Chalk up another accolade for Watt
Texans star becomes 1st defensive player to rank No. 1 in survey
An NFL quarterback touches the football between 60 and 70 plays per game, giving him an unparalleled influence on what happens — good or bad — on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays in the fall. An ordinary defensive end, in turn, might go weeks without touching the football even once.
But as anybody who follows the Texans knows, ordinary isn’t the adjective for describing J.J. Watt, who’s well on his way to becoming the greatest player ever at his position.
For the moment, however, he’ll have to settle for being judged — by his peers — to be the best player in the NFL at any position.
“That’s always been the goal: to try to be the defensive guy who can do what quarterbacks do,” Watt said on the NFL Network on Wednesday night, accepting congratulations for being the
No. 1 guy, ahead of even the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Previously, no one on the defensive side had ranked higher in the annual survey of players than middle linebacker Ray Lewis at No. 4 in 2011, the first year of the list.
Watt, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, doesn’t just stop touchdowns from being scored. He also scores them himself, defensively and offensively, while routinely batting footballs thrown by quarterbacks and tossing those same QBs around like rag dolls. Although he’s quick to give the high-profile men under center their due, he concedes nothing to them, either. Speaking from his log-cabin hideaway deep in the Wisconsin woods, Watt seemingly admitted he voted Rodgers’ No. 2 on his own list, presumably after himself.
“I think Aaron’s a great player,” Watt said. “He definitely deserved (the MVP award). He’s unbelievable at what he does. He puts the ball all over the yard. He puts his team in a great position to win. I’ve said the Most Valuable Player Award is a whole lot different than the best player award. I think he’s the most valuable for what he does for his team. A quarterback will always be the most valuable player on the field. There’s no arguing that. He touches the ball on every single play. He orchestrates an entire offense. He controls everything.
“But I’m very honored, and humbled, my peers voted me the best player. It always means a lot more when it comes from guys around the league, guys who play the game, guys that you respect.”
Help from his friends
It’s assumed Watt picked up nearly unanimous support from the other Texans, and as always, he was careful to ensure they received suitable props for helping him be the outsized force he has become in only four pro seasons.
“Obviously, I have to give my teammates and my coaches a ton of credit,” he said. “The coaches call the right plays, and my teammates put me in the right position (to make plays). I’ve got some great guys around me. We have a blast. It’s so much fun to go out there and play. I’m very thankful.”
Before the 2014 season, Watt signed the fattest contract ever given a defensive player, then delivered the kind of campaign that almost made him look underpaid. He recorded 201/2 sacks, a close second league-wide, and popped quarterbacks 60 times total, far and away the most. He ran an interception back 80 yards for a touchdown, recovered a fumble off a sack to trundle for another, and also scored three as a goal-line tight end.
“That dude is just a monster. He’s an animal,” Colts punter Pat McAfee said in an interview for the Top 100 show. “They say all men are created equal. I disagree, because J.J. Watt and I were not created the same.”
Nonetheless, there’s a hugely significant selfmade aspect to Watt, who trains obsessively, borderline maniacally. For example, this past offseason, when resting briefly on his laurels could have been easily forgiven, he ramped up his routine, working out with his personal trainer practically every day.
“I think he pushed me harder than he has ever has,” Watt said before his annual charity softball game May 1. “Because of that, we’re farther along in the process than we’ve ever been. That’s the most exciting part — there’s still so much offseason left and so much room to get better. My thinking always is, ‘What can I do to get better?’ Every single year, you have to do something to make yourself better. You can’t stay the same, because someone else is getting better.
“I know people are looking for a reason every single year to say that I’ve fallen off, lost focus. So I’m doing everything I can to prove I still have the same burning desire to be the best.”
To date, Watt has never not walked the walk after talking the talk. Video footage featured on the Top 100 show captures the whitehot fire in his flat belly. After crushing Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenburger, you see him back on the sideline barking, “I don’t care who they put in there at tackle! Whooo! Now they’ve got to deal with us!”
Mini-feud continues
Watt had publicly chided Mettenberger that week for tweeting out selfies before his first NFL start. Mettenberger, perhaps unwisely in a recent interview, called out Watt for “high school” behavior of his own, specifically the letterman jackets the Texans wore in 2012. The Texans face Tennessee on Nov. 1 at NRG Stadium, and Watt has no doubt already circled the date on his calendar, hoping that Mettenberger will be in the lineup instead of rookie Marcus Mariota.
As Watt warned in another clip filmed during a pregame stretching period, no doubt responding to some trash talking by an opponent, “All I know is, you mess with me, and you’ve got problems.”
Everybody else knows it, too, it would appear.