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    J.J. Watt Snubbed

    Snubbed by Sports Illustrated, J.J. Watt angrily takes over as the Case Keenum debate rages on

    Chris Baldwin
    Nov 20, 2013 | 6:04 am

    Sports Illustrated deemed J.J. Watt unworthy, essentially declared the Houston Texans defensive end is no longer elite. When the sports bible came out with its 2013 Midseason All-Pro Team, the name of the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year was nowhere to be found.

    And you can be sure Watt noticed.

    This is a guy who uses any type of snub he can find as fuel. (Trust me, as someone who argued the Texans should have drafted Nick Fairley over Watt back in 2011, I know).

    And Watt's certainly raised his game yet again after the SI slight. Oh, he's been playing at a high level despite the Texans woes all season. He should have been on that Midseason All-Pro Team. But in the last two games, post national magazine snub, he's gone bonkers. Try two forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and a sack in a 27-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. And another two sacks — and three other hurries when he came close — in Sunday's 28-23 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

    Watt's playing like the comic book character he's become as part of his Gatorade deal.

    This isn't the NBA where one player can change the fortune of an entire franchise. The fact that the Texans cannot get out of their own way — and are mired in a franchise record eight-game losing streak — should not diminish the force of Watt's run. Any notion that this isn't one of the 11 best defensive players in football is absurd.

    Watt's playing like the comic book character he's become as part of his Gatorade deal. Forget that busted-up nose in the Seattle game that provided such an iconic, Dick Butkus-style old school football image earlier this season. Watt's fight against pain in the Raiders game is even more impressive — if not nearly as photo friendly.

    For there's Watt getting driven to the sideline by injury and talking himself back into the game.

    "Just a little rib or back or something," Watt says dismissively when asked about the injury. "I don’t know. It’s football. You get hurt and you keep playing.”

    What me hurt?!

    Yes, J.J. Watt can come across as something of a cartoon character in postgame interviews as well. He's the hulking stereotype of the hurting, fuming athlete crushed by a loss. That's all part of what makes him the most beloved sports figure in Houston since Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell's glory days though.

    “It doesn’t matter what people throw at me," Watt practically spits out in his high-intensity, eyes-blazing way. "It doesn’t matter how they try and block me, how many people they try to put on me. I have to do what I have to do to help this team win football games.

    "Like I’ve said, the only thing that I can focus on is going out there making sure I do as much as I possibly can to help us win and make sure our defense does as much as we possibly can to help us win."

    This has been a Watt mantra throughout this would-be Super Bowl contender's unfathomable slide: No. 99 only looks at himself, only demands more of himself the worse things get.

    "I worry about myself," Watt says. "That’s what I’ve always said. You have to look in the mirror and you have to analyze yourself and make sure you’re doing the right things. So that’s what I do."

    When first hearing this, I'll admit my thoughts flashed back to last season when I argued Watt needed to show more leadership after that Monday Night meltdown in New England. After all, the very best players on any team need to be responsible for more than themselves. One of the things Texans coach Gary Kubiak brought up with Watt in the traditional end-season exit interview is how he wanted the third-year star to become even more of a leader, to take more ownership of the team this season too.

    Then again, maybe the leadership issue isn't with Watt.

    Maybe the Texans simply don't have the right players for him to lead. If the Texans don't have the type of guys eager to follow J.J. Watt, they don't have the right type of guys.

    Watt Power

    Watt's been trying to lift the Texans out of the muck for weeks. The week before this spree, he went in on special teams and used his famous reach (and black elbow-braced arm) to block a field goal in the Sunday Night Football showcase against the Indianapolis Colts.

    If the Texans don't have the type of guys eager to follow J.J. Watt, they don't have the right type of guys.

    Some of Watt's efforts have been lost in Case Keenum's emergence, the rightful excitement over the prospect of a quarterback for the future and the senseless, baffling drama Kubiak created when he benched Keenum in the midst of his fourth career start to turn back to Matt Schaub. Kubiak's confirmed that Keenum will be starting for the fifth straight game this Sunday against Jacksonville though.

