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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: TCU v WISCONSINDecember 30, 2010J.J. WattPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Did you go to camps and combines? J.J. WATT: I actually couldn't go to any camps because I had mono. That's what made it difficult to get recruited. Obviously it made it hard to put on weight. That was a difficult situation for me. Obviously in the end it all worked out so I'm happy with it. Q. Your grades were good? J.J. WATT: Yeah, no, it wasn't a grade issue. It wasn't really an athletic ability issue. It was just more of a size issue and I really couldn't show myself off because I couldn't go to camps. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: Committed to Central Michigan. Coach Kelly left. Committed to Minnesota. Coach Mason got fired. Committed to Central Michigan. So I was there, started at tight end as a true freshman. Caught eight passes for 77 yards. Realized if I wanted to achieve my goal of going to the NFL someday, I would have to make a change. I came to Wisconsin. Coach Bielema offered me a walk-on opportunity. It's been great. I can't think him enough for the opportunity. Q. How much of an opportunity was that? J.J. WATT: I think it was just that. It was a walk-on opportunity. I really don't know if they expected me to be good or not. But he said he was willing to give me a chance. That's all I needed, was a chance. I knew if I was given an opportunity to show what I could do, I would do well. I worked extremely hard. There were very frustrating times on the scout team, not being able to play on the game field. At the end of the day, I kept going back to what I wanted to do, what I wanted to accomplish. Here I am playing in the Rose Bowl and couldn't be happier. Q. What were the frustrating parts being on the scout team? J.J. WATT: Just going from being a starter and seeing the game field, knowing what it feels like to get that adrenaline going, not being able to have that for a whole year. What I did was made every single practice my Super Bowl. Some guys across from me would say they didn't like it because I was going 110% every day. At the end of the day it made me better and the team better. Now I'm sitting here because of it. Q. Did you talk to him and say you wanted to be a defensive end? J.J. WATT: We discussed it. We settled on defensive end because Wisconsin has some very good tight ends. I wanted an opportunity to fly around and have some fun. I really like defense because I control my own destiny on every play. Nobody has to throw me the ball. I can run around and make plays. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: We talked about it a little bit. We actually tried it at the beginning of this year, the first couple games I played some tight end. But it really benefited the team more if I just played defense. We have Bill now who plays some tight end for us. He does a great job. I'm thankful I don't have to do that because it means we're having a more successful team. Q. How much weight have you gained since you've been at Wisconsin? J.J. WATT: Probably about 60 pounds. I've gained a lot of weight. It's been a lot of food and a lot of working out. I want to put on good weight. I eat a lot of lean stuff. I eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly, a lot of steak and potatoes. It's also a lot of working out to keep my body lean. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I think it tells them that you need to work hard and play with a chip on your shoulder. There's a lot of people doubting you out in the world. The biggest thing that I want to do is do it for myself, do it for my family, because I knew what I could do. I knew that I wasn't a two-star player. But obviously the rest of the world didn't know that. What I had to do was go out and showcase that. It really drove me to work harder. So I would just say to all those kids to continue to work your tail off because you'll have success. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: Coach Bostad, the offensive line coach, recruited my area. I guess it was a low scholarship year. I understand. I wasn't the biggest guy coming out of high school. Definitely no hard feelings with the staff there. I'm here playing in the Rose Bowl and couldn't be any happier. Q. Name the name of your opponent's mascot. J.J. WATT: The horned frogs. Q. It has a name. J.J. WATT: It has a name? Q. The Badgers have Bucky. Super frog. How many teams in your opponent's conference? J.J. WATT: 12. Q. Nine. What's the closest conference road game for your opponent? J.J. WATT: Utah. That's way off. Q. How many current NFL players can you name from your opponent's team? J.J. WATT: None. I'm not very good at this. Q. We have Jump Around in the fourth quarter. What's the in-game tradition at TCU? J.J. WATT: I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it doesn't match Jump Around. