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CINCINNATI -- The problem with being J.J. Watt, one Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman surmised, is that everyone around Watt wants to be just like him. Following the Bengals' 22-13 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, Pro Bowl offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth provided the following assessment of Houston's superstar defensive end, and the young linemen who seem to be mimicking him. "One thing you have to remember about this defense -- and J.J. Watt is a great example -- they take a lot of chances," Whitworth said. "A lot of the plays he makes are doing stuff you don't normally do in that situation; jumping around a block, or those kind of things. "It's feast or famine. When the right team has the right playcalling and you do that, it's going to break out." The Bengals broke out for 137 yards rushing on 43 carries. Their rushing average has been significantly better in other games this season, but they had a knack for finding the right holes on some timely runs that tore into the middle of the field and gashed the Texans for big yards. According to Whitworth, those carries, and some of the short-yardage throws quarterback Andy Dalton completed thanks to vast cornerback cushions, stemmed from the Texans' high risk style of play on the defensive line. All last week, Bengals coaches and players remarked about how they could tell through film study that third-year end Jared Crick and rookie Jadeveon Clowney were among those on the line who were beginning to imitate Watt's high-intensity, erratic style of play. It's not necessarily a technique that works for everybody, but clearly it does for Watt, who has a well-documented knack for knocking down passes at the line and mauling interior linemen to sack quarterbacks. Through 11 games, Watt has 9.5 sacks -- he didn't have any on the Bengals -- and seven batted passes. To Whitworth's broader point, when the whole line tries emulating Watt, they create the "feast or famine" scenario he felt played out regularly Sunday. "Naturally, with [Watt] being the leader of the group, some of the other guys try that stuff, too," Whitworth said. "Sometimes with that, they do it too much and you find a crease. We did that a couple of times running the football. The thing is with them, you just kind of have to stay diligent and commit to [running] it." En route to the win, the Bengals picked up 370 yards of total offense. Of the running plays, they had a 30-yard gain from Jeremy Hill, and 19- and 13-yard runs that Giovani Bernard and Hill had on successive first-quarter plays. Later in that early drive, Bengals receiver Mohamed Sanu pushed through a cornerback for a 6-yard touchdown catch that capped a 13-play, 94-yard series.
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