    The controversy is passing. And Watt's still making plays, still dragging himself out there for a 2-8 team. He's averaging nearly a sack a game (up to 8.5 sacks on the season now) and don't be surprised if he gets there by the time Houston's season ends Dec. 29 in Nashville,

    It's not the historic 20 and a half sack, 20 passes defensed season Watt put up in 2012, but it's anything but a questionable follow up.

    "Watt can still blow up your game plan by himself," Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer says.

    Even when the season has blown up around him.

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    O'Brien Talks Tough

    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players

    Chris Baldwin
    Jan 3, 2014 | 1:43 pm
    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players
    Photo by Rob Carr Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien admits he missed the NFL.

    Bill O'Brien certainly hasn't walked timidly into his new job as the head coach/franchise savior of the Houston Texans.

    With large posters of J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson flanking him on either side of an elaborate press conference stage, O'Brien didn't pay homage as much as he demanded a new standard.

    "To me it's about accountability," O'Brien said. "It's about demanding. It's about putting together a fast, physical football team."

    In other words, Mr. Nice Guy went out the window with former Texans coach Gary Kubiak. O'Brien mentioned "accountability" and "demanding" several times in his introductory press conference Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. And you can bet the chorus sounded like sweet music to Texans owner Bob McNair.

    CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach way back on Dec. 18. This was a McNair driven pick from the beginning and it is the 44-year-old O'Brien's toughness that drew the owner to the former Penn State coach and Bill Belichick assistant.

    "To me it's about accountability. It's about demanding."

    And McNair himself certainly talked tough on introduction day.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door," McNair said. "Not acceptable. Not what we're going to do in the future."

    McNair went on to talk about O'Brien having shown he's willing to make the hard decisions — something he clearly felt was lacking as the Texans spiraled from Super Bowl schemers into a 2-14 death march in 2013.

    "Some coaches who have been players still think of themselves as players rather than the head of an organization," McNair said. "And have trouble making difficult decisions."

    Kubiak, of course, played quarterback for the Denver Broncos. As for an inability to make tough calls? Just look at how long Kubiak stuck with a flat-lined Matt Schaub and how he kept trying to go back to Schaub even after the Case Keenum call was made.

    O'Brien noted that "there are a lot of good football players on this team." He also declined to take any pressure off himself and describe this makeover of a team with the worst record in the NFL as a rebuilding job.

    "There are a lot of pieces in place here," he said. "It's all about hard work . . . Quick turnaround, rebuilding are labels. I'm not into all that."

    Tom Brady Tough?

    All in all, it's an impressive opening performance for a first-time NFL head coach. O'Brien knows how to command the stage. Texans general manager Rick Smith talked about the new coach's "charisma."

    O'Brien even makes sure to work in the obligatory Texas joke about the cowboy life.

    "Right after this, I'm going to go out and buy my first pair of cowboy boots," he said.

    It's already becoming clear there will be one cowboy in charge of these Texans. One who happens to be a hard-nosed Northeast guy who's probably still most famous for getting into a sideline screaming match with New England Patriots golden boy quarterback Tom Brady.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door."

    O'Brien downplayed the incident, but it's clearly helped burnish his taskmaster image.

    "You know it's a competitive sports," O'Brien said. "Tom Brady's a great friend. These things happen. The thing that people don't understand is that 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together and going over pictures (of game action)."

    The Texans players are clearly intrigued by O'Brien. Veteran center Chris Myers sat amongst the press at the stadium and listened to the new head man.

    There will be a lot more change coming to the stadium. Smith hinted at as much when he noted how the Texans needed a coach who can guide young players.

    It's hard to imagine O'Brien tip toeing around that change. He plans to meet with all the remaining Texans coaches Saturday (as with any head coaching change, it's unlikely many of the current assistants will be kept by O'Brien). He'll tackle the quarterback question later, though it's clear Keenum is still in the picture.

    Almost every new NFL head coach sounds good on introduction day. Especially when the team brings out a marching band for the occasion. But O'Brien sounds tough and no nonsense.

    Just what Bob McNair wanted. This is his call. His makeover. His tough guy.

    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

    Bill O'Brien presser
      
    Photo by Scott Halleran Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.
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    series/htx-super-season-2013
    news/sports

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