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I mean, we've had Disneyland and Lowery's. Both those were unbelievable events. At the end of the day the preparation is the best part for me because I know that's what's going to help us win the football game on Saturday. We need to continue to do that all week. Really looking forward to Saturday and finally playing the game. Q. Where are you at mentally right now? Long buildup to the game. J.J. WATT: We're starting to get to that point. The beginning of the week was kind of staying loose and having fun. Now we're really into the heart of the preparations, really getting very close to game day. You're starting to lock in, starting to get your visualization of what's going to happen on game day. I'm definitely ready for game day, but I'm also ready to keep preparing to win. Q. (Question regarding keys to the game and the first 10 minutes.) J.J. WATT: It's really big. I mean, obviously you're playing in the Rose Bowl. There's going to be some emotions flying. But our team has been very good all year at that. It's a 100-yard football field. They have 11 guys, we have 11 guys. It's a football game and we're going to be ready for that. Q. If you had a dollar for every time you've been asked the size versus speed question, how much money would you have in your pocket? J.J. WATT: I would have plenty of money, especially going back to last year with Miami versus Wisconsin. It's a valid argument. They're a very fast football team. At the end of the day, we're also a fast football team. It's not like we have a bunch of guys running five-second 40s. We have some very quick guys on our team. We're very excited to show it off one more time in the Rose Bowl. Q. What do you expect game day as far as fans turning up? What will it mean for you on the field? J.J. WATT: I expect to see a lot of Badger red. I know our fans travel extremely well. I have been told there's supposed to be about 30,000 down on Santa Monica pier tonight. They call it Camp Randall West up in Madison. There are going to be a ton of fans excited to see them on. We love the support they give us. We're going to feed off it all day. Q. TCU are actually the favorites in this game. They're saying they're the underdogs. What is your take on that? J.J. WATT: I've been told we're the underdog in terms of the odds and everything. If they want to feel they're the underdog, that's fine. At the end of the day, when the clock starts on game day, it's 11 on 11, it's a hundred-yard football field and you have 60 minutes to prove who is the better team. None of that matters. It goes out the window. We're trying to win a football game. Q. They're taking on a major conference team. J.J. WATT: I can definitely see where people would come up with that argument. At the end of the day we're just trying to win a football game for ourselves, our teammates and coaches. We prepared all year to win this game. If the outside world wants to make it look like it's the big school versus small school, whatever you want to say, that's fine. At the end of the day, we're trying to win the Rose Bowl. Q. The offense for TCU, what are you going to have to do to make sure you can keep them off the field? J.J. WATT: We need to play technically sound and play with good fundamentals. Their offense doesn't make a lot of mistakes. They have a very good offensive line, obviously a very good quarterback. Their skill position players are very good as well. We just need to play fundamentally sound football and really not hurt ourselves and we should be fine. Q. Is there an added legacy that goes with winning the Rose Bowl? J.J. WATT: We don't come to Pasadena to play in the Rose Bowl, we come to Pasadena to win the Rose Bowl. That's what Coach Alvarez did with all three of his teams he brought here. That's what we're trying to do with Coach Bielema. It's not a vacation for us. We're here on a business trip to win a football game. That's what we're looking to do. Q. Is there any pressure? J.J. WATT: A little bit. But it's welcomed pressure. We look forward to that. Nobody wants to have an attitude, Well, hey, you lost the last couple, so why not just lose this one. We want, You won the last three, why not win another one. That's what we're working hard to do. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I imagine they're going to double-team me and bring a runningback at all times. I'm used to that. I'm excited for it because it's a challenge. If they didn't double-team me, it would be kind of like, Hey, he's not that good. That's fine with me. I'm ready for the double-teams and I look forward to them. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: Yeah, especially because Andy Dalton gets the ball out so quick. If I know I'm not going to get to the quarterback, I'm going to try to get in the passing lane any way possible. That's what I'm going to do this game and hopefully I can get a couple more blocked passes and, hey, maybe an interception. We'll see. