced fumbles and an interception.
Like most teams, the Bengals have had trouble this week coming up with an exact simulation of one of Watt's greatest attributes. Perhaps better than any defensive end in the league, he does a great job of extending his arms in the air at the right moment to either rip a pass out of the sky for an interception, or to deflect it at the line of scrimmage.
You don't have to remind Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton about Watt's penchant for playing with his hands up. The pair were part of the play that began Watt's legend and drew attention to his relentless, freakish style of play.
With a minute remaining in a tied first half of a 2011 wild-card round playoff game, Watt broke off a block from right guard Mike McGlynn and jumped right as Dalton turned to his right and tried to rifle an intermediate pass to a receiver. The hard-thrown ball barely reached the line of scrimmage before Watt jumped and caught it. Untouched, he sprinted forward 29 yards for an interception return for touchdown. From there, the Texans never looked back, scoring 21 unanswered for a 31-10 win.
That interception helped bring Watt's former Wisconsin teammate, Kevin Zeitler, to Cincinnati. In the following draft, Zeitler was a first-round Bengals selection, helping address one of the line's softest spots.
"He's a completely different player than he was when he was in college," Zeitler, one of the current cornerstones of a stable Bengals offensive line, said. "He was good, he was sturdy, he made a lot of plays like he does now, but he's added a pass-rush element. Ever since he got into the NFL, his pass rush is phenomenal. He still does everything with his effort and he's a phenomenal player."
In order to get Dalton used to having to throw over larger targets this week -- Watt is 6-foot-5 -- coaches and teammates have worked on running toward him as he throws with their hands up high. It wasn't a perfect simulation, but it was something.
Beyond the adjustments Dalton has to make this week, Jackson said his linemen will be charged with a simple task whenever Watt is on top of them: finishing the block. In McGlynn's case, the guard pushed Watt back, but when separation was made, Watt had enough room to jump for the interception unimpeded. Had McGlynn remained engaged, the pick-off may not have happened.
"There's a lot of guys that have tried and there's just some people that don't succeed," Jackson said. "That's OK.
"He's good."