Texans star JJ Watt showed love to Colts QB Philip Rivers after his retirement announcement.
The Indianapolis Colts have grown alarmingly susceptible to losing players to early retirements, which made it all the more ironic that fans were stunned when Philip Rivers announced earlier this week that he was calling it a career after 17 seasons.
The timing of the reveal was especially surprising, as it was previously surmised that Rivers would take approximately four weeks to mull over whether his body was capable of enduring another grueling schedule of fixtures…even if he was playing behind the Colts’ thickset offensive line.
On top of recognizing Rivers’ large-scale accomplishments, which include ranking fifth all time in both passing yards and touchdowns, current and former players took time to acknowledge his other great talent (trash talking) after he confirmed the news.
It goes without saying that this was one of Rivers’ most celebrated qualities, and Texans defensive end JJ Watt did him great justice in that regard with an awesome tweet congratulating him on an excellent career.
I’ll never forget lining up for a play and Phil pointing to one of our linebackers and telling him he was lined up wrong based off the blitz we were about to run and being 100% correct about it haha.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) January 20, 2021
One of the smartest I’ve ever played against and a hell of a competitor. https://t.co/1AZxyvDafu
Watt is widely regarded as one of the classiest players the NFL has to offer, so him waxing poetic about Rivers’ pre-snap prowess is nothing we wouldn’t expect. The 38-year-old might have just entered the AFC South this season, but he and Watt had squared off dozens of times before then throughout their respective careers, so the latter was more than accustomed to him taking the occasional shot at one of his teammates.
We’re not entirely sure if Rivers was brash enough to come at the neck of Watt, who’s one of the most decorated pass rushers of his generation and will have a plaque in Canton when all is said and done, but knowing his unrivaled competitive edge, we certainly wouldn’t put it past him.
Philip Rivers’ statement to ESPN is dadgum tremendous: pic.twitter.com/30KaEFGy0X
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 20, 2021
Watt was one of many players to show Rivers love on social media, and for a player who’s so polarizing as far as Hall of Fame debates are concerned — go take a look at his stats if you think he isn’t deserving– he really deserved this 15 minutes of fame…though it was more like a full day’s worth of an outpouring of acclamations.
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