J.J. Watt: “Where we are can never, ever be acceptable”

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Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt wants everyone to know that he does not accept being 2-7.

“I stress that this situation, this feeling, where we are, can never, ever be acceptable in any fashion,” Watt said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I personally don’t think you should ever show up to work happy and excited and joyous when you’re 2-7. I don’t think this should be acceptable for players, for coaches, for fans, for anybody, front office. The message that I stress is find a way to put more work in. The only way to get better at football is to practice football.”

Watt says his teammates are well aware of his feelings on this season.

“I made my feelings known on that,” Watt said. “I tell guys that don’t ever let this be acceptable. That’s the biggest message I like to get across to these guys and to this organization and this city. I’m not going to say you have to live a miserable life, because there’s a lot of things, obviously, that are much more important than football. But when this is your job, when we get paid a lot of money to do it and we take a lot of pride in it, you can never accept this type of situation.”

The 2021 season is the final year on Watt’s contract. His comments raise the question of whether he’d rather be elsewhere next year, rather than accept playing for a rebuilding team.

30 responses to “J.J. Watt: “Where we are can never, ever be acceptable”

  1. Wonder if their “GM” will be savvy enough to make a decent trade. His salary isn’t terrible by any means which bodes well. I’d hope he’s worth a first rounder, and at the very least a couple 2nd rounders and a third kind of deal.

  2. They should trade him and Watson (and anyone else they can) for a zillion draft picks and re-build like Miami. But they won’t.

  3. All hollow words. They’re completely devoid of any meaning. Nobody cares if the Texans go 3-13.

  4. Gotta be on the field, J.J.
    * 2011 through 2015, he played every game, 16 per year, total of 80.
    * 2016 through 2019, he played a total of 32 games, and all 16 once (2018).

    When you’re getting paid big money to rehab instead of play, you handcuff the team’s ability to compete. Either they can’t sign other players because of your cap hit, or they were counting on you to do what you did on your rookie deal and not need to sign anyone else on the D-line. Plenty of this 2-7 is on O’Brien and the mess he left, but some of it is on you, J.J.

  5. Interesting take from a guy who has been a “leader” of the team that he’s complaining about. He’s like a 15 year vet, granted he’s been nothing but average over the last 5 years, but JJ let it get this way. He can’t stand up now and say “guys your mentality sucks”. Basically pointing the finger.

    Texans need to get a new coach and let JJ retire. Clearly the locker room stinks and maybe he’s the reason, they need new life.

  6. Oh yeah, he will be wearing a different uniform next year. The Texans window closed last year, they will be in rebuilding mode for the next 4 years. Watson has to feel like Matt Ryan at this point.

  7. Unfortunately the wise move for rebuilding the Texans is to trade Watt – one of the best players in the league – for as many picks as they can get. Their roster is a joke, and they need players at every position except QB. His charitable heroics in helping the people of Houston should never be forgotten, but he also deserves to play for a team that is committed to winning.

  8. Watt has about 3 good years. He better find a way out out of Houston fast if he wants a championship. I don’t think Watson can do it.

  9. It is very clear now this team doesn’t care about winning anymore especially after their last game.

  10. “I personally don’t think you should ever show up to work happy and excited and joyous when you’re 2-7. ”
    ——————————

    First, you should always be working to get better whether winning or losing. can’t be complacent anyways.

    Second, coming into work with a grumpy attitude will make the situation just worse where no one wants to be there at all. A positive attitude would be much more effective in leadership.

  11. They should’ve already begun gutting the roster and stockpiling picks so they can undo the damage that’s been done. The organization just keeps taking hits though; they may begin to resemble the Browns or Lions if someone doesn’t take the reins soon. The good things is in the NFL, you can turn it around much quicker than any other sports league – if you’re committed.

  12. Not sure how you can be a rebuilding team when you have a franchise QB, good OLine, Good receivers/te, and an average D. What’s missing here more than anything else is that this team doesn’t have an identity and it is difficult to identify who you are when you are getting beat up by your opponent. Last year, we could easily say this team was a passing team but then you traded away your best receiver who happens to be in the top 5 at his position in the league.

