Culture / Sporting Life

J.J. Watt Beyond Angry After Lamar Jackson Toys With Texans (Again) — No. 99’s Fury Gives Houston Hope

A Leader Sounds Off

BY // 09.21.20

J.J. Watt sounds like a man who has had it. Had it with his Houston Texans losing the big games against elite opponents. Had it with teammates making stupid mistakes.

I’ve been listening to J.J. Watt press conferences since his rookie year in 2011 and Watt after Ravens 33, Texans 16 is the angriest I’ve ever heard him. Dressed in all white, and addressing reporters over Zoom in this new 2020 reality, Watt let loose. No. 99 was not messing around or trying to spare anyone’s feelings.

“At some point you’ve got to win these tough games against tough teams, good teams,” Watt says. “I’m sick of losing them that’s for sure.”

The Texans are apparently attempting to remake Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day after Andy Samberg already did. For it’s just more of the same over and over again for Bill O’Brien’s team and the McNairs’ entire franchise for that matter.

The Texans finally have a franchise quarterback locked in for the near future. But they look no closer to grasping what it takes to compete with the NFL’s true contenders.

Whether the opposite of championship DNA is, the Texans appear to have it. And this 31-year-old J.J. Watt who’s worked so hard to overcome injuries and still be playing sounds more than sick of this reality.

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“I mean, it’s good to get the sack obviously,” Watt says after putting on a vintage throwback No. 99 performance with two sacks, two tackles for losses, one Lamar Jackson pass swatted down and three hits on the Ravens quarterback. “But I prefer wins. So individual stuff doesn’t matter a whole lot when you’re not winning.

“Just trying to win.”

A pissed off J.J. Watt is good for these 2020 Houston Texans. In fact, it might be one of the only things that allows O’Brien’s team to break out of its funk going into 2-0 Pittsburgh next week. Deshaun Watson may be the new face of Houston’s NFL team, but Watt remains one of the most respected voices in franchise history. One whose words reach up to the owners’ suite.

When Watt is angry everyone on Kirby Drive takes notice

This is unplugged leadership J.J. Watt and the Texans are going to need more of it to survive this season with their dignity intact.

The Texans have lost to the two best teams in the AFC by a combined 67-36 margin. They’ll have to beat the Steelers — arguably the third best team — in Pittsburgh to avoid falling to 0-3.

With the playoffs expanding to 14 teams (nearly half of the 32-team league) this season, even an 0-3 start would not be the near automatic death knell it has been in the past. But it’s still a daunting enough scenario that even Ethan Hunt would try to avoid it.

J.J. Watt Texans
J.J. Watt is becoming an even more vocal leader when the Texans need it most.

Mad J.J. is a good sign. If rookie defensive tackle Ross Blacklock does not take a second look at how he handles himself and his whole approach to the game after getting called out by one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, he never will.

“It’s stupid. It’s selfish,” Watt says of Blacklock getting ejected for getting into it and going after the Ravens after the whistle in the fourth quarter. “It was a stupid play. I mean — I’ve spoken to Ross before and so it pisses me off. It’s a very selfish move. Late in the game and it’s dumb, very dumb to hurt your team in that type of setting for no reason.”

If pissed off J.J. cannot rouse this sleepwalking team nothing will.

Bill O’Brien’s Fourth Downs and J.J. Watt’s Fury

The Texans did not get blown out by the Ravens because Bill O’Brien went for a very makable fourth down try that failed. Just like that playoff collapse in Kansas City did not hinge on Bill O’Brien’s still correct decision to go for it on fourth-and-4 no matter how many lazy media narratives are spun around that. At least, O’Brien is coaching with a sense of urgency.

His team is certainly not playing with one. The Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs have shown the Texans what type of passion that championship level teams play with these opening two weeks. What’s staring the Texans back in the mirror is not pretty.

No wonder why J.J. Watt went off as much as this highly polished icon ever goes off. Watt’s endured and fought through a decade of this nonsense. Suffered soul-sapping losses that had nothing to do with what type of jacket anyone wore and everything to do with the culture in the locker room.

J.J. Watt has grown into something of a renaissance man, a force for difference making good in the community, a happily married man. He understands more than most that there are more important things in the world than football. Things he stands for.

But no one takes his football preparation more seriously —  and Watt’s clearly had it.

Watt is demanding more. Hopefully, the Texans start listening.

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