J.J. Watt gets NFL Spin Zone Player of the Week

There aren’t many times when a player’s performance in a week is so much better than the other contenders that they are an obvious pick for this award, but that’s exactly what transpired in Week 4. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt proves time and time again why he should be the unquestioned best player in the NFL, and his performance, at the risk of being hyperbolic, on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills was historically great.

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How else can you describe a day that included an 80-yard pick six, five tackles, and nine quarterback hits. Nine. E.J. Manuel was benched for Kyle Orton yesterday, and I have a feeling that Watt is a big reason for that move. I can think of very few quarterbacks who can succeed when the best player in the game plays at his best, utterly dominates an offensive line, and pummels said QB to the ground nine times.

Watt’s game on Sunday is another reminder that looking at sacks is a horrendous way to evaluate pass rushers, because a mindless idiot would look at a very simple box score and state, “J.J. Watt had zero sacks but Jared Crick had 1.5. What’s the big deal here?”

The “big deal” is that nine quarterback hits in one game is a ridiculous sum, since most 3-4 defensive ends don’t even notch that total in a single season. I mean, it’s considered a success for most 3-4 DEs if they are able to reach that number in a year, so imagine how ridiculous it is to put up all of those in one game. Per the Pro Football Focus, Watt put pressure on the quarterback 14 times in total, and that’s certainly worth praising.

Although he wasn’t his usually elite self in run defense, Watt still helped control the line of scrimmage in that facet of the game, though the Bills were able to have some decent success on the ground overall. Still, Watt’s pass rushing performance was historically great, and that’s not even including an interception return that will grace highlight reels for a very long time.