The Houston Texans lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday to fall to 4-11 on the 2020 season. They’re one week away from kicking a head coach and general manager search into high gear. Another rebuild surely awaits. And yet you don’t need to give the team’s unofficial big-name spokesman, star pass rusher J.J. Watt, any additional motivation to close out the year. Asked after Sunday’s defeat how Houston will be able to rebound in Week 17 against the Titans, Watt unleashed a lengthy commentary on players who don’t care about winning, while also apologizing to Texans fans for the club’s “trash” season.
“We’re professional athletes getting paid a whole lot of money,” Watt said in his pointed remarks, which include some foul language. “If you can’t come in and put work in in the building, go out to the practice field and work hard, do your lifts and do what you’re supposed to do, you should not be here. This is a job. We are getting paid a whole lot of money.”
One of Watt’s biggest arguments for showing up to do it again in Week 17: The fans.
“There are a lot of people that watch us and invest their time and their money into buying our jerseys and buying a whole bunch of (explicit),” he said. “And they care about it. They care, every single week. We’re in Week 16, and we’re 4-11, and there’s fans that watch this game, that show up to the stadium … and care about this. So if you can’t go out there, you can’t work out, you can’t show up on time, you can’t practice, you can’t want to go out there and win, you shouldn’t be here. Because this is a privilege.
“This is the greatest job in the world — you get to go out and play a game. And if you can’t care enough, even in Week 17, even when you’re trash, when you’re 4-11, if you can’t care enough to go out there and give everything you got and try your hardest, that’s bull—-. There are people every week that still tweet you, that still come up to you and say, ‘Hey, we’re still rooting for you,’ (and) they have no reason whatsoever to. We stink! But they still want you to be great. Those people aren’t getting paid. That’s who I feel the most bad for, the fans. That sucks, as a player, to know that we’re not giving them what they deserve.”
