Report: J.J. Watt ‘trending toward playing’ Cardinals-Rams Wild Card game

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Thursday marked J.J. Watt’s first practice since suffering a long list of injuries in his shoulder area toward the end of October, and the Arizona Cardinals defensive end reportedly had no setbacks despite getting in what head coach Kliff Kingsbury deemed “very limited” work.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Friday morning that Watt is “trending toward playing” the Wild Card game on Monday against the Los Angeles Rams — and that the work on Thursday “went very well” with “no issues.”

Watt spoke to reporters Wednesday and did not want to commit to playing Monday until he had time to hit the practice field.

“From a performance standpoint, I’m not gonna put myself on the field if it’s gonna put my team in a worse situation,” Watt said of the potential of playing against the Rams. “That’s not even a question.

“I’m not gonna step on that field if I’m not able to do the things I need to do to help us win games. That would detrimental to the team and I’m not gonna do that.”

Watt appeared in Arizona’s first seven games of the regular season and on Oct. 24 played through a torn rotator cuff, labrum, capsule and infraspinatus. The defensive end said he also dislocated his bicep tendon. Watt suffered that injury in the middle of a 31-5 win against the Houston Texans.

He recorded 16 tackles, seven stuffs, a sack and a forced fumble over the front-half of the season.

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