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In a week where there was a lot of Texans news, one particular item of note that has escaped discussion is this - Aqib Talib is your Week 1 NFL AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Huh?
Okay, look - J.J. Watt already has more accolades, attention, hardware, fame, and recognition than he could possibly ever need. I'm not his PR guy or his agent. I'm not his personal cheerleader. Hell, even *I* am a bit weary of the overexposure (not to the point of whining about it like a growing number of dim-witted Texans fans, but that's another topic for another day) but this is a straight up FOOTBALL gripe.
Aqib Talib is very much a plus cornerback, and he did indeed have a nice game against Baltimore in Week One. Three passes defensed, three tackles, and of course an interception returned 51 yards for a touchdown. He held Steve Smith, Sr. to two receptions and 13 yards on seven targets. Yeah, okay. Good stuff.
I guess I'll take this moment to remind everyone that J.J. Watt had SIX tackles for loss on Sunday. Oh and TWO sacks. Do sacks count as tackles for loss? No, no they do not. So he ended eight plays behind the line of scrimmage for the Chiefs on Sunday, all while getting his typical double and triple teams.
So clearly, whomever votes for this award - and I looked and could not actually figure out who votes for it - is simply sick of J.J. Watt. Sure, you can make the argument that the Texans lost the game - but with that stat line, does it truly matter? For some reason the "pick six" just made Talib's performance that much sexier (I guess?) and while it did represent Denver's only touchdown - SIX tackles for a loss and TWO sacks? Is there anyone in the NFL that could possibly replicate a statistical performance like that? Sure, maybe Justin Houston, Robert Quinn, Von Miller... maybe even Mario Williams.
Fact is, there's only one guy in the NFL that could repeat that performance multiple times in a season - and that's J.J. Watt. He'll just have to hope the voters aren't once again distracted by shiny objects such as pick sixes.
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