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: He obviously is a great quarterback. He knows what a defense is going to do when he sees it. He audibles out of it. We need to kind of, A, disguise as much as possible. B, we need to play with great fundamentals. You can audible all you want, but at the end of the day you're going to have to run a play. Hopefully we can be prepared to stop that play. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: We just need to get as many takeaways as possible. When we give our offense the ball, they're going to do great things with it and score some points. We just need to get the momentum going and get as many takeaways as possible so that our offense can do what they do. Q. Is this something as a kid you thought about? J.J. WATT: I watched Ron Dane obviously in the Rose Bowls when Coach Alvarez had so much success. To be here is unbelievable. It's such an honor and a privilege. I'm really taking it all in because it's a crazy experience and something that I'm really enjoying. Really just can't wait to play the game. Q. Is it the way you thought it was going to be? J.J. WATT: It's everything I thought it was going to be and more. I really can't wait to get to game day and have the culmination of the whole week and the whole season and play our tails off. Q. How do you focus on the game? J.J. WATT: It's easy, especially when you're playing an opponent like TCU who is very good. Come game day, it's a hundred-yard football field, 11-on-11, 60 minutes, and the best football team is going to win. We're preparing extremely hard in practice and in the meeting rooms and we're going to come out prepared to go on Saturday. Q. Can you compare (indiscernible) to anybody you faced this year? J.J. WATT: It's tough. He's a big guy who runs very well. I don't know if I would compare him to Gabe as much. I would say that's probably the closest comparison, is to Gabe. But he's a very good offensive lineman. He's an all-conference, All-American guy. He's going to have success whatever he does. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: Yes, I would definitely expect that. If they didn't, it would mean I wasn't a very good player. So I'm sure hoping they do. I really look forward to that challenge because when a team puts two guys on you, that means that they're a little bit scared of you. I really look forward to that opportunity to show that, hey, I can fight through these challenges. At the same time it opens up opportunities for my teammates. If I'm getting double-teamed, that means another guy gets a single-team. If he can beat that, we're going to have success. Q. What's the most impressive thing about TCU's offense? J.J. WATT: They don't have many weaknesses and don't make many mistakes. They have a good offensive line, great quarterback, and good skill players. They can beat you in many ways. We need to play fundamentally sound so they can't beat us. Q. There's a lot of talk about where you're going to go in the draft. J.J. WATT: Obviously it's a great place to showcase our skills. But the biggest thing I'm looking forward to is winning the football game with our teammates. If I was focused on the NFL Draft, it would do injustice to my team, the fans, myself. I'm focused a hundred percent on everything I can do to win the football game. Q. What makes TCU so good? J.J. WATT: They have a very good offensive line. They have a Remington award winner, All-American at left tackle. They have a good offensive line. Their runningbacks are skilled as well. We just need to play fundamentally sound football and play with great technique and we should be all right. Q. You did your research. J.J. WATT: Needless to say, I've done plenty of research on those guys. I'm going to do plenty more the next couple days preparing for the game. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: It's fine. I mean, they're a great football team. They deserve everything they've gotten. Obviously, they're undefeated so that means they've done some things right this year. But at the same time we're coming in here to end that streak. We don't want them to be undefeated anymore. We're going to work extremely hard and do everything we've done all year to try and have success on game day. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: That's fine. All the people can jump onboard if they want. At the end of the day, when the football game starts, it's going to be us. It's going to be the Wisconsin Badgers out on the field, our 11 starters versus their 11 starters. All that kind of goes out the window and we're going to be playing a football game on a hundred-yard field and we can't wait. Q. What else do you guys have today? J.J. WATT: Meetings, practice, then we're at the Santa Monica pier. Q. Have you been there? J.J. WATT: I was out here a couple weeks ago, Newport Beach, for an award. Other than that, no, not really. Q. What do you miss most about hockey? J.J. WATT: I miss hitting and I miss the puck hitting the back of the net. There's no greater