That RG3 IR cheers comic I made two weeks ago made me wonder what that bar might be like. A place where all the injured players go to drown their sorrows in each other as they heal. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater is chilling over by the pinball machine, or just in the booth because he can’t walk. Maybe he’s mad at the entrance because he’s currently stuck in a wheelchair and the bar has no handicap access. IR the bar probably has so many stories.

JJ Watt is now on IR with a back problem. Might explain his complete non-existence in the New England game, or maybe Belichick just sacrificed a goat and took him out that way. This is a huge game changer for the AFC South. The Texans, despite the flaws, were probably still the favorite for the division. Now their best player is gone. The Texans, Titans, Jags, and Colts are all pretty flawed and the South is the worst division in football and has been for years. The NFCE gets all the “terrible division” press but honestly that’s partly due to the teams in that division being media market whores. The AFCS is full of smaller market teams that just suck.

This sucks for JJ obviously but might actually help his image in the long run. JJ suffered from the same problem OBJ is currently going through, though to a lesser extent since JJ hasn’t acted like a Diva. All superstars seem to go through a career trajectory in regards to their perceived stardom:

1. Player is good, usually surprisingly so, one that didn’t get that much hype entering the draft

2. Fans and Media figure this out, player’s popularity explodes violently to extreme degrees and everyone loves them

3. The media saturation gets to unbearable levels, and the backlash begins. People start finding reasons to hate the player, either for good reasons or incredibly petty reasons, usually both.

4. Player gets hurt, has average to down season, and the media coverage slows and goes away

5. Media finds new superstar to focus on, player comes back just fine, is now an established presence that people just accept as part of the league.

6. Player enters twilight years of career, maybe switches teams, media coverage tends to be about legacy

7. Player retires, nothing but an outpouring of love for player

8. Debate on if they deserve the HoF reaches stupid levels, some backlash rises

JJ Watt is on step 4. He had an average (for Watt) season in 2015 and is now gone. OBJ is currently in step 3. Carson Wentz is entering step 1. Dez Bryant is in step 5. Drew Brees is step 6. Richard Sherman (remember him? Nobody talks about him now, even though he’s still good) is step 5.

JJ Watt is a great guy and a great player and I want him to keep playing, but it’ll be nice to see him sort of fade a bit in the meantime because his goody two shoes #brand robot persona was a little much. Your logo still sucks, JJ.