Watt poised to rejoin Texans for postseason

J.J. Watt returned to practice with the Texans on Tuesday, clearing the way for the star defensive end to play in the team’s playoff game in two weeks.

Watt has been out since Oct. 27 after tearing a pectoral muscle, an injury which required surgery.

“I feel really good,” Watt said. “We’ve worked extremely hard at rehab. We’ve had a very smooth process and everything’s been going extremely well. So I’m really, really excited to back in the field with everybody and to get back out there helping my team and playing for this city.”

The Texans will have 21 days from Tuesday to take him off injured reserve and add him to the active roster. If they plan to play him in their first playoff game, during the weekend of Jan. 4-5, they’ll have to activate him by 4 p.m. the day before the game.

Watt has been working out with the team’s trainers and medical staff away for a while and said he’s felt good during those workouts. He said he has been wearing a harness during those workouts and will continue to wear that to protect himself during practices. The harness keeps his arm from being pulled too far backward, but it will not restrict him from moving his arm forward or raising it up.

Watt said that he began thinking he might be able to return for the postseason not long after he was injured.

“When I got hurt I just assumed I was done,” he said. “I didn’t even know there was a possibility. And then literally a couple days after the surgery I was feeling so good that I asked — ‘is it remotely possible?’ We left the ... door open for a possibility.”

RAMS: Cornerback Jalen Ramsey will not play in the season finale against Arizona on Sunday because of a knee injury.

Coach Sean McVay said Ramsey is out after sustaining a knee injury in the 34-31 loss at San Francisco on Saturday that eliminated the Rams (8-7) from playoff contention.

STEELERS: Mason Rudolph’s starcrossed season is over. Pittsburgh placed the second-year quarterback on injured reserve Tuesday, two days after Rudolph hurt his left shoulder in the third quarter of a loss to the Jets.