feeling. No sack, nothing can compare when you score a goal in hockey. Maybe someday after our career is over, we'll hit the skates together. Q. What year are you? J.J. WATT: I'm a junior. Q. What is your major? J.J. WATT: Kinesiology. Q. What is that? J.J. WATT: Study of the human body. It's pretty cool. Q. I know you're excited to play. You get this question all the time. People love to get out on the field right now and play. J.J. WATT: I sure would. It's been such a big buildup for the game, we just want to get out there and play it. Obviously we understand all the things that go into it. All this is good for us. We're taking it all in and enjoying it. At the end of the day we really just want to play the game. Q. How important is it for you guys to be able to adjust on the fly to what TCU shows you that you haven't seen? J.J. WATT: It's extremely important. You give a football coach three or four weeks to prepare for a game, he's going to come up with something new. We need to go out there and play with good fundamentals and good technique and we should be able to squash any efforts they have with a new type of play. At the end of the day, they're going to make some plays. They're a good football play. We need to fight through adversity and we should be good. Q. One of the things you've shown an ability to do throughout the last year and a half is bat balls down at the line of scrimmage. I know you take pride in it. Talk about how you are able to find that lane. J.J. WATT: It's something I've really been working on over the past year or two. What I do is if I know I'm not going to be able to get to the quarterback, I'm going to find the closest way to believe to get in the passing lane. As soon as I see the quarterback cock his arm back, either I'm going to disrupt the lane or knock down the pass, which is great. Q. Is that a reading in the quarterback's eyes to see where he's going? J.J. WATT: Yeah. As soon as I know I'm not going to get there, I'm looking right at his eyes, kind of seeing where he's looking to throw the ball. Then I look at his arm to see what direction he's going to throw it and try and knock it down. Q. You've gotten a lot of attention. What isn't talked about is how well the rest of the defense is playing. J.J. WATT: I'm going to see my fair share of double-teams, triple-teams. At the end of the day, that leaves other guys open with single-teams. They've done a great job all year of beating single-teams and making plays. Teams have a hard time focusing on me when they have to worry about those three as well. Q. When you game plan for TCU, what jumps out at you? J.J. WATT: They don't make a lot of mistakes. We just need to play extremely fundamentally sound and not make mistakes of our own. They're going to make their plays, like I said. At the end of the day, we need to make our plays, create some takeaways and turnovers. Q. Your head coach talked a lot about not finishing second. You just don't celebrate it as much as the years go on. How has that message been delivered to the team? J.J. WATT: Obviously Coach Alvarez set the precedent going to three Rose Bowls and winning three. You don't come down to Pasadena to play in the Rose Bowl, you come to Pasadena to win the Rose Bowl. We've been practicing very hard and we can't wait till Saturday to go out and show it. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: He's impressive. For a big guy, he moves extremely well. He obviously is the best left tackle in the country. If they're looking for one, he's not a bad one. Q. What do you think of Romo? J.J. WATT: He's a Wisconsin guy. You always have to root for the Wisconsin guys. Q. Talk to me about their offense, the challenge of meeting them. J.J. WATT: They're obviously a great football team. They're undefeated for a reason. They don't make a lot of mistakes. Andy Dalton is a great quarterback. They have a great offensive line and great skill players. What we need to do is play fundamentally sound football, play with great technique and we should have success. Q. You are real laid back. J.J. WATT: That's what we are. We know when it's time to work and we know when it's time to have fun. Right now is time to relax, enjoy it all, take it all in. When we hit the meeting rooms and practice fields, it's time to lock in. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: That's what I've heard. That's what I've been told. That's fine by us. We'll play the underdog role just fine. When it comes game time, 60 minutes, a hundred-yard field, 11-on-11. None of those odds matter. We're just excited to play the game. Q. Is this your first BCS Bowl game? J.J. WATT: For us players, yeah, it's our first BCS game. So we're looking forward to it. Q. This has been the goal, to get to the Rose Bowl. You haven't been on this kind of stage before. Last years those guys were in the game. J.J. WATT: We need to do what our coaches teach us to do. We've been doing it all year. We played against the No. 1 team in Ohio State. We've been on the big stage. We need to continue to do what we do, play Wisconsin-style football and we should be all right. