Observed and heard in the locker room after the Houston Texans' 25-13 victory over Baltimore:
Christmas sweater for JJ Watt. #Texans pic.twitter.com/tZX7IOFPte
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 21, 2014
When they walked out of the meeting, Texans receivers Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins joked that they thought Bill O'Brien was going to flip the podium over. His pregame speech was stirring. "If you wasn't ready to play before that, after the speech it really had your juices flowing," Johnson said. "... You have to do whatever you have to do to get the team going. I think what he said, he hit it right on the head. I just think that what he said needed to be said. I think a lot of people, because of the situation we went through, losing players and our quarterbacks and stuff like that, really didn't give us a chance to win today. We went out and proved a lot of people wrong." Count me among them. During the week, I picked the Ravens to win 14-3.
J.J. Watt arrived at his postgame news conference wearing a red Christmas sweater with a pair of black reindeer on it. Before the game, Watt chatted with former NBA great Dikembe Mutombo about the finger wag that Mutombo did after blocked shots and Watt does after batted passes. Watt offered an impression of Mutombo then said he sounded like the cookie monster. He also noted what a large man Mutombo, who stands at 7-foot-2, is. "I told him, I gotta walk away from you bro; you're killing my confidence before the game," Watt said.
Watt and Johnson were the last two players to leave the locker room. Watt congratulated Johnson and shook his hand as he left, and Johnson returned the sentiment. Johnson made career catch No. 1,000 on Sunday, and Watt became the franchise leader in sacks.
A beaming Texans owner Bob McNair said Sunday's game was the biggest win of the season. "Our defense just dominated to such an extent. It's unbelievable," he said. "... They made their offense totally ineffective."
