Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I'm keeping my fingers crossed but one has to wonder if this is the end of the line for him.

He fractured the Tibial Plateau at the top of the large bone in the lower leg (tibia) in the knee.
I don't know what the prognosis is but that doesn't sound good.

I guess a lot depends on the severity of the fracture (hairline vs almost a break).

There were a lot of injuries in that game including a non-contact Achilles injury... yet no mention of the turf...
I guess it's acceptable risk now-a-days.

Edit: Watt is done for the season (at least).
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... u-fracture

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... ttJ.00.htm

Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

Rupert Patrick wrote:Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

Players with multiple DPOY's from any org:
Joe Greene 2xAP, 2xNEA, 2xPFW 1st ballot HOF
LT 3xAP 1st ballot HOF
Mike Singltary 2xAP 1st ballot HOF
Reggie White 2xAP, 2xPFW 1st ballot HOF
Bruce Smith 2xAP, 3x PFW, 2xNEA. 1st ballot HOF
Deacon Jones 2xNEA 1st ballot HOF
Dick Butkus 2xNEA 1st ballot HOF
Alan Page 2xPFW 1st ballot HOF

Let's assume Ray Lewis is 1st ballot, that leaves nobody with 2+ that isn't a first ballot HOF.

Watt 3x on the 2 remaining major electors.

Rupert Patrick wrote:Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

It's also going to help that there are more short but brilliant career folks who have retired lately like Calvin Johnson and Patrick Willis. Plus Terrell Davis and Kenny Easley made it in this year and Tony Boselli was a top 10 HoF finalist this time around. Things seem to be trending in that direction anymore. Maybe not fast enough to get Sterling Sharpe in, unfortunately.

I have a feeling Watt will wait a few years but make it in if this is the end of the line for him.

bachslunch wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

It's also going to help that there are more short but brilliant career folks who have retired lately like Calvin Johnson and Patrick Willis. Plus Terrell Davis and Kenny Easley made it in this year and Tony Boselli was a top 10 HoF finalist this time around. Things seem to be trending in that direction anymore. Maybe not fast enough to get Sterling Sharpe in, unfortunately.

I have a feeling Watt will wait a few years but make it in if this is the end of the line for him.

I would not put Watt in the same class with Megatron. If this is it for JJ Watt, he left the game early due to injury and can no longer play not because he doesn't want to, but because he is physically unable to. He will sail into the HOF on the first try if this is his final game.

In Johnson's case, the reasons for his retiring included playing for the Lions, not being able to play in a Super Bowl (see "playing for the Lions"), and being tired of the daily grind of the NFL. (All reasons were found in interviews with Johnson.) This is part of the Barry Sanders problem, that nobody forced Calvin to sign a contract extension to continue to play for the Lions, that he had opportunities to leave and chose not to. Also, he left a number of good years on the table, years we'll never see. It's his talent and he can do whatever he wants with it, but in a way I hold it against him to a degree. If Johnson were 35 or 36, it would be different.

With the death of YA Tittle today, I got to thinking about how (sadly) he was the precursor to Johnny Unitas and Brett Favre and (although he won the Super Bowl) Peyton Manning as the QB who stuck around one year too long. Some QB's, in my opinion, may have retired a year too early, perhaps they did not want to risk looking bad; I am talking about guys like John Elway and Otto Graham and Joe Montana. Running backs and Wide Receivers rarely play a year too long, they just get cut in training camp like Jerry Rice did when he was trying to come back for a 20th season. There is no telling how many seasons of Megatron's career we didn't get to see, but I don't think Calvin will not be a first ballot HOFer. I think there are those on the panel who will dock him for quitting early. He will get in but he will have to wait as there is a logjam at WR; those missing seasons would have vaulted him in front of the other people he is stuck with, I worry.

I experienced a tibia plateau fracture playing soccer. My surgeon put a pin in and squeezed it back together. Dr suggested I not play any sports requiring running or jumping. I managed to play another 10 years before it started to give me some problems. I don't run today, but I can walk without any discomfort.

Rupert Patrick wrote:Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

I don't think Brady or Graham belong in the Top 5... unless you're discounting Graham's AAFC service. If you are, I respect that. I managed to talk myself into having Brady replace Graham on my QB Mt Rushmore by looking at NFL service only.

But I don't think Brady passed the bus test until 2007. His first 6 years as a starter, he was a very good player who was cool in the clutch.. not a surefire HOF Player.

conace21 wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:Even if he never plays another game, I think JJ goes right into Canton. The short but brilliant career argument would clearly apply in his case. In fact, somebody made the comment here once that Watt may have passed the PFHOF Bus test faster than any other player in his career. I'm not 100 percent sure that is true (I might vote for Otto Graham) but Watt would be in the top five along with Earl Campbell and maybe Tom Brady and...I don't know...Jim Brown or Jerry Rice or Butkus perhaps.

I don't think Brady or Graham belong in the Top 5... unless you're discounting Graham's AAFC service. If you are, I respect that. I managed to talk myself into having Brady replace Graham on my QB Mt Rushmore by looking at NFL service only.

But I don't think Brady passed the bus test until 2007. His first 6 years as a starter, he was a very good player who was cool in the clutch.. not a surefire HOF Player.

I think winning three Super Bowls in your first five seasons in the NFL (which is really four seasons, because of your rookie season when you threw a total of three passes) pretty much puts you in the HOF, especially since Brady led the Pats to game winning drives in the final minutes of two of those games. Do I think Brady passed the Bus Test in 2004? No, I think it was 2007. But even if the Pats dynasty had fallen apart after 2004 and Brady would have played another 8-10 years and had above average stats (like a Drew Bledsoe type) as a compiler, he would have went right into the HOF.

I would be interested in seeing others' lists of who they think are the five men who put themselves into the HOF the quickest and how long it took them. I think Earl Campbell is a given, and I would put Watt in the top five also. I was taking Otto's AAFC years into consideration, and when the Browns came into the NFL in 1950 and dismantled the Eagles to start the season, it proved the Browns were and have been for some time the best professional football team in the United States. I think you can argue for Brady based on 2000 (really 2001) to 2004, and a few others, Brown, Rice, Butkus, Sayers.

Lawrence Taylor may have passed the bus test after 1986. Which would have given him only a 6 year career.