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: No. The only time you'll ever see him even talking about Northern Illinois is if he's on the phone with a recruiter with another coach. Other than that he's 110% Wisconsin football. He's locked in. He's the same coach he's always been. You make a mistake, he's going to jump on you. That's what he does. In the meeting rooms he's the same. Our game preparation is the same. There really has been no sign out of any distraction from him. We like it that way. That's what we expect out of him, because he's a great football coach and knows how to handle it. Q. What were you doing this morning at 4:30? J.J. WATT: This morning at 4:30, I was asleep. Q. He was watching tape. J.J. WATT: That's coach for you. He knows he has two hats and needs to put in overtime to do that. He's an unbelievable guy and coach. We're happy for him getting the Northern Illinois job. But we know he's a great football coach. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: We feel very confident. We've had some clean, crisp practices the last couple days. I think there was one day where we had a little bit of a slip-up, a little bit sloppy. But we locked it right back in the next day, really had some solid practices right now. We have two more, I believe, leading up to the game. We're going to lock in for those and get extremely prepared and then come game day it's time to let it all loose. Q. What is it going to look like on Saturday, two teams unfamiliar with each other? J.J. WATT: We're just going to do what we've done all year. Our offense is going to run the football and throw in some play-action. Our defense is going to fly around and try and create takeaways. I'm sure TCU's offense is going to fly around and make some plays. Their defense is going to be their defense. It's going to be very good. It's going to be a great football game. As a fan, I would look forward to watching it because it's two great teams going against each other. At the end of the day, we're excited to get out there and play the game and see who is the better team. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: It's huge. I mean, nobody wants to come to Pasadena and leave a loser. You come out here to win the football game and that's what we're going to do. We're going to come out here. We're preparing hard. We want to win the game because nobody likes to talk about the guy that lost. So we want to come out here and just play our tails off, do what we've done all year and try and win the football game. Q. Other than practice, the game, the hype, what has been the coolest part? J.J. WATT: Lowery's was a blast. I loved relaxing with my teammates, eating some great food, really just enjoying time with my teammates. That's the best part. These are guys who go through everything with us every single day. We see things that nobody else sees. We see how hard each other works. To be able to sit down, relax, enjoy some time with these guys, it's a blast. Q. For you have you had that point where you realized where you're at, this is it? J.J. WATT: It's been a blast. I mean, Disneyland was fun just to mess around with the guys. It's fun with these guys. Even on the practice field we have a blast. I never really had that one moment. This whole week's just been a lot of fun and I can't wait to play this game with my teammates. Q. Is there anybody in the NFL you look up to, admire what they did? J.J. WATT: I don't really know if there's any one specific guy. But I know that anytime I hear about a guy who was maybe a low-round draft pick, a guy who came out of a lower-level school, I love listening to those type of stories because you know those guys worked their tails off to get where they were. They weren't the most highly recruited guys. They were blue-collar guys who came to work every day and made success out of it. That's what I like. I like following those stories. Q. It's been four weeks since you played a football game. Are you just ready to hit somebody now? J.J. WATT: We are. I've been hitting our own teammates for the last couple weeks. We're really excited to hit a different color jersey. We're excited to see a new offense. We're excited to put into motion what we've been practice the last couple weeks. We just want to get out there, play the game, see who's the better team. Q. (Question regarding the defenses.) J.J. WATT: I guess you could see it like that. At the same time, we need to go out there and create takeaways to give our offense the ball because we know our offense is potent, we know our offense can score points. We need to give them as many opportunities as possible to put the ball in the end zone. That's what we're going to do on Saturday. