Naive Giants OT refuses to admit T.J. Watt got the best of him on MNF

There's a difference between being confident and naive. Jermaine Eluemunor is the latter. Before his Monday Night Football matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8, the Giants offensive tackle expressed how he wanted to be 'left on an island' with Watt all day.

We knew that wasn't going to end well for him.

As expected, the Giants devoted extra attention to containing T.J. Watt. Though this held Watt in check for most of the game, it's impossible to keep the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year down for long. By the end of the game, Watt recorded seven tackles, two sacks, two tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

But instead of being humbled by this experience against one of the best defenders of this generation, Eluemunor played it off as Watt made zero impact on MNF.

"I was on an island with him for a majority of the game. And he didn‘t do a [expletive] thing. I’m not gonna sit here and fricking sing his praises," Eluemunor said on WFAN Radio. "He didn’t do anything for three-and-half quarters and had one impact play."

I mean, Eluemunor was literally the guy who gave up the strip sack and fumble recovery to Watt which effectively ended the game.

What Eluemunor said on WFAN Radio simply wasn't true. He was not left on an island with T.J. Watt all day (as evidenced by Watt's league-high chip rate, in a tier of his own). When he was, things didn't go well.

T.J. Watt wrecked the Giants' chances of a MNF comeback win

Pro Football Focus grades were telling. Watt earned a 91.7 overall grade from PFF and his 91.7 pass-rush grade led all NFL players in Week 8. Meanwhile, Eluemunor earned a 62.0 overall grade. Watt's performance against Eluemunor on Monday Night Football was accompanied by AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

This wasn't an abysmal performance from the Giants' right tackle. Eluemunor had a handful of really good reps against Watt. But his attitude after the game is the wrong approach after Watt feasted in the second half and made the game-winning play.

J.J. Watt later came to his brother's defense on The Pat McAfee show and expressed how ridiculous it was for Eluemunor to believe he won the battle against the All-Pro edge rusher on Monday Night Football.

"I mean, what are we doing here, man? What are you doing?" J.J. asked concerning Eluemunor's comments. "You gave up the strip-sack fumble that lost the game."

An offensive lineman can be great on ninety percent of his reps, but if the other ten percent are bad, how can you count your performance as good? The attention from the Giants Watt drew in this game allowed Alex Highsmith to feast against left tackle Chris Hubbard on the opposite side. Highsmith earned 11 pressures, six QB hits, and a pair of sacks on MNF.

Enough with the outlandish statements, Jermaine Eluemunor. Just admit that when you went toe-to-toe with a future Hall of Famer, you didn't do your job when it mattered most.