J.J. Watt is a Houston Texans legend.
The longtime anchor of the team’s defensive line won three Defensive Player of the Year trophies in southeast Texas and will almost assuredly be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame wearing a Texans jersey as soon as he is able.
Watt returned to Houston this weekend for the first time as a CBS game analyst, and the experience clearly moved the big guy. Like many beloved athletes turned announcers (think Reggie Miller or Derek Jeter), returning home can be doubly emotional, especially when it is the first time. Watt is clearly in that category.
From a technical standpoint, the most challenging aspect of a commentator’s return home is how they discuss the team. For Watt’s whole career and likely after it, the Texans are “we” and “us.” But rival fans hate nothing more than to hear a broadcaster sweet-talk their former team.
Watt mostly passed that test this week in Houston, until a quick segment early in the fourth quarter.
Teed up by his partner Ian Eagle, Watt expressed what it meant to return to NRG Stadium and call a game. Despite his best efforts, Watt let one of those buzzwords slip.
“It’s been very strange to see this stadium from this perspective,” Watt said. “To see the Jaguars having so much success against us, give them a ton of credit for what they’ve been able to do and what Liam Coen has been able to do. But being on the field with my son and my wife was very special, and it’s a memory that I’ll have forever.”
The clip of JJ Watt from today’s Texans game: https://t.co/7FfOLLPqAV pic.twitter.com/6gJs1iyrg9
— James Roy (@JamesRoyNFL) November 10, 2025
In a review of Watt’s performance at The Athletic, longtime media critic Richard Deitsch noted that Watt used the word “we” at least once during the broadcast as well.
The phrasing did not go unnoticed in Jacksonville.
All things considered, given the context of Eagle asking Watt about what the experience meant to him, it is understandable that Watt would slip up. While Houston ultimately came back to win in overtime, Watt was plenty effusive during Jacksonville’s best moments on Sunday.