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: He's done a great job. The reason he's had so much success this year is because of how hard he's worked his last couple years here. He's the guy always in the film room, staying after practice to put in extra time. Those are the type of guys you want to root for because those are the type of guys you want to go to battle with, the guy that's going to work his tail for you. He's a lot of fun in the meeting room, hanging out, but at the same time he's a great football player as well. Love having him as a teammate. Q. The TCU offense, where do you start trying to slow them down? J.J. WATT: You start with great fundamentals. I mean, if you play with great technique and fundamentals, you're good against run and good against the pass. We just need to do that. We need to slow Dalton down, slow the runningbacks down. Really, if we get some pressure on their quarterback, we should be all right. Q. You've been here a week. Are you taking in all of this? J.J. WATT: I think it will hit me about 30 years from now. But right now I'm just living in the moment, trying to enjoy it all, taking in everything I can. I know these are memories that are going to last a lifetime. This is something we're going to enjoy for the rest of our lives. Q. Is this the healthiest you've been all year? J.J. WATT: I think so. We're a pretty healthy defense at this point. We're looking forward to all flying around and playing hard together. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: TCU is a very good rushing offense. A lot of people overlook the at times because they have such a good quarterback and a good defense. We need to stop their run because if we don't stop their run, they're just going to run all over us obviously. We need to force them to go to the air and try to get some pressure on the quarterback. Q. How has the preparation been different? J.J. WATT: It's been pretty much the same. We've put in a lot of time in the film room, a lot of time on the practice field. We're just trying to do every single thing we can to prepare for this game because we know how important it is, not only to us but also our fans, everyone back in Wisconsin. We're doing everything we can to win this football game. Q. Is it better to have time off to get people healthier? J.J. WATT: Both ways have their advantages and they have their disadvantages. I like the longer layoff because we got a chance to get our bodies back. Everyone is feeling real fresh. We're going to go out there flying around, having fun. While you would like a shorter layoff so you could play the game, just enjoy it, I'm fine with the longer layoff. However long it takes to get to the Rose Bowl, I'll wait, because this is what you play for. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I see the best offensive line in the country every single day in practice. There's not really anything the team is going to throw at me in the game that I won't be prepared for. Really looking forward to the challenge of the game. I see some tough situations in practice. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I would say the outside world sees it that way. But we don't really feel any pressure because of it. On game day, it's us versus them. It's 11-on-11. A hundred-yard football field. We're just trying to win the game. However other people want to look at it is great, but we're just trying to win the game. Q. Weather has been kind of bad recently. How do you think that's going to affect things? Are you worried about it being soggy out there? J.J. WATT: I'm not too worried about the Rose Bowl field. We checked it the other day and it's impeccable. Hands down the best grass I ever walked on. I know the field keeper over there does a great job. We're really looking forward to playing on that field and don't see any problems. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: They're extremely large, but they move very, very well. They're very agile for their size. That is the most impressive thing to me, is how well they move for how big they are. Q. (Question regarding the defense.) J.J. WATT: Against our team or TCU? Q. Against the Wisconsin offense. J.J. WATT: The Wisconsin offensive line. Q. Do you see anybody that's taken them out of what they have wanted to do? J.J. WATT: Not many teams, no. Some team might get them out of a groove for a little bit, but they make adjustments on the sideline and get back out there. No, it's extremely tough. In practice every day, there's not much you can do against them. Q. (No microphone.) J.J. WATT: I would play with great fundamentals. The biggest thing I see teams doing when they go against our offensive line is they try to stunt a little bit too much, they try to do things out of the ordinary. They try to get outside of their gap. If you play with great technique and fundamentals, stay low, you'll have more success than not. A lot of teams try and do too much and that's when they get in trouble. Let your linebackers run around. You need to go out there and just play with great technique. End of FastScripts |
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