I never thought I would see a better DL than Reggie White. Watt is the best to ever play that position. You Texans are fortunate to watch this guy play every week. He already has three touchdowns as a lineman, and the season is still young.

No doubt, Watt is a beast and there isn't anyone that's even a close 2nd to him.

Grew up watching Jack Youngblood on the rams.

JJ Watt reminds me a lot of Jackie.. Not much is going to stop him.

And of those 3 TD's, one was an interception with a long run back, one a fumble recovery for a run back, the 1st he caught while lined up as a tight end. Expect to see him throw a TD pass next, or score as a full back.

Youngblood was a monster....love the old Rams team.

That guy is amazing! He takes the position to a new level.

JJ Watt is the modern Howie Long, and one that knows how to play football (even Howie admitted he didn't know the game at all before he got to the NFL).

JJ reminds me of Randy White, from the great Dallas teams of the 70's. Not huge, but very fast, very strong, and lightning reflexes.

It will be interesting to see JJ Watt's production when Clowney returns. Shame Fitzpatrick is still their wheelman; though the man can put on mustache clinic when the next draft rolls around.


The only downside to Watt is his salary. Almost a $22 million hit in 2015! Good luck

Howie was who I really admired growing up. He was a straight up bad ass.


JJ Watt is a straight up bad ass.

Go back even farther to Deacon Jones (Merlin Olson, Lamar Lundy, Rosy Grier/Roger Brown).

Watt is very good. It is difficult to compare players from different eras, but nostalgic old reactionary that I am, I still hold Gino Marchetti up as the standard for a DE.

He should be asking for a raise.

Have you truly watched JJ?

I imagine he saw more Wisconsin games than you did....

Watt just needs to keep it up.

If he got hurt and never played again, he wouldn't be in the league of Deacon Jones or Doug Atkins, or most HOF DE's.

I believe that's Mr. Atkins.

[video:youtube]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...es-hall-of-fame-defensive-end-dies-at-74[/video]

I'm still thinking you would enjoy watching JJ.

Just before Deacon Died. Think there's 3 others. Pretty cool.

I do. As I stated initially, he is good. I just like to remember the old days.

It's good JJ doesn't get to do head slaps.

Was it Dick Butkus who said he didn't really go out there to hurt anyone, unless of course it was a real game?

"I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important - like a league game or something."

Wonder how he passes all the performance enhancing drug tests?

He pisses in a cup.

Ha, ha, ha. TFF.

And given a head's up a month before he's tested.....just like every other player.

Here's a pic of Dick Butkus' right knee, IIRC at 1970. He played three more years.

They had drugs back then, too. It was called cortisone and it kept many a player on the field; IR wasn't in the nomenclature.

One more tough sob. Like Don Meredith play with a cracked leg bone or was it broken ribs untaped?

Merideth played with a punctured lung in a championship game.


Youngblood played with a cracked femur in a Super Bowl.

Every time I hear how great Ray Lewis is/was, I slap that pic up there.

Guys now a days miss seasons and get rehabbed and paid for it. Not that that's dumb, they play longer and have better compiled stats for doing so, but most of todays stats weren't even recorded.

Deacon Jone's ssacks are all on tape, but not officially recorded. If they were, he is the all time sack leader and did so with shorter seasons.

Jared Allen holds the "official" single season record at 22, but Jones, Atkins and a handful of others had many more in shorter seasons. Hell, Butkus had six in one game with a season high of 18 as a MLB rushing the passer. Ray Lewis had a season high of 4.5......

Now check out JJ.....

Yeah, they were unreal. They made football what it used to be.

Don't forget Alzado.

As mentioned it's hard to compare the old time Hall of Famers with today's players because they played in an era when neither tackles nor sacks were official statistics.

Several good defensive lineman have been mentioned but one I'd have to add is Willie Davis from the Packers. In his 10 year career with the Packers he recovered about 25 fumbles and it is estimated he had somewhere between 100 to 125 sacks, maybe more. Some statisticians think he had 25 in one season. He had a stellar career for sure.