Chiefs, especially Eric Fisher, do a fine job stopping Texans’ J.J. Watt

J.J. Watt felt a bit of several players wearing a Chiefs’ uniform Saturday.

Running back Spencer Ware blocked him. So did tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. It takes a team effort to handle Watt, and the Chiefs sent their team at him.

It worked.

Watt’s final statistical line from Saturday’s 30-0 Chiefs’ victory in the AFC Wild Card game: one assisted tackle.

He also didn’t finish the game, walking to the locker room with 10:49 remaining in the fourth quarter after suffering a groin injury.

An individual battle with Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher spiced the proceedings in the second half.

Fisher took Watt out on a block and kept the aggressive block as Watt was headed to the ground.

“He’s a relentless player,” Fisher said. “You literally have to finish every play with that guy because that’s where he makes his plays. Some guys give up on him when the play isn’t over.”

Watt saw it differently. He said he was battling the injury while he was going to the turf.

“The injury came before he hit me,” Watt said. “That’s just a dirty play, but the injury was before that moment.”

The NRG Stadium videoboard replayed the moment, isolating on the block, and Fisher became a target of the fans’ ire.

“That’s my fans having my back,” Watt said.

But Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he was happy with Fisher’s competitiveness, and it could have stemmed back to college days. Fisher attended Central Michigan, and that’s where Watt started his college career before transferring to Wisconsin.

“Yeah, that was a Central Michigan thing,” Reid said. “They had a nice little battle going against each other. That’s how it rolls. Each one of them got a little piece of each other, and each one of them you could say had a win somewhere along the line against each other.”

Mostly, the Chiefs had a win against Watt, who recorded two sacks and had a total of six tackles for loss when the teams met in the season opener.

Fisher didn’t play in that game, recovering from an ankle injury and it was suggested that he was ducking out of a battle against Watt.

Fisher, the third-year pro and former No. 1 overall draft selection, said that narrative served as motivation for Saturday.

“I had a little chip on my shoulder coming into the week,” Fisher said. “You can go back and read the articles from week one and all that. It was a little frustrating in the beginning of the year, but (we) came back and go the job done.”

On both sides of the ball against Watt. He lined up at quarterback from the Chiefs’ 2-yard line and looked to power into the end zone in the second quarter. But the play lost 1 yard and quarterback Brian Hoyer ended the possession with an interception.

A lost day all around for Watt.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Chiefs, especially Eric Fisher, do a fine job stopping Texans’ J.J. Watt."