Ryan Fitzpatrick has played against J.J. Watt as a Buffalo Bill and as a Tennessee Titan.
On Sunday, he'll be reunited with Watt and his former teammates in a Jets uniform. After undergoing thumb surgery on his non-throwing hand on Friday, Fitzpatrick expects to start this week.
"Yeah, you know that he's (Watt's) going to get his hurries and his hits and all that," Fitzpatrick said in a conference call Wednesday. "He's a great player. You just got to try to limit the disaster plays with him in there."
Watt's respect for Fitzpatrick is mutual, especially the 32-year-old quarterback's toughness and ability to pop up after hits.
"I don't think there's too many times you're going to see a guy get surgery no matter what it is, even if it is his non-throwing hand, and come out and play next week," Watt said. "Looking forward to playing against him."
Jets Head coach Todd Bowles describes Watt as "an unbelievable player," one that he's run out of adjectives to describe his level of talent. His team has a challenge in front of them for the Week 11 matchup in Houston, according to Bowles.
"You got to know where he is," Bowles said Wednesday. "You got to know where he is and sometimes that's not good enough so we just have to go out there and play our game and our offensive line has their work cut out for them."
Watt, who recorded a sack in Monday's 10-6 win over Cincinnati, passed Derrick Thomas (66.0) for the second-most sacks in a player's first five seasons in NFL history.
The Texans will host the Jets on Sunday in their annual Salute to Service Day game. Kickoff is set for noon CT on CBS KHOU-11 and SportsRadio 610.
Check out the action from the Texans at Bengals Monday Night Football matchup.
