J.J. Watt gets two sacks in final NFL game, but Cardinals finish with loss

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Hours before the Cardinals took the field here for their final game of the season and J.J. Watt arrived at Levi’s Stadium for the final game of his NFL career, the star pass rusher was greeted with a special message on social media by his two younger brothers.

T.J Watt, an edge rusher for the Steelers, and Derek Watt, a fullback for the Steelers, arrived at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh for their game there against the Browns wearing their big brother’s No.99 Cardinals jersey. T.J. wore a black one, Derek a red one, and they posed for a photograph that the Steelers sent out via Twitter.

If he wasn’t emotional already, J.J. got there upon viewing the picture on his Twitter feed.

“Man, oh man, I wasn’t ready for this this morning,” he tweeted. “Genuinely could not ask for two better brothers. This means the world to me.”

Sunday began a hell of a lot better than how it ended for the elder Watt. Yes, he had two sacks, making Brock Purdy the 50^th different QB he’s sacked in his career, but the Cardinals got steamrolled by the 49ers, 38-13, for their seventh straight loss.

That makes 10 sacks in the last 10 games for Watt, who finished with a team-high 12½ overall to reach double digits for the sixth time in his 12-year career. He finishes his career with 114½ sacks, good enough for 24th all-time. Still, it was a lousy way to go out – for both the Cardinals and Watt, the future Hall of Famer.

“I wish it was a win. I wish it was a win because it would (end) it properly,” said Watt, who left the game to a rousing standing ovation at the two-minute warning, his wife, Kealia, tearing up in the stands as she watched. “But the way the fans here acted, the way the 49ers acted, it was a little bit reminiscent of my last game at Wisconsin, which was really cool and my mom actually said that out there.

“When I left there, there could have been a lot of times where I was like, ‘What if I came back for my senior year?’ But it felt right and it still feels right, right now.”

Before their team meeting Saturday night, coach Kliff Kingsbury had a special surprise for Watt and the entire group. It was a 10-minute video tribute No.99 put together by defensive ine coach Matt Burke and included personal shout outs by Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, T.J. Watt and others.

Watt admitted watching it made him get emotional for the first time since he decided to retire.

“The second that video turned on, I lost it. I mean, I absolutely lost it,” Watt said. “I was balling like a baby and I didn’t stop until well into the night. … It hit me in a different way that I never expected. I’m forever thankful for Burke for putting together that video. It was one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received. It is truly something that I will cherish for the rest of my life and I thank every single person on that video who sent in a video because that was truly unbelievable.”

Other than a 77-yard touchdown pass from David Blough to A.J. Green on a flea-flicker on the second play of the game from scrimmage, it might have been the biggest highlight from the entire weekend for the Cardinals. What took place during the rest of their game was a reel full of bloopers and lowlights.

It included three second-half turnovers by Blough (two interceptions and a fumble) that the 49ers converted into 17 points, another dizzying number of penalties by the NFL’s most penalized team (seven for 50 yards), more instances of poor tackling and defending, and general frustration all around.

Not that it wasn’t expected given opponent — the 49ers have now won 10 games in a row — and the circumstances.

To say the Cardinals were shorthanded on Sunday would be an understatement. They’ve used a franchise-record 81 different players and had eight players out Sunday because of injuries and that was on top of having already sent 19 different players to season-ending injured reserve, the third most of any team in the league.

Two more players got hurt against the 49ers, as Blough and left tackle Josh Jones left the game near the end of the third quarter with concussion symptoms and a knee injury, respectively. Backup quarterback Trace McSorley threw a fourth-quarter interception, but the 49ers showed some mercy and didn’t kick a field goal when they could have poured it on.

Only two Cardinals players — right tackle Kelvin Beachum and strong safety Jalen Thompson — started all 17 games this season.

After missing 10 games last season following major shoulder surgery, Watt only missed one game during his second year with the Cardinals — the season opener against Kansas City. But in his final year he managed to put up the type of numbers that made him a five-time first-team All Pro and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

“He is an amazing player,” Beachum, an 11-year veteran, said. “The frame that he has, the ability that he has to bend, the way he plays with his hands, his effort is outstanding. It’s always been outstanding. From an offensive lineman, you hate him. You want him to be on your team and luckily, I’ve been a teammate of his the last two years and have appreciated it battling him in practice much like I battled against him a number of years when he was in Houston.

“He’s going to go down as one of the best for a reason. The ability to be able to disrupt the quarterback even without touchdown the quarterback. … He just did a phenomenal job of wrecking games and you had to always know where he was on the field. Even in practice you’ve got to know where he is. He’s going to be missed. His presence was felt for a number of years across a number of offensive line rooms.”

Although his tenure in Arizona was short, it was a meaningful and memorable stay for Watt and what he meant to the organization, the fans, his coaches and his teammates, specifically young players such as defensive end Zach Allen, inside linebacker Zaven Collins and rookie outside linebackers Cameron Thomas and Myjai Sanders.

Watt took them and others under his wing and not only taught them the tricks of the trade, but encouraged them and made them feel special.

Asked how long Watt’s mark will be left on the Cardinals despite his short stay, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph replied, “I hope for a long time.”

“Obviously, your culture is pushed and driven through your players,” he added. “Every coach is saying the same thing around the country about work hard and do things right, eat right and go to sleep, but players push the culture and you hope Zach and Myjai and Cam and those guys kind of take his example and pass it on.

“That’s what you want from your great players, from Budda (Baker) and those guys. You want guys to mimic that, so Cam becomes what J.J. is, and the next guy who comes in, he mimics that. Having J.J. here for two years should help our culture moving forward.”

Whether its mentoring younger players or giving back to the community and providing aid, like when he helped raise $37 million for the Houston area after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Watt said all he wanted to do was help make a difference.

“At some point every body gets forgotten about,” Watt, who was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2017, told reporters on Friday. “I just hope that I’ve passed along enough things and I’ve made enough of an impact to where somebody else can pass it along and them somebody else can pass it along. I don’t need anybody to remember me. I enjoyed it while I had it. I enjoyed every single second of it.

“I just hope I’ve passed on enough knowledge and I’ve passed on enough things in he community that somebody else passes it on and we create a chain reaction, a ripple effect and hopefully, in some small little way we’ve changed the world. Not because of me, but because of all the people that helped me do it. I don’t need anybody to remember me; I’m thankful and I’m grateful and I’m well aware of the fact that someday I’ll be forgotten.”

It won’t be anytime soon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: J.J. Watt gets two sacks in final NFL game, but Cardinals finish with loss