The Houston Texans are breathing a sigh of relief knowing that J.J. Watt’s torn pectoral muscle was able to withstand the overtime win against the Buffalo Bills.
The Kansas City Chiefs have enjoyed a late season week of rest and recuperation, a key for the final stretch run before the Super Bowl. The rigors of the regular season have now concluded, and every player is, in some way, fighting injuries and/or fatigue. Hence the reason why a bye week has proven to be so helpful for teams wanting to play in the Super Bowl.
Unfortunately for the Houston Texans, the AFC’s fourth overall seed is coming in bruised and battered. Not only did the Texans have to play and defeat the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round but they played nearly another full quarter of football in overtime. Wide receiver Will Fuller had to miss the game and is working his way back from injury. Meanwhile, J.J. Watt, the team’s star defender, ended up playing significant minutes despite just returning from a torn pectoral muscle injury.
Before this weekend’s OT win over the Bills, Watt had not played since tearing the muscle in Week 8 against the Oakland Raiders. At the time, it was believed to be yet another season-ending injury for the likely future Hall of Famer, but as the recovery timeline came into view, Watt believed he had a real chance to come back if his teammates could remain competitive enough to make the postseason.
Watt began Sunday’s game with a bit of a snap count as the team held him back in the first half. Watt described to reporters after the game a particularly shocking moment in which he wondered if he’d undone the recovery work.
"“I’m pretty shocked. I’m not going to lie. It feels pretty good,” Watt told reporters Saturday. “There was one play where he was rolling out, and I dove for him. Before I dove, I thought for myself, here it is. It’s either going to hold, or it’s going to go. And I dove, landed right on it, popped up, kind of checked it out. Looked over at the doctor, who was standing about 10 feet away, and it’s all right.”"
Down the stretch, the Texans set Watt loose on the edge and his presence was clearly felt by Bills quarterback Josh Allen on multiple occasions. Given his ability to get right back to work, the Chiefs are going to feel the same on Sunday with Watt’s presence very much effective on the edge for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs line. Watt’s ability to stay healthy also helps to free up talented teammates like Whitney Mercilus on the other side, creating challenges for both Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.
Watt will still likely be on some sort of snap count or under a watchful eye in order to ease him in if the Texans can get away with it in the beginning of Sunday’s game in the Divisional Round. When push comes to shove, however, it’s clear that Watt is back and ready to do what’s necessary to help the Texans repeat their Week 6 win over the Chiefs.