The 51-31 loss in the AFC divisional at the Kansas City Chiefs did not go as expected for the Houston Texans, and was the complete opposite of the wild-card game against the Buffalo Bills for both the team and defensive end J.J. Watt.
The game between Kansas City and Houston was a tale of two quarters after the Texans jumped out to an early 24-0 lead that left everyone at Arrowhead Stadium and around the nation stunned.
The Chiefs came into the game as 10-point favorites and instead they were on the verge of suffering an enormous rout, but then the tides of momentum changed when they marched down the field, scored, then scored again, then scored again and the Texans were never able to recover.
For Watt, his performance was nowhere near the level it was against the Bills.
Against Buffalo, the 6-5 defensive end recorded a sack on quarterback Josh Allen that forced the Bills to settle for a field goal, which kept the game within two possessions and helped turned the tides towards Houston’s favor as the team eventually came back to win in overtime.
Watt also pressured Allen multiple times and forced hurried throws in the win.
Against Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, however, Watt’s impact was almost non-existent as he finished with zero sacks, zero tackles and did not really threaten to bring down Mahomes at any point in the game.
There were multiple possessions where Watt looked gassed on the field, and he seemed to be slower than the Chiefs players on many plays although in Watt’s defense, so did many of the Texans’ defenders after the first quarter.
Watt did have one deflection in the second half that popped into the air and had an outside shot of being intercepted, but the ball fell harmlessly to the ground and the Chiefs scored on the drive regardless, even if it was just a field goal.
Despite the struggles, Watt should be commended for even playing in the game at all. As everyone knows, the former Wisconsin Badger’s season was expected to end after he tore his pectoral muscle back in Week 8 against the Oakland Raiders.
Now Watt has an entire offseason to completely let the muscle heal up and prepare for the 2020 regular season.
Watt ends the 2019 regular season and playoffs, in which he played 10 games, with five sacks, one forced fumble and 26 total sacks.