J.J. Watt is a lot closer to his old self than you might imagine — that’s scary

“People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinking I’m back!” - John Wick

- JJ Watt

Sometimes it’s hard to believe, but it was just three seasons ago J.J. Watt was the reigning Defensive Player Of The Year for the third time in his first five seasons in the league. At that point he had already collected more than 70 sacks in his young career and looked damn near invincible on the field. The only question seemed to be just how ridiculous his career numbers would look by the time he decided to hang his cleats up.

Then the injuries came.

After not one, but two back surgeries in 2016 and a broken leg last season, and a combined one and a half sacks over that same time frame, it was more than fair to wonder if we would ever see that 2015 version of J.J. Watt again. Or if we would all just have to settle for an endless amount of “what ifs.”

If early returns this season are any indication, Watt might be a lot closer to his old self as a player than you might imagine.

I know the Texans didn’t win the game on Sunday, but watching Watt’s film against the Giants made me feel like I was having flashbacks. Watt had already flashed in the first two games. This week he started to look just like the guy who was kicking everybody’s ass back in 2015, and his stat sheet was not too shabby either.

You want to get a feel for how close Watt is to being all the way back? Check out these three plays from Sunday’s game.

The first play I want to talk about came with with just under 12 minutes left in the second quarter. The Giants were driving and had the ball at the Texans’ 26-yard line facing a third-and-9. Watt was jogging over to right defensive end spot between plays and he ended up in a nine-technique outside of Giants tight end Rhett Ellis, who was lined up as a wing outside of left tackle Nate Solder. Watt didn’t have time to get down into a three-point stance before the ball was snapped, so he just took off from a standing up two-point stance.

Initially, New York had Ellison try to block him one-on-one, which was a huge mistake. Watt came off and shot both hands into Ellison’s chest, got full extension with both arms and bulldozed his ass back in a hurry. Just as he felt himself at the level of the quarterback, Watt pulled his inside back while momentarily keeping his outside arm extended which forced Ellis’ inside shoulder to lurch forward. In a split second, Watt executed a swim move with his outside arm over Ellison’s inside shoulder which allowed him to slip right inside of Ellison.

Solder, who had initially stepped down inside to try to help the left guard with Whitney Mercilus, lined up as the three-technique, tried to step back out to help Ellison once he saw Watt coming inside, but by then it was already too late. The behemoth already had up a full head of steam, and he wasn’t about to let Solder slow him down one bit.

Watt exploded through the gap between Ellison and Solder and accelerated right into Eli Manning’s solar plexus. Manning had just barely released the football when he felt Watt’s crushing impact. Just to avoid the sack, he ended up having to throw the ball much too early and off target for his intended receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., to have a legitimate chance at hauling it in.

Watt may not have taken him down with the football that time, but he did force New York to settle for trying a field goal on the next play.

That is the kind of play we became accustomed to seeing Watt make in his first five seasons. Back then, he frequently demanded a true double-team on passing plays and, from the looks of it, teams had better get back on that program in a hurry.

Later in the second quarter, New York matriculated the ball all the way down to the Houston 11-yard line, and they were sitting pretty with a first down at that spot.

This time Watt was lined up head-up on second-year Giants right tackle Chad Wheeler. The Giants came out in an I formation with Ellison as the stud tight end to Watt’s side and the fullback offset to the other side. New York actually had two tight ends in the game on that play, however, with backup Scott Simonson motioning over to Watt’s side and behind the offensive line, much like an H back right before the snap.

The Giants were trying to run what amounted to a heavy power O to the weak side away from Watt. The fullback went straight ahead to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage, while the right guard and Simonson both pulled to their left, away from Watt, to help the fullback with the kick-out block and turn up and take on the Texans’ inside linebackers.

Wheeler’s block on Watt should have been relatively easy, in theory.

Yeah, in theory.

With the run designed to go toward the other side, all Wheeler had to do was step down hard enough inside to keep Watt walled off backside. However, if you recall, when Watt is really rolling there ain’t nothing simple about blocking him.

