Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt is very serious about working in the NFL. He lives in a spartan apartment, uses most of his day for training and spends a lot of his time alone because dating would just slow him down.
J.J. Watt takes the NFL, social media very seriously
The Texans defensive end has no time for Twitter.
Wesley Hitt
That’s a strange way to live for someone in his early-to-mid 20s. Yet that’s not how Watt sees it.
After his Texans routed the AFC South rival Tennessee Titans, 30-16, Watt mentioned during his postgame interviews that he didn't care for Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger's approach to social media, stating, "If I was a rookie quarterback being named the starter for the first time in the league, I feel like I would be a little more focused than that."
Apparently it wasn’t just a one-off thing for Watt, who repeated those thoughts on the The Dan Patrick Show Monday.
WATT: Somebody in the locker room showed me before the game and said, “Look, this is who you’re playing against.” Athletes find motivation just about anywhere, so when you see something like that, it’s a little bit of extra motivation and then you go out there on the field.
That’s what the celebration was all about. Something little. Something to say, “Hey, this is the NFL.”
DAN PATRICK: Were you bothered by it?
WATT: The one before the game, I think, is the one. As a player you take the game seriously and an hour and a half before the game, you’re studying your playbook, you’re stretching out, you’re going over your film and everything. That’s the one. I really don’t mind whatever he does during the week, whatever he does in his off time. That’s up to him. But, I mean, like I said, you find any little bit of motivation that you can and obviously we won the game so it worked. But no, he can do whatever he wants during the week. That’s fine.
Watt says that pregame should be spent looking over the playbook, but declined to mention what he thought about a teammate spending that time looking over social media.
Regardless, Watt backs up his words with production. Through eight weeks, he leads the entire league with 54 combined sacks, hits and hurries, according to Pro Football Focus. Those numbers look even better when considering Jadeveon Clowney has missed all but two games this season. When you play that well, nobody will question your stance on social media.
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