J.J. Watt returned to the football field Saturday for the first time since October, and the Houston Texans defensive end gave his teammates a fiery pregame pep talk ahead of their wild-card matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
In the Texans’ win over the Raiders back in Week 8, Watt left the game with what turned out to be a torn left pectoral muscle. He had surgery to repair it two days later, but he was told it was a season-ending injury with a three- or four-month recovery timeline.
And for the wild-card game Saturday, Watt was wearing a microphone, which captured him giving this spectacular pregame pump-up speech to his teammates.
“How great do you want to be? That’s my question to you. How great do you want to be?! Leave everything you’ve got on that field tonight! Twenty teams sitting at home, 12 in the playoffs. How great do you want to be?! Every rep, every single play, let ’em know how great you are!”
Watt told ESPN that he planned to wear a harness in his first game back to keep him from extending his shoulder too much. He said he’ll know how healthy he is the first time he takes a hit and admitted playing is a risk that he considers worth it.