On the snap, Watt stepped inside with his inside foot using a quick jab step. That was just enough to get Wheeler to take the bait and step down really hard to try to cut off Watt. But no sooner than Watt’s first step hit the ground, he stepped right back outside with his outside foot, turned his hips inside to take away his hitting surface, swatted Wheeler’s outside shoulder with his outside hand and executed an arm over with his inside arm.

Now, it doesn’t matter if you understood all of that, though I did try to explain it in a simple, straightforward way. What really matters about that play is Wheeler’s body ended up in some kind of weird yoga-like pose resembling a fresh made pretzel as a result of trying to adjust to Watt’s movement.

I’m really not sure how Wheeler’s ligaments are all still intact after watching the film, but what made me chuckle the most about that play was in spite of Wheeler’s precarious body positioning, he still had the wherewithal to look back to see what kind of destruction his missed block was about to unleash on his running back.

Rookie Saquon Barkley is hella talented, but there just isn’t much you can do when you look up and see a Mack truck mere feet away and bearing down at you at a high rate of speed as soon as you are handed the football. Watt splattered Barkley for a 5-yard loss and helped get the Giants offense off schedule.

Once again, we have seen those kinds of plays from Watt before and they almost always ended in the same way that one did on Sunday. Yeah, I’m thinking he’s back, too.

Two plays later, the Giants had moved a little closer to end zone and were then facing a third-and-5 at the Texans’ six-yard line, already up 10-3 and looking to add to their lead.

Watt was lined up in a wide five-technique a couple of yards outside of Wheeler.

The first problem for young Mr. Wheeler didn’t really have anything to do with him. The problem was the center John Greco making his first start of the season, was giving away his snap timing when the Giants went silent count. When he put his head down then brought it back up slowly, the snap was sure to come right after that. And, unfortunately for Wheeler, Watt had already noticed it. So when Greco’s helmet went down and then came up slowly on that play, Watt didn’t wait to actually see the ball snapped. He instead shot up the field like a rocket knowing that his get off would coincide perfectly with the snap.

The second problem for Wheeler was because the Giants were using a silent count, Wheeler actually had his eyes inside looking at the ball before the snap, instead of outside watching Watt. I can’t imagine the cuss words that went through Wheeler’s head, or the bodily functions that may have momentarily went haywire, once he finally kick-stepped back after actually seeing the ball snapped and looked outside only to notice that Watt was already damn near past him.

Here’s a look at the center tipping the snap and Watt’s get off in slow motion.

The third and final problem for Wheeler on this play was Watt is not a lazy pass rusher. There are a lot of guys who have a good get off and can haul ass up the field, but because they are lazy with their technique they allow offensive linemen to still get their hands on them and push them wide, past the quarterback.

Watt, on the other hand, wasn’t having any of that after his magnificent get-off. He came with a big rip move with his inside arm to keep Wheeler from having any chance to recover. Watt was able to turn a tight corner right at about seven and a half yards while somehow keeping that big body of his compact and low to the ground. Then he was able to reach out with his left hand to swat the ball right out of an unsuspecting Manning’s clutches.

Watt had beaten Wheeler so quickly and cleanly that Manning didn’t even realize he was there until it was too late.

The Giants would recover the football and kick a field goal on the next play to go up, 13-3. However, considering Giants receiver Cody Latimer appeared to be breaking open in the end zone and Manning was staring him down before Watt knocked the ball out of his hands, I would say the Texans certainly could have lived with that in the moment.

It remains to be seen if Watt can stay healthy for a full season or if he can continue to play this well if he does. But this week, J.J. Watt looked and played a lot like the old J.J. Watt, and I was excited to see it.

With three sacks (two coming on third down), two pressures, two tackles for a loss, and three other tackles, Watt’s film and production had me reminiscing. It made him an easy choice for Hoss Of The Week for Week 3 of the 2018 NFL season.

And if he does stay healthy, don’t be surprised if Watt is right back in the conversation for the Defensive Player Of The Year at the end of the season.