By Rudy Longjohnovich

He had never been in this position before. Standing on the sidelines, in civilian clothing while his teammates ran drills during OTAs in the dead of the East Texas heat.

“Fuck!” J.J. Watt screamed in his head as a shooting pain pierced down the small of his back.

Despite his animal strength, the herculean hero of Houston knew his journey back onto the gridiron was going to require strength of mind. It’s just that… well… his normally driven spirit had lost that spark.

“What’s the point?” he thought. “I’ve given my life to a team destined for mediocrity. Maybe that’s all I’ll ever amount to.”

Catching a glimpse of the dejected defensive end out of the corner of his eye, the team’s resident teddy bear and four-time world champion Vince Wilfork walked over to J.J.

“What’s the matter, J?” the 400-pound nose tackle whispered so as to not bring attention to the captain’s sunken morale.

“Can you keep a secret, V?” JJ replied.

“What is it?” Vince said louder, growing impatient.

“It’s my back, V. I’m not myself. I don’t think I have it in me to get back on top.”

“I’ve been on top of the world, J,” Vince said with a smirk before tracing his mitt down Watt’s spine. “Sometimes, to get back on top, you have to know what it’s like to be on the bottom.”