HOUSTON -- Ray Lewis couldn't do it. Reggie White couldn't do it. Neither could Bruce Smith or Mike Singletary or Joe Greene.
J.J. Watt did.
The Houston Texans defensive end is now a three-time winner of the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year award, while Lewis, White, Smith, Singletary and Greene were all two-time winners. In the history of the NFL, only Lawrence Taylor and Watt have won the award three times, and he is the league's first back-to-back winner since 1982 when Taylor did that in his second NFL season.
And now comes the most difficult challenge of all for any NFL player, much less one determined to stay on top of his profession.