NFL World Reacts To Wednesday's J.J. Watt News
Thursday night's Arizona Cardinals-Green Bay Packers game should be a battle between two of the NFC's top Super Bowl contenders, but injuries threaten to take some of the shine out of the game. The Packers' injury issues, as well as recent bout with a COVID-19 outbreak amid the wide receiver corps, are well documented. Now, Cardinals star J.J. Wattis out for tomorrow's game.
Watt played in last week's game, a win over his former team the Houston Texans. He played a season-low 54-percent of the club's defensive snaps, however, registering one tackle (for a loss), and one hit on the opposing quarterback.
He's been dealing with a shoulder issue, which will now cost him Thursday's game. It will be his first missed game of the season.
According to reports, the Packers will be without superstar wide receiver Davante Adams, who is on the COVID-19 Reserve list and did not make the trip. Allen Lazard, another key pass catcher for the Packers, is also out due to COVID.
The rash of injuries and absences is pretty disappointing for fans who were excited for an awesome mid-week game. It could still be a fun one between Aaron Rodgers and Kyler Murray, but neither team is close to being fully healthy.
The Cardinals defense has impressed this year, but Watt hasn't put up crazy numbers. He hs 16 combined tackles and one sack on the year, forcing a fumble and hitting the quarterback 10 times, though he does have a team-high 28 QB pressures, and grades out extremely well in other advanced metrics.
As a team, Arizona has 19 sacks on the season. Markus Golden leads the way with six, followed by Chandler Jones (five in five games), and Jordan Hicks (three).
Green Bay's offensive line has held up very well this year, even without star left tackle David Bakhtiari to start the season. They have one less thing to worry about with Watt out on Thursday, though the Cardinals are undefeated for a reason. Per DVOA, the Cardinals defense is No. 2 in the NFL right now.
