Texans confirm Watt out for season
Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien confirmed Friday that injured defensive star J.J. Watt would miss the rest of the season after undergoing back surgery.
Watt underwent surgery on Thursday after consulting a specialist, having been placed on injured reserve a day earlier.
The 27-year-old has injured the same disc which was operated on in July and forced him to miss the preseason.
O'Brien said Friday he had not seen Watt since his surgery.
"I haven't seen him, I'm sure he's doing well," O'Brien told reporters, confirming the player would miss the rest of the season.
In a heartfelt social media post on Wednesday, Watt vowed he was determined to return.
"Everybody deals with adversity in their lives, many much worse than what I'm going through," he said.
"I look forward to the fight back to the top and to the next time that I can step back on that field with my brothers to play the game that I love before the best fans in the world and I promise to continue to do everything in my power to make you proud."
The Texans have agreed a deal with defensive end Antonio Smith as cover for Watt, who made only eight tackles and 1.5 sacks in three games this season.