J.J. Watt shows how a $100M lineman can have bigger impact than a QB

HOUSTON – Late in the fourth quarter, after Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III watched a pass carom off the outstretched arms of Houston Texans star J.J. Watt, the defensive end trotted away, wagging a cautionary index finger.

"No, no, no," Watt mouthed, as if Griffin should have known better.

At that stage of Sunday's 17-6 Texans win, the die had been cast – Griffin and Washington's offense had been solved, Watt and Houston's defense had not. It was an appropriate snapshot of two players whose season opener proved that sometimes what you see early in an NFL season could be a fair depiction of what you're going to get. Watt is everything – every single pound and $100 million penny – that the Texans know he can be. And Griffin? He was his dinking, dunking, pea-shooting, no-running best – which the Redskins have to hope he won't be.

One star is casting a tremendous shadow. The other star is turning into one.

To be fair, this is a Week 1 assessment, high tide in the NFL for rash judgment. Come Tuesday morning, every NFL team will be either undefeated or winless, the majority of fans popping champagne or drowning in sofa cushions. But not all Week 1 looks are misleading. Particularly when they follow sustained periods that have pointed arrows in distinct directions.

Griffin is trending flat. Watt is exploding. And it means everything for their respective teams.

The Sunday afternoon snapshot was one of Griffin treading water, playing safe, eating only what he was given. Meanwhile, Watt was gluttonous, taking and taking and taking. While the Washington defense was failed by Griffin's offense, Houston's offense was hoisted by Watt's defense.

Texans coach Bill O'Brien called it "a good feeling," while his counterpart Jay Gruden coined the Redskins' failures as "frustrating."

Gruden in particular had good reason to worry. He watched a defensive scheme that is bound to become familiar against his quarterback this season – Cover 2, Cover 3, soft secondary play, pushing bump-and-run wideouts underneath. And the Redskins happily took all of it Sunday, never really offering a wrinkle that forced a change.

It was a great way to pump up a stat sheet, but leave without a win. So that was the Redskins' silver lining, talking up how "close" everything seemed. After all, just look at the measurable: 29-of-37 passing, 5.7 yards per rush, winning time of possession. If you hadn't seen it live, it looked like a game Washington would have won. But the reality is Houston played in a mode of appeasement. The Texans thrashed Griffin while letting him complete short passes, then made all the plays that mattered when the Redskins threatened.

In truth, after Griffin fumbled away a red zone opportunity early in the third quarter, Washington never really looked like a threat to break out. Instead, the Redskins existed on a steady diet of small-ball, making them feel in the game but never really threatening.

Meanwhile, Houston's defense popped, dragging along an offense that scored 10 points in spite of itself. That's right on schedule because Ryan Fitzpatrick is the answer at quarterback this season and the big-play depth is lacking. But Houston can win games with Watt and this defense, barring a spate of injuries, which is worth noting after No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney went down in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury. An MRI is scheduled for Monday. The Texans fear that Clowney has a meniscus tear that requires surgery, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported.

But when it came to the two anointed superstars in this game, Watt looked capable of delivering everything we have come to expect, and Griffin looked pedestrian.

It was Watt who plowed into the backfield early in the third quarter and fell onto Griffin's fumble. Griffin tripped on the play, reached for Alfred Morris, a poor decision, and never made the handoff. And there was Watt, waiting in the backfield.

Which was appropriate. While Griffin and the offense were being appeased, Watt was imposing at every turn. Single blocker? Sack. Extra point? Blocked. Double-team? Tackle for loss. A single-block from a shotgun set? Watt knocked Morris down with a Redskins lineman.

When it was over, Watt's stat line was as much a statement about earning his new $100 million contract as anything else: one sack (should have been credited with two), two tackles for loss, one extra point blocked, one pass knocked down, five quarterback hits (should have been credited with six). All of that, and an unquantifiable emotional impact on a defense that carried Houston's offense that scored all of 10 points.

That is the otherworldly impact of a player squarely in his prime and worthy of being called one of the NFL's five best players. And Watt did it despite being arguably the most prepared for player on the Texans' entire team.

And this is what stood out Sunday as the greatest contrast in two players with nonsensical amounts of talent. Watt is his team's trigger. And that is where Griffin should be going. Instead, he's languishing. He's not running for fear of taking hits, but he's taking punishment anyway (three sacks and 14 total hits on Sunday). He's working with two wideouts – DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon – who have deep speed but are only being given underneath routes. He's playing behind an offensive line that is either incapable of protecting his style of play or unaware of how to accomplish it.

And, well, he's not that alarmed about any of it. That might be why he wasn't voted captain this season by his teammates. One only needed to listen to him after the loss.

"The thing you can take, the good from this game [is] us moving the ball," Griffin said. "Stats don't win you games, but if you look at total yards, time of possession and the amount of first downs we were getting, it was building up to where you would think we had 28-35 points. And we just gotta score those points."

Griffin is right. But the Redskins didn't. So it comes off like a quarterback who took the vanilla offense he was offered all night long and tried to make it sound like it was something better.

The season is just beginning, and Griffin has time to work out who he is as a quarterback. But it's not too early to see the difference between what makes a great player great – See: Watt – and what makes a great player average. Griffin is efficient and average, and still lacking the magic of 2012. Until he imposes himself as he did in 2012, the Washington Redskins are going to see only more of that wagging finger.

And a whole lot of no, no, no.