Can Panthers rookie Greg Little hold up against Texans’ Mercilus and JJ Watt?
Forgive Greg Little, the Carolina Panthers’ 21-year-old rookie offensive tackle, for being a little awestruck about the idea he is about to face Houston defensive end J.J. Watt.
Watt, 30, is a pass-rushing legend and a three-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year who Little grew up watching when he was a teenager in Texas.
“Man, did I watch him!” Little said. “I remember like when I was in high school saying one day I might get to block him. And it’s funny now. I’m looking up and it’s like, ‘Today is that day!’
Well, it’s really Sunday. But you get the point.
Little has only played in one NFL game — last Sunday in Arizona, where he didn’t start but played half the snaps while alternating with Daryl Williams at left tackle in Carolina’s 38-20 victory. Now Little may start this Sunday at left tackle, as Williams has been temporarily switched to right guard because Trai Turner (ankle) is hurt.
Watt lines up mostly against right tackles, but Houston’s other standout rusher is off to an even better start. The Texans’ Whitney Mercilus will be crashing toward quarterback Kyle Allen’s blind side on most passing downs. Mercilus already has four sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception in only three games.
In other words, Little has basically had a half-hour prep course and is about to take a graduate-level test in protecting the passer.
“It’s the NFL,” Little shrugged. “Everybody’s good.”
These are the sorts of games the Panthers drafted Little to play. Carolina traded up to get the Ole Miss tackle at No. 37 overall, early in the second round of the 2019 draft.
Said Panthers coach Ron Rivera that night when he explained the trade, which cost Carolina the No. 47 and No. 77 picks: “We had a chance to get a guy at a premier position that can come in and compete for playing time immediately. We think he has all the skills to be our starting left tackle for a long time.”
Little, who’s not little at all at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, missed Carolina’s first two real games due to a concussion he sustained in the preseason Aug. 22nd against New England. He said he set up too high on a block against the Patriots and got hit somewhere around the chin. Little said he had also had a concussion in college. After this one, he couldn’t sleep well for a few nights and wasn’t able to drive a car for a few days as he navigated the NFL’s concussion protocol. What he most missed was playing.
Said Little: “It was weird. I felt like I let my team down, you know? Those guys are out at practice. Dying. Tired. I felt like I should be out there with them. Just being out there on the field with my guys, working out and running around, that’s the best thing ever. So I’ve just enjoyed being back.”
Little was on the field blocking for the Panthers’ two most spectacular plays last Sunday — Christian McCaffrey’s 76-yard touchdown run and DJ Moore’s 52-yard TD catch. On the McCaffrey run, Little extricated himself from his block and ran down the field to celebrate.
“I get up and look and I see him running,” Little said, “and I just start sprinting too, because I’m so happy.”
The Panthers have employed a left tackle from Ole Miss before — Michael Oher, subject of the movie “The Blind Side” and Carolina’s left tackle during the 2015 Super Bowl season. Little knows Oher a little bit and has also met his real-life mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy, who was played by Sandra Bullock in the film.
In an anti-Hollywood ending, the Panthers released Oher in early 2017 after he failed a physical due to concussion-related health problems. They then tried Matt Kalil at the left tackle spot, but he washed out after two years due to a knee injury.
Little is supposed to be the future, and maybe the present. If Turner recovers in time to play, Williams will switch back to left tackle and the rotational system may be in place again. But sooner or later, left tackle will be Little’s spot.
He still needs to work on his run-blocking — that’s one reason why Little lasted until the second round. But he faced Arizona’s Terrell Suggs and Chandler Jones last week in some one-on-one pass rush situations and did well.
“I respect those guys a lot, so just getting good work against those guys was an honor,” Little said. “It was confidence-building … and kind of reassuring, too, to let yourself know you can do this at a high level.”
It won’t get much higher than Sunday’s level. Watt, Mercilus — and the rookie. Wish Greg Little luck. But more than that, wish that he will need no luck at all.
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Can Panthers rookie Greg Little hold up against Texans’ Mercilus and JJ Watt?."
