'It was worth it': How J.J. Watt's early return gave Texans a spark

HOUSTON -- Deshaun Watson is used to seeing J.J. Watt do improbable things.

The Houston Texans quarterback spent half of his rookie season in 2017 in the team training room, recovering from a torn ACL. Working beside him, in his own rehab from a broken leg, was Watt.

Watson saw firsthand how hard Watt worked. So two years later, he wasn't surprised Watt accelerated the timeline for a return from a torn pectoral muscle. And when Watt's sack provided the spark needed in Houston's 22-19 comeback victory over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, Watson saw it coming.

"We just knew it was a matter of time that he was going to make a play," Watson said. "It's J.J. Watt, Hall of Famer. [He's] the best guy to do it, and eventually, he was going to get his opportunity.

"And that's what he did."

Watt's return, 69 days after tearing a pectoral muscle, was the latest example of his leadership role in the Texans' locker room. Watt knows he could have reinjured the muscle. But for at least one afternoon, when Houston completed a crazy comeback, the risk the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year took was rewarded. The Texans, after all, advanced to the AFC divisional round of the playoffs at the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday (3:05 p.m. ET, CBS).

"Sometimes, you've got to be crazy enough to try and understand the risks and accept the consequences if it [doesn't] work," Watt said. "But it was worth it. It was worth all the tests. It was worth all the work. It was worth all the s---ty, tough days.

"It was worth it."

'I feel weirdly good'

Three days after Watt had the surgery, he couldn't believe how good he felt. So he texted his doctor.

"I said, 'Doc, I feel weirdly good,'" Watt told ESPN's Lisa Salters. "Is there any possibility, like AFC Championship or Super Bowl, if we happen to make it that far, would I maybe be able to play?"

When his doctor didn't rule it out, it gave Watt the "sliver of hope" he needed to push the estimated recovery of three to four months to less than 10 weeks.

From that point, Watt's life revolved around rehab at NRG Stadium. With the exception of the bye week, when Watt flew to California to spend time with his brother Derek, a fullback for the Los Angeles Chargers, Watt was in Houston, quietly working.

"Whatever they would ... let me do, I would do, and I would do everything, and then I would listen to them," Watt said. "I'd stop when they told me to stop. But we would push. We'd test the boundaries, because every step of the way, I would ask the doctor, is there -- we would start trying some stuff that people don't try at that level or that many weeks, and he would say nobody's ever done this at this level.

"And I said, 'Well, has anybody ever tried?' He said no. I said, 'Well, then, how do we know?'"

Watt kept hitting checkpoints and passing tests. He methodically built his strength in the weight room. He talked to his teammate, Whitney Mercilus, who tore a pectoral muscle in 2017, and former teammate Christian Covington, who tore his biceps in 2017. And eventually, Watt and the medical staff targeted Christmas as possible date to return to practice.

"When the team would go on road trips, I'd be here working Saturday, Sunday, doing rehab," Watt said. "And then when the team was home, we'd do rehab before the game here and go out there and watch the game. But it was all hands on deck, for seven days a week, for eight weeks."

Watt had been through rigorous rehab before -- too many times, he'd probably tell you. In 2016, Watt needed two back surgeries, and the following season, he needed surgery after he broke his leg in Week 5. But this rehab was much easier, he said, because injuries to his back and his leg "really affect movement." Watt could run, work out his legs and do agility and position drills, which was "a huge help both mentally and physically for this recovery."

And the mental part was crucial for Watt, who said he has learned through all of his rehabs that you can't "let it get you down."

"Positive self talk can make such a difference in your life, and I think that's helped me a lot throughout these injuries, and this one especially," Watt said. "Just the belief that you can accomplish something really does make a difference, and you kind of manifest it into reality, and I think that's definitely helped in this case."

Watt said he kept the possibility he could return for the playoffs "pretty quiet," even around his teammates, because he didn't know if he could actually pull it off.

"You never want to over promise and under deliver, so I think this whole time I've never wanted to promise anything to anybody," Watt said the day he returned to practice, eight weeks after surgery. "I just wanted to promise that I was going to work hard every single day for the possibility of coming back, and that's all I've done."

Nothing for granted

A week after Watt announced he had returned to practice, he had a message for his teammates -- specifically the younger players.

"Some of these guys, it's their first year in the NFL and so you win the division, you go to the playoffs and you're kind of like, 'OK, this is just what you do,'" Watt said. "Well, no, you have to take advantage of every opportunity you have."

For all Watt's successes in his nine-year NFL career, it was only the second time he was on the field for a playoff victory. His first came after the 2012 season.

Watt's message to the team -- something he called simply "breaking down the huddle" at the end of practice -- gave left tackle Laremy Tunsil chills. "It's great to have a leader like J.J. Watt back," Tunsil said.

Bigger workload than planned

Going into Saturday, the plan was for Watt to play on third downs in passing situations, with he and the coaches "trying to pick our spots throughout the rest of the game, try and find pass-rushing situations and things like that."

He was on the field for 44% of the defensive snaps in the first half, but after the Texans started their comeback, he played 76% of snaps in the second half and overtime.