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HOUSTON -- J.J. Watt was so good last season that Houston defensive co-ordinator Wade Phillips called it the "best season ever" for a defensive lineman. So what will last seasons defensive player of the year do for an encore? Easy. "Im going to be better," he said as the Texans reported for training camp Thursday. "Just watch." It will be hard to top what he did last season, just his second in the NFL. He led the league with 20 1/2 sacks, had 81 tackles, four forced fumbles and defended 16 passes. Watt spent time this off-season doing what many would find to be a mundane task. He watched video of each of his games, not once but "over and over and over again." He wanted to pinpoint things he missed and find ways he could improve. "Theres sacks I missed here and there," he said. "Theres a couple of plays in the run game I missed here and there, some balls that could have been batted that werent batted. Little things. Im always looking at the little things. You have to be your harshest critic and Im by far my harshest critic and I have by far the highest expectations out of anyone in the entire world." Speaking of critics, Watt is annoyed that many have said he wont be able to replicate the success he had in 2012. "Why not? Why not? Dont sit here and tell me what I can and cant do," Watt said. He also finds it funny when people question whether hell succeed once teams make adjustments to account for him. He said adjustments were made last year that involved everything from double and triple teams to chip blocks. "If you want to focus all your attention on me, a) its not guaranteed to work and b) you have to worry about the 10 other guys on the field with me," he said. "And Im very fortunate to have 10 great other players on the field with me. Im also not going to give up just because Ive got three or four guys on me. Im going to get that sack." Hes enjoyed the fame hes gained