Cardinals’ J.J. Watt has another snake encounter, this time planned
Oct 14, 2022, 8:10 AM
Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt had himself another snake encounter on Wednesday.
But unlike his last experience, this one was planned and for good reason.
Getting further engrained into life in the desert, Watt snake trained his dogs with the help of a handler, a rattlesnake and some makeshift headgear.
Rattlesnake training the dogs.
Sure as hell hope this tape holds up… pic.twitter.com/QoJlTIYIjz
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 12, 2022
“I knew what it consisted of, but my wife had two of her college teammates over and I don’t think they were ready for it,” Watt told reporters Thursday.
“I didn’t see the tape contraption until after. I thought it was a legit muzzle. I wouldn’t have been as close to that snake as I was if I had known that it was just a couple pieces of athletic tape.”
Luckily for the Watt family, it sounds like they were in good hands despite the little amount of material holding the rattlesnake’s mouth shut.
“Twice a day he has to put that tape on them every day for I think it was five-plus years and he’s never once been bitten,” the defensive end said. “The guy’s a pretty big badass.”
As for whether or not the technique worked?
“It was very successful, the dogs are scared (expletive),” Watt said with a smile.
“I was surprised with myself this time,” he added. “I got a lot more courage when I saw the muzzle so I can’t take too much credit. The dogs learned a lesson very quickly.”
Check off another box on the desert to-do list for Watt.