    This is a team that needs a couple of draft picks to pan out and maybe an upgraded running game and they will be back in the hunt.

  13. J.J is great at talking…Yea he’s great at talking. I remember when the media had this guy hyped beyond the stratosphere, and it was a huge game up in New England, and J.J was going to single handedly shut them down. He goes up there and he disappeared. Had no hits and zero pressures to go along with 1 tackle. Yea he took that game over alright, and that has been his entire career. He shines against weak teams, but completely disappears against quality opponents

  14. ebpatton says:
    November 19, 2020 at 8:00 am
    They should trade him and Watson (and anyone else they can) for a zillion draft picks and re-build like Miami. But they won’t.
    ———————————————————————————-
    Dumbest comment of the week! First, tell me about the teams that will line-up to trade a pick and then take on Watt’s $17.5 million salary for next season. Second, Houston just signed Watson to a massive contract. Do I need to go into details about dead money over the next three seasons. It is a ridiculous amount. Why trade a young franchise QB anyway? Houston is almost dead last in their run defense and applies little pressure to opposing QBs. Just shoring up their defensive line would make them competitive again.

  15. It’s an ownership issue. Good players want out. This will continue. Moral is very low. Don’t expect anything to change. They also have an overrated QB, so he isn’t going anywhere. Great QB’s get their coaches into the HOF. Bad QB’s get their coaches fired. The whole thing in Houston is just a big mess. Look at Tampa Bay. Jameis Winston was supposed to be a great QB. They fired coaches. Then brought in Bruce Arians to fix Jameis. Well, he fixed him alright. He got rid of him and brought in a great QB, now they’re winning. This isn’t nuclear science. The teams with the best QB’s win.

  16. redskinisjustaword says:
    November 19, 2020 at 10:14 am
    J.J is great at talking…Yea he’s great at talking. I remember when the media had this guy hyped beyond the stratosphere, and it was a huge game up in New England, and J.J was going to single handedly shut them down. He goes up there and he disappeared. Had no hits and zero pressures to go along with 1 tackle. Yea he took that game over alright, and that has been his entire career. He shines against weak teams, but completely disappears against quality opponents

    ————-

    YES. THIS ^^^.

    And let me refresh everyone’s memory on what he did after that one tackle, which was behind the line of scrimmage, very late in the game, and well after it was clear that the Pats would win.

    He looked over at the Patriots’ huddle and wagged his finger as if to say “no, no, no…”.

    That pretty much confirmed my suspicion that this guy’s head was in the wrong place.

    Good to great player. Mediocre to terrible mentality.

  17. Right now he is actually not playing very well. In the Browns game he decided to freelance instead of staying where the play called for and as a result the Browns ran wild.

  18. I don’t think that this is a rebuild as much as a revamp. Offensively the team has a ton of talent, I think they just need to find a better offensive coordinator who can maximize the talent. Defensively I don’t believe we are as bad as we have shown, though there are obviously a few glaring holes that should be addressed. The biggest problem for the team is that they got rid of Brian Gaine, who I think was doing a solid job as the GM of the team, and gave full powers to BOB. BOB then went and overpaid for every trade he made, either not getting enough value for players (Clowney, Hopkins) or overpaying for the guys he brought in (Cooks, Tunsil, Duke Johnson). As such we have little draft capital to quickly insert talent onto this team.

    The team will need to move on from a few players in the offseason – Kenny Stills, Duke Johnson, David Johnson, etc. and find some reasonably priced veterans. But I really think that with an actual GM in place, along with an offensive minded head coach (Joe Brady and Eric Bieniemy have to be considered), then I think this team can still compete for a wildcard next season.

  19. He will come “home” to Pittsburgh with his brothers next season. He wants to play for contender and he will take a pay cut to do it. What better situation could he have than with the black & gold?

  20. Steelers Fan says:
    November 19, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    He will come “home” to Pittsburgh with his brothers next season. He wants to play for contender and he will take a pay cut to do it. What better situation could he have than with the black & gold?
    ******************************************************************

    Agreed. He would take a pay cut for sure. He would also be a back-up as I don’t see him beating out Tuitt or Heyward.

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