Watt unsure about what next act holds
Stirring return vs. Bills may not mean an increase in playing time vs. Chiefs
One muscle-flexing rip move by defensive end J.J. Watt provided much more than a key sack. The power move boosted the Texans’ spirits during his latest dramatic comeback from a major injury.
What will Watt do for an encore after helping lift the
Texans to an overtime victory over the Bills in his first game back from a torn pectoral?
The natural assumption surrounding the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year would be that he would emerge as a full-time contributor Sunday during an AFC divisional-round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead
Stadium.
That’s just a theory, not a fact, based upon how Watt, feeling the adrenaline and the high stakes of the game, played nearly every snap in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Bills. Watt began the game as a situational pass rusher but wound up playing 52 of 85 snaps overall (61 percent). The bulk of those snaps were in crunch time.
Two months after undergoing surgery to repair his chest, Watt didn’t experience any setbacks. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have to manage some pain or be cautious about the next step.
Watt cautioned that he won’t necessarily play a great deal more against Kansas City after returning early from what was thought to be a season-ending injury suffered against the Raiders in October.
“I’m not sure,” Watt said. “We’ll have a plan. Just because I played one game
doesn’t mean my pec magically healed. It’s still in basically the same situation it was in before this game, and obviously we played a little bit more in the last game than we expected to.
“So, it’s just a matter of making sure we have a good plan, sticking to the plan and doing what we need to do all week long to make sure it’s where it needs to be.”
When Watt got up Sunday morning, the afterglow of a victory engineered by quarterback Deshaun Watson and a defense that pressured Bills quarterback Josh Allen into mistakes faded into the familiar day-after pain. Days later, Watt is fine although he was limited in practice Wednesday.
“It feels good,” Watt said. “Obviously after not playing football for two months, then playing 50plus plays, you’re going to be sore, you’re going to be a little beat up.
“It was a quick reminder of how difficult the game of football is when I woke up on Sunday morning. That extra day was nice to be able to rest and recover and get back to work now with the guys. I’m ready to go.”
Watt scoffed at the suggestion that he’s involved in a medical miracle. It’s true that it’s unprecedented, though. That’s why Watt wanted to test the limits of his rehabilitation schedule when his doctor told him no one had ever attempted to try to come back this quickly from a torn pec.
“I don’t necessarily look at it as a miraculous comeback or anything because I’m dealing with it every day and it’s just what I do that day,” Watt said. “I think when you look at something from the outside perspective, you see it from a wider lens and you see it a bit more magnified and with a different lens.”
As skilled as Watt is, it was obvious that he was shedding some rust during the first half against the Bills. It was difficult for him to get into a rhythm after missing so much time and adapting to being a part-time player initially.
Watt eventually shook off the inactivity, recording a sack of Allen in the third quarter by beating rookie offensive tackle Cody Ford. That helped spark the Texans as they erased a 16-0 deficit and manufactured a 22-19 win.
“Obviously, when you take two months off and you haven’t been out there for that long, it’s going to take a little bit to get back into it, to get back used to the flow,”
Watt said. “I’m still dealing with the pec. It’s not like it all went away over the course of the last week. Still trying to work with it and do everything that I can while still being smart and making sure that I’m diligent with the way I attack the work and not trying to reaggravate it along the way.
“Once you get out there, the adrenaline takes over and the game takes over. It’s like riding a bike. You get out there and instincts take over. Once the third and fourth quarters come around and it’s go-time, everything kind of goes out the window and you just play football the way you know how to play it.”
Watt finished the game with one tackle, one sack and two quarterback hits.
It left Watt and the Texans wanting more while factoring in any lingering health concerns.
“I think he feels better,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “Obviously sore after the game, not just where he was injured but just sore from not having played football in a couple months. So, we’ll see how he does as we ramp up towards the game. I think we want him in there, so that’s probably how it’ll go.
“When you look at J.J. Watt and the game-changing plays he’s made and then the type of leader that he is, he really just sets an example for everybody. He got the crowd into it with that play. It was definitely a spark and it’s definitely a big deal when he’s when he’s out there for us, no doubt.”
After watching the Bills game, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was impressed.
Reid made no concrete predictions for how much Watt might play Sunday when he’ll be chasing around quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but it wouldn’t surprise Reid to see a lot of him.
“He did a nice job, obviously,” Reid said. “He’s a heck of a football player, future Hall of Famer. As far as his role goes, I don’t know that, you’d have to ask Bill, but it looks like he’ll probably play more I’d imagine.”
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