How JJ Watt keeps his perspective

[gtexan02]

Cool article by ESPN. Watt is truly one of those rare finds. It gives me goosebumps thinking of how good he could be.

Football is a game. Yes, at the National Football League level it's other things, too, like a $9 billion machine that continues to grow and thrive and secure ridiculously lucrative television contracts so that voracious fans can get their fill.

It is entertainment, an escape from the workaday world of Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. But at its core, it is 11 on 11, just like they do it in Pop Warner and high school, except the boys have grown into men.

Football is not war. It is not a battle. It is not life or death.

J.J. Watt has seen the other side, and his perspective on the game he is now dominating in his second year as a defensive end for the Houston Texans has never been clearer.

"My job is a game and I love it, but it's not war," Watt said last week. "Nobody's getting shot at in our world."

Nobody's getting killed. That wasn't the case for 19 Americans in Afghanistan in June 2005, when a four-man Navy SEAL team came under attack from the Taliban. Three of the SEALs died. Sixteen other Americans, eight SEALs and eight Army night stalkers, were killed trying to rescue them when their helicopter was shot down. Only Marcus Luttrell, a Texas native and Navy SEAL, survived.

Watt read Luttrell's best-selling account of the SEAL's mission to capture or kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban leader thought to be close to Osama bin Laden. Over Memorial Day weekend, Watt attended an event in Rosenberg, Texas, honoring Danny Dietz, a SEAL who died in the operation, and met the wives of some of the SEALs who were killed. In July, he went to Coronado, Calif., and visited the SEALs' training facility. He checked out the obstacle course, shot guns, toured the facilities and became friends with several SEALs. .

Listening to the widows, talking with the SEALs, all gave Watt perspective and depth. They know war. He is just a football player, albeit one who is showing signs he could become one of the greats.

"They're remarkable human beings, so driven, so humble, and they're workers, just constantly working," Watt said. "They're so dedicated to what they do, so passionate about what they do, so stealth. No one knows who they are. They can't take any credit. They put in all this work and all this effort and they don't get credit. We get out here and millions of people watch us play and we get tons of credit. They get nothing."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/84...rspective-easy

We give the team flack sometimes for using character to move players up or down their draft board. I think its time to finally realize the wisdom in this approach. We have an incredible team of hard working guys who just want to win. And we don't have to worry about them having off the field issues

[Thorn]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

We give the team flack sometimes for using character to move players up or down their draft board. I think its time to finally realize the wisdom in this approach. We have an incredible team of hard working guys who just want to win. And we don't have to worry about them having off the field issues

Got to admit, it's kind of refreshing.

[Say Watt]

Goosebumps. That is all.

[Double Barrel]

JJ is a badass. Simply...a badass.

Thanks for the article, gtexan02! MSR

[houstonspartan]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Cool article by ESPN. Watt is truly one of those rare finds. It gives me goosebumps thinking of how good he could be.


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/84...rspective-easy

We give the team flack sometimes for using character to move players up or down their draft board. I think its time to finally realize the wisdom in this approach. We have an incredible team of hard working guys who just want to win. And we don't have to worry about them having off the field issues

Funny you should mention this. I was just thinking over the weekend how I've given this team flack for going after boy scouts, and yet, we have ended up with a great team full of competitive, hard-nosed NICE GUYS (it is possible).

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Cool article by ESPN. Watt is truly one of those rare finds. It gives me goosebumps thinking of how good he could be.


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/84...rspective-easy

We give the team flack sometimes for using character to move players up or down their draft board. I think its time to finally realize the wisdom in this approach. We have an incredible team of hard working guys who just want to win. And we don't have to worry about them having off the field issues

You're right. I admit it. I've raged over the Texans not taking chances on borderline guys and now that they are putting it together and I can see what they're trying to build and what it can be I've been wrong. If all they wanted to build was a football team the Texans could have done that a long time ago. I think they're trying to build nothing less than the best organization in football. I've thought for years that Kubiak got to stick around because McNair is really trying to find that guy who coaches for you for twenty years. He wants to find the next Lombardi, Landry or Shula. He wants a guy who wins and stays and becomes synonymous with excellence and winning. I was so wrapped up in disagreeing with the coach he picked to extend that chance to that I didn't see the rest of the team and front office being molded into this really great organization.

Plenty of mistakes along the way. Plenty of hard lessons have been learned. The payoff is that at some point we became a stable, classy organization. The polar opposite of the dysfunctional mess that left here in 1996.

[4Texans]

Watt is doing a sit-down interview with Gruden on Monday Night Countdown that's about to come up in a few minutes.

[houstonspartan]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

You're right. I admit it. I've raged over the Texans not taking chances on borderline guys and now that they are putting it together and I can see what they're trying to build and what it can be I've been wrong. If all they wanted to build was a football team the Texans could have done that a long time ago. I think they're trying to build nothing less than the best organization in football. I've thought for years that Kubiak got to stick around because McNair is really trying to find that guy who coaches for you for twenty years. He wants to find the next Lombardi, Landry or Shula. He wants a guy who wins and stays and becomes synonymous with excellence and winning. I was so wrapped up in disagreeing with the coach he picked to extend that chance to that I didn't see the rest of the team and front office being molded into this really great organization.

Plenty of mistakes along the way. Plenty of hard lessons have been learned. The payoff is that at some point we became a stable, classy organization. The polar opposite of the dysfunctional mess that left here in 1996.

We've pretty much always been a stable, classy organization. We've just never been a winning one.

[Stemp]

Originally Posted by 4Texans

Watt is doing a sit-down interview with Gruden on Monday Night Countdown that's about to come up in a few minutes.

Coming up in just a few minutes. 3 stories away.