Bengals rookie RG Kevin Zeitler was teammates with J.J. Watt at Wisconsin. (AP)

Certain areas are renowned football hotbeds: South Florida, Georgia, Texas, Southern California, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

Not often would the Waukesha-Pewaukee Wisconsin corridor fall into that upper echelon. Yet, it will most certainly be the center of the football universe for Cincinnati and Houston at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Rookie RG Kevin Zeitler (Waukesha) and Houston star DE J.J. Watt (Pewaukee) grew up about a mile apart, only a short bridge separating the two. Both went to the University of Wisconsin and went on to become first-round draft picks. Sunday, Zeitler will be the man most often assigned the task of slowing the Texans' dynamic defensive player of the year candidate.

Nobody can claim to know more about Watt's abilities than Zeitler, who witnessed Watt change game after game at Wisconsin and watched intently as he did the same thing to the Bengals last year when his pick-6 before halftime flipped momentum of what spiraled into a 31-10 Houston victory in wild-card round.

“I was in Arizona watching [the playoff game],” Zeitler said. “He's just strong and his athleticism, even at Wisconsin he was able to do it all. Just make plays somehow to affect the team. He did it again.”

Watt, who has an NFL-leading 20.5 sacks, moves up and down the line. He'll line up on the edge against tackles Andre Smith and Andrew Whitworth as well as inside against the likes of Zeitler and LG Clint Boling. Watt's style can be considered unorthodox because he reads plays and will jump out of traditional defensive disciplines to make them, a rarity on the interior.

Occasionally, that means rushing out of his lane and many times that means reading the pass and swatting passes down, which has become his calling card. Watt knocked down 16 passes this season, most of any defensive lineman.

“It's just insane the things he can do,” Zeitler said.

The familiarity runs both ways. Zeitler claims his play “was rough back in the day,” blocking him at Wisconsin but after starting all 16 games as a rookie this year progressed to the point ProFootballFocus rated him the seventh-best right guard in the NFL this season.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Watt said. “I have a lot of respect for him and the way he approaches everything. I love Kevin -- he’s a great guy.”  

Despite their history, Zeitler doesn't believe any secrets exist to slowing the second-year standout. Aggression and matching Watt's relentless nature until the whistle remains the logical approach.  

“He has really long arms and takes advantage of them,” Zeitler said. “He can swim over you, he can pull and rip you. He has very few weaknesses if any. The big thing because he jumps and swats so many balls down you have to get on him and hold him down. You can't let him jump.”

His team's Super Bowl hopes could be hanging on how well the battle of Wisconsin turns out.

Follow Paul Dehner Jr. for Bengals updates on Twitter @CBSBengals.