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J.J. Watt: Most Dominant in 2012, Or Most Dominant Ever?

Trying to put J.J. Watt's amazing season in some historical perspective.

"I will kill you with these two hands, then nicely help you up afterward."
"I will kill you with these two hands, then nicely help you up afterward."
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The folks at Gillette, sponsors of our enemy's stadium and makers of the Fusion ProGlide -- which is only the bestest man-shaver in the whole whisker-removing universe -- agree with the late French moralist Joseph Joubert: "It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it."

To that end, they've team up with SB Nation and launched a six-week DEBATEATHONAGEDDON.

Each week, Gillette will pose a question similar to this week's: "Who is the most dominant player, both on the field and in EA Sports Madden NFL 13?" Then we will take that question, filter it through the BRB-colored lens, and pose it to you, the fans of the greatest team in the world, to debate in the comments below.

This week's BRB version: Where does J.J. Watt's 2012 season rank among some of the all-time most dominant seasons by defensive players?

Off the top of my head, some other contenders would be:

Reggie White, 1987: 21.0 sacks (in 12 games!), 4 FF, 1 TD
Lawrence Taylor, 1986: 20.5 sacks, 2 FR
Deacon Jones, 1968: 26 sacks (unofficial) (in 14 games)
Deion Sanders, 1994: 6 INT, 303 INT returns yards, 3 TD
Ray Lewis, 1999: 131 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 INT, 1 safety
Jared Allen, 2007: 15.5 sacks, 10 PD, 3 FF

I'm obviously missing some others, but, to my mind, J.J.'s dominance is just south of what Deacon Jones did in 1968 (and 1969), but ahead of the rest of these guys.