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This will be his second straight season ending injury and he will be 30yr old when he comes back after a spin surgery and knee surgery. He will probably come back as a quality minutes or rotational DL, but is his days as a top ten defensive player in the NFL officially over?

Over? Not likely.

Overrated? Absolutely not.

When he comes back, i think he can still make 1-2 pro bowls as at DT, but ya his speed is defiantly gone, he actually looked really slow in the 4 games he played this year and wasn't putting any pressure on the QB. He already looked like an average DE after the spin surgery, now his bum leg is totally going to slow him down.

Overrated career, probably yes to this. His career has been overrated because he is white, and because he lives in an era where NFL teams don't run the ball any more. Just think how many sacks White, Bruce Smith, Joe Greene, Kevin Green, etc, if they played today and didn't have to worry about the other teams' run game.

If you think he wasn't playing well this season then you weren't watching the texans. The attention the guy drew from the opposition was insane. Forget the fact he didn't have a sack he was taking on two guys every time.

No overrated, the guy has been an absolute nightmare for QB's for years. Sad to see him go down. Fwiw though Mercilus is an equally big loss for us. Talk about the worst way possible to start a game last night, sickening.

As a Cowboys fan, it's in my nature to look askance at anything associated with Houston.

But seriously - J. J. Watt... overrated? Hell no!

Ya he is done. He didn't even get hit hard on that last play, it was practically almost a non-contact play and his leg broke in half and the other guy barely touched him.

orlandomanic wrote:When he comes back, i think he can still make 1-2 pro bowls as at DT, but ya his speed is defiantly gone, he actually looked really slow in the 4 games he played this year and wasn't putting any pressure on the QB. He already looked like an average DE after the spin surgery, now his bum leg is totally going to slow him down.

Overrated career, probably yes to this. His career has been overrated because he is white, and because he lives in an era where NFL teams don't run the ball any more. Just think how many sacks White, Bruce Smith, Joe Greene, Kevin Green, etc, if they played today and didn't have to worry about the other teams' run game.

Lets not go here.

bwgood77 wrote:

orlandomanic wrote:When he comes back, i think he can still make 1-2 pro bowls as at DT, but ya his speed is defiantly gone, he actually looked really slow in the 4 games he played this year and wasn't putting any pressure on the QB. He already looked like an average DE after the spin surgery, now his bum leg is totally going to slow him down.

Overrated career, probably yes to this. His career has been overrated because he is white, and because he lives in an era where NFL teams don't run the ball any more. Just think how many sacks White, Bruce Smith, Joe Greene, Kevin Green, etc, if they played today and didn't have to worry about the other teams' run game.

Lets not go here.

+1

Over? As the JJ Watt we have watched over the years? Yes. Dennis Pitta came back for one last nice year, but he wasn't Dennis Pitta. I looked up this type of fracture and it looks at least as devastating as Pitta's torn hip. It mentions causing arthritis. I don't know if that's immediate or something you'd expect long term, but that can't bode well.
Overrated. No. Again, I use the Ravens as my point of reference. I watched him absolutely abuse prime years, pro bowler Marshall Yanda in a playoff game. You wouldn't say Sean Taylor or Terrell Davis or Gayle Sayers or Earl Campbell were overrated. He has played on that same level.

orlandomanic wrote:he lives in an era where NFL teams don't run the ball any more. Just think how many sacks White, Bruce Smith, Joe Greene, Kevin Green, etc, if they played today and didn't have to worry about the other teams' run game.

This is a valid point, however invalid other points were. Sacks are easier to come by, by virtue of the game changing. That said, does that make RBs who get to 1500 yards more elite than previous RBs who got to 1500 yards? What about 150+ tackle ILBs?

Watt has been an excellent rush defender as well, so while the sack total might be inflated, he's still an elite guy and a likely hall of famer. 76 sacks in 88 games, including 2 20 sack seasons, is damned impressive. Literally averaged a sack per game if you exclude his rookie year.

His career isn't over, he's just breaking down. Played every game for 5 years straight, that takes a toll on the body. Houston would be wise to make him a more rotational DE than every-down DE going forward.

Cactus Jack wrote:Over? Not likely.

Overrated? Absolutely not.

Over, YES.
Over rated, hell no. But at least he can go back to making commercials again. He's good at that and maybe can hook back up with Ellen.

News now doesn't look good for JJ and he might never come back to football again. He might over work and try to do a "i'll prove all the doctors wrong" thing, but it looks like if he does come back, he will be in another AP situation.

I think Watt will have a legacy similar to that of Steve Nash or Derrick Rose, that as time keeps passing, the worst and worst his legacy gets.