J.J. Watt says brother T.J. Watt still has a long way to go to match him

J.J. Watt won’t see brother T.J. as on his level until he has some Defensive Player of the Year Awards.

It’s tough for younger brothers to get respect from their older brothers. Just ask T.J. Watt after the comments from his older brother J.J. Watt on Monday.

Simply put, J.J. isn’t conceding any ground to his brother even after T.J.’s exceptional start with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Once he has three Defensive Player of the Year awards I’ll see him as a peer,” Watt said during media availability on Monday.

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In case you’re new to the NFL or have been living under a rock, J.J. has won three AP Defensive Player of the Year awards in his career with the Houston Texans.

J.J. Watt has the edge on his brother T.J., for now.

In truth, J.J. will be able to win every argument over T.J. so long as he has the trophy case to back it up.

As it stands, he has the aforementioned trio of DPOY awards for 2012, 2014 and 2015. He’s also got five Pro Bowl nods and five First-Team All-Pro appearances along with 2011 All-Rookie Team honors and a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-2010s Team.

T.J. has already been able to match his brother with an All-Rookie Team nod in 2017. He picked up his first All-Pro appearance in 2019. He has already managed two Pro Bowls.

There’s a long way between something as impressive as First-Team All-Pro and Defensive Player of the Year. To reach that height, J.J. produced 20.5 sacks in 2012, 20.5 sacks in 2014 and 17.5 sacks in 2015.

It’s not completely fair to compare them like-for-like, but T.J.’s career-high in sacks was 14.5 in 2019.

Then again, if T.J. wanted to take a shot at his brother, he could point out how he has more interceptions in his three years in the league (three) than J.J. has managed in nine years (one).

Of course, opening the can of worms that is comparing stats can backfire. J.J. had more sacks and more tackles for loss in his first three years than T.J. has so far.

It’s tough being a younger brother.