Can J.J Watt Win the 2014 NFL MVP Award?

A defensive player winning the league's MVP award is a rare occurance. In fact it has only happened twice, firstly in 1971 when the Vikings' defensive tackle Alan Page took home the award, and the last defensive player to win it was some guy called Lawrence Taylor in 1986.

Which brings us to the question posed in the above title, can JJ Watt win the MVP?

In a word, yes. But I will elaborate/back up my answer now with a few conditions.

The Houston Texans first of all need to finish with a respectable record, a playoff spot isn't out of the question with the way the Texans have been playing so far at 3-3, the average-ness of the AFC also helps their chances as they are in the hunt at this early stage of the season.

Then Watt himself needs to keep doing things that no-one else can. His 80-yard interception return against the Buffalo Bills for example. When you watch the clip of the play one thing you have to bear in mind is that JJ Watt is 6-foot-5 and as near as makes no difference 290 pounds, yet he still covered the 80 yards quicker than most linebackers could, a guy that big should not be that quick!

Just to give you an idea of how dominant Watt has been, and how great his numbers are, lets compare him to the entire Seattle Seahawks defensive unit. After a quick glance at my NFL.com fantasy team, Watt has one more touchdown, only one less fumble recovery, one less interception than the whole of the legion of boom combined and four sacks to Seattle's combined seven.

The fact that we are comparing one player's efforts to an entire defensive team's performance shows how ridiculous Watt has been so far this year. He already has six passes defended compare to his total of seven all last season. And if that's not enough, he also caught a touchdown pass against the Oakland Raiders in week two! But then again so could I when you look at the Raiders this year.

So Watt's a shoe-in to win the MVP right? Well if DeMarco Murray breaks Eric Dickerson's rushing record I would have to concede that he would probably win the award, or if Phillip Rivers continues his current streak of five games with a passer rating of over 120 he would also be in contention.

The problem for Watt is that defensive plays rarely make the highlight reels, its usually full of Calvin Johnson catches, LeSean McCoy runs and Aaron Rodgers being Aaron Rodgers.

Despite what the Seahawks did last year, and what the whole of the NFC West is based on, the league is still all about offence.

But barring injury, or the coaching staff switching Watt to cornerback to see if there really is nothing he can't do, Watt should be have a great chance of being crowned MVP.

No-one dominates the game in the way he does right now.