Texans must save J.J. Watt from Superman

HOUSTON – In this city, J.J. Watt is Superman. He’s bigger than Hakeem Olajuwon, who brought two NBA championships home. He’s more recognizable than University of Houston track star Carl Lewis, the onetime fastest man in the world and nine-time Olympic gold medalist.

Flip on a TV in Houston and Watt is likely coming to your room in the next commercial break. Turn a few corners in the sprawling Galleria shopping center and you’ll see his 99 jersey on shoppers and inside store windows. Go to Watt’s charity softball game and you’ll sit amongst 30,000 spectators in Minute Maid Park, a bigger crowd than the Houston Astros’ 28,000 average attendance.

This is how he lived up to that brand: winning three NFL defensive player of the year awards; rivaling Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor as one of the most unblockable players in history; and always showing up, regardless of bumps and bruises, rain or shine. In fact, show up 83 games in a row. Eighty-eight if the postseason is counted. Be dependable. Live up to it all, the contract, the hype, the commercials, the expectations.

J.J. Watt embraces all of this. He invites it. He rises to meet it. And that’s what has to worry the Houston Texans because while J.J. Watt is busy trying to live up to his Superman billing, someone has to protect him from himself. When it comes to the franchise cornerstone and his latest back injury, that should be the primary directive for the next week, month, year, whatever overly cautious timeframe it takes to get Watt’s career back on track.

Watt is the last player – by miles – that this franchise can afford to lose. Nobody summed it up better than Texans coach Bill O’Brien when he opened his news conference Wednesday.

“You can never replace the best player in the NFL,” O’Brien said.

As O’Brien continued, it became apparent the franchise is already sensitive to questions about whether Watt pushed himself back too early – or if the team should have played a more cautious role in keeping him sidelined. The Texans don’t want this story portrayed as some mistake of impatience, either by the franchise or Watt himself.

“J.J. did everything, absolutely everything he could do to get back on the field after surgery this summer,” O’Brien said. “He followed his doctor’s orders. He played it smart. He passed every test before being cleared to play. He felt good in the Kansas City game, felt like he was starting to play like himself again.

“I have no idea when his back injury reoccurred. I just have no idea about that. It’s flared up to a point where he can’t continue to play right now. Going on IR will give J.J. all the time that he needs to make sure that he’s 100 percent healthy and back to being himself the next time he steps on the football field.”

That’s a long-winded way of saying, “The doctors cleared him and he was ready to go … so he went.”

The hindsight doesn’t matter. Watt may have been 100 percent and his doctors may have given the green light. And the chances of the injury reoccurring also might have been just as high if he had waited an additional month. He also may have pushed himself too hard in the rehab process, or worn himself out with his offseason workout retreats. Unless this was a clear case of the Texans pushing him onto the field too early, or Watt forcing himself onto the field before he was ready, there will never be a way of definitively knowing whether Watt was destined for this setback.

All that matters now is Watt understanding that his career-long run of dominance may be hanging in the balance. Back injuries in the NFL are no joke. Next to concussions, a failing back may be the most frightening malady that any player can endure. Depending on the specific problem, back issues can be tricky and lingering, and manifest in a host of other injuries.

The Texans have some experience with that, too. Look no further than Arian Foster, the franchise running back whose 2013 season ended with a back injury. After that season, Foster’s body began a rapid decline that resulted in him playing in 17 of his 32 remaining games. Finally, last offseason, Houston had seen enough and released him.

Imagine that happening to Watt.

It shouldn’t sound too far-fetched. He admitted that he considered retirement following last season’s groin injury, which required a completely separate surgery from the one that repaired his herniated disc. Should this latest go-around end badly and Watt’s back issues translate into a multitude of other problems, it’s not unthinkable that the Texans lose the remainder of his prime.

That’s why the theme of protecting Watt from himself has to start now. Already, the Texans seem to have left the door open to Watt potentially returning this season. That seems dubious at best, considering the stakes. It would be absurd to suggest the Texans aren’t taking this latest problem seriously. Putting Watt on injured reserve this quickly sends a message that O’Brien spelled out Wednesday.

“This decision made by the organization is in the best interests of J.J.’s long-term health,” O’Brien said. “And that’s what’s most important to us – this organization, this team – obviously the health of the player.”

For now, the IR designation sits Watt down for eight weeks. After that, it’s a matter of reassessing his health and managing the appetite of a player who is likely to want to get back onto the field. For coaches, that can be a difficult management process, particularly when it involves elite players. Guys like Watt are used to winning every room, every meeting and every injury diagnosis. To expect this to be different would be naïve.

Clearly he’s already thinking about it, tweeting out a statement to fans on Wednesday that was capped with an Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque line: “I will be back.”

So begins the process of protecting Superman from himself. For the next two months and possibly into the offseason, the Texans have their work cut out for them. And it starts with convincing Watt that his focus should be on getting better, not getting back.

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