The Houston Texans are expected to get pass rusher JJ Watt back in their lineup against the Bills on Saturday, as the two faceoff in an AFC Wild Card matchup.
Watt suffered what appeared to be a season-ending pec injury in Week 8, but he’s back just in time for the postseason. The Texans even took him off their injured reserve list on Tuesday.
While the former Defensive Player of the Year will look to make his biggest impact on the field, off the field he already made his presence felt this week. Texans players this week were raving about a speech Watt gave his teammates before starting practice preparations for the Bills this week.
“I’m glad to have him back for sure,” left tackle Laremy Tunsil said via Texans Wire. “You should have heard that speech he said at practice. It kind of gave us chills. It was a good speech. It’s great to have a leader like J.J. Watt back. Let’s go.”
“I think activating J.J. is huge, mentally, spiritually, for sure,” defensive back Bradley Roby added. “He’s a big part of this city, on and off the field. He’s a leader for this team. I think his mere presence out there will affect the game in a great way.”
What was said exactly by Watt before facing the Bills? Only his coaches and teammates will know for sure. Watt himself downplayed things, though.
“I didn’t really give a speech,” Watt said. “I broke it down at the end of practice. Somebody’s got to break it down every day. Yesterday was my day so I broke it down. There’s really not much more to it than that. It was pretty standard.”
“I’m not going to go into details about what it was, it was just what I felt needed to be said. It’s very important, it’s a huge week. This is the NFL playoffs. 20 teams are at home, only 12 are left, so it’s very, very big,” Watt added.
Will Watt’s speech fire up the Texans to victory? The Bills will certainly have something to say about that this weekend.
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