Cardinals DE J.J. Watt Talks Potential Return, Energy and Urgency

Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt spoke with reporters for the first time this year.

TEMPE -- The man of the hour may just return in time.

The Arizona Cardinals look to avoid a drastic 0-2 start on Sunday when they pay a visit to the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Defense has been a heavy topic of discussion for Arizona after a disastrous performance against the Kansas City Chiefs. Swiss cheese may not capture how the defense actually looked on the field. 

Yet it's a new week, and the Cardinals hope to not only learn from their past mistakes, but also regain some new faces to add to the arsenal.

When it comes to weapons, none would be greater than J.J. Watt. 

Watt, who battled illness before suffering a calf injury, was absent all week in practice leading up to the home opener against Kansas City. He didn't play in the loss against the Chiefs, and disappeared from the practice field as soon as stretching began on Wednesday. 

Thursday, Watt not only returned to the practice field but also spoke to reporters in the locker room afterwards. 

This week, head coach Kliff Kingsbury has preached two things to his team: Energy and urgency. 

Watt believes those two needed to coincide. 

"It's a combination of things. You need to have great energy and you need to have great intensity, but you also have to have great execution, great communication. It all goes the same, you can't have just one without the other. Can't be running around like a chicken with their head cut off because you have so much energy, but you also can't be so dialed in and [inaudible] trying to do your job perfectly that you're not playing passionate, good football. So it's a combination of both things, but when you put them together, that's when greatness really happens."

Should Watt play against the Raiders, there's weapons across the board Arizona will need to cover.

"They got weapons, obviously. Davante Adams is a incredible receiver. They've got [Darren] Waller, a great running back, they got Carr back there. So they've got weapons all over the place and it presents a great challenge for us and I'm looking forward to it," said Watt. 

The Cardinals (and their fans) are looking forward to seeing No. 99 back on the field. 

We'll see if that becomes reality in the bright lights of Las Vegas. 

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