The Houston Texans will not risk further injury to defensive end J.J. Watt. In his miraculous short-return from tearing his pectoral on Oct. 27, the 30-year-old is slated to play most of his snaps in Saturday’s playoff game with the Buffalo Bills as a pass-rusher.
Watt doesn’t mind that plan. He hasn’t hit the field since Week 8 and, by most medical standards, wasn’t expected to come back until 2020. However, he’s ready to rock.
“I think we have a good plan. I think we have a good plan for how we’re going to utilize the game and how we’re going to go throughout the game. I think today was a good day for me,” Watt said on Wednesday. “Today was my first day in pads. We were in pads out there on the field and it was good. I went through a lot of tests that I wanted to go through personally. Just mentally, when you’re coming back from – you’ve got to go through some tests mentally to make sure that you can do the things you want to do, and today was a really good day for that.”
Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, was activated off of the injured reserve on Monday. He practiced with full-pads on Wednesday and will suit-up to face the Bills in Saturday’s playoff matchup.
“I felt really good out there, did a whole bunch of different stuff to try and simulate what’s going to happen in the game and felt very good in all of those things,,” Watt said. “So, very pleased with where it’s at.”
The Texans’ pass-rush should benefit from the readdition from Watt. Though perhaps not his 2014 self, he is coming off of an All-Pro season in 2018. He tallied four sacks, 21 quarterback hits and four tackles for loss before suffering the torn pectoral against the Oakland Raiders.
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