J.J. Watt Named AFC Defensive Player Of The Month For December

The folks who determine such things have declared that J.J. Watt is the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for December. Watt also won the award for his play in September, and this marks the fourth such award of his career.  Interestingly enough, he won the award in September and December of 2012, en route to his first DPOY award.  Meaning that not only is Justin James Watt consistently awesome; he's also awesomely consistent.

The stats for December were exactly what you'd expect from the best defensive player on the planet: 9 sacks, 24 tackles, 8 TFL, 2 passes defended, 1 forced fumble, and 1 safety.

Also of note:

• His nine sacks tied for the most of any player in the month of December since the statistic became official in 1982.
• Watt posted at least one sack in each game in December, including three multi-sack performances and two three-sack games.
• In a Week 14 win at Jacksonville, Watt posted four tackles and three sacks. He followed with six tackles and two sacks against Indianapolis in Week 15 and added eight tackles and one sack the following week in a win against Baltimore.
• He capped his season with six tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble and a safety in a Week 17 win against Jacksonville to finish the year with 20.5 sacks.
• Watt is the first player in NFL history with at least three offensive touchdowns, two touchdowns on takeaways, and a safety in the same season.

At this point, a second DPOY award for Watt is a foregone conclusion, and rightfully so. The bigger question is whether the only repeat DPOM winner in either conference this season will also add an MVP award. We'll know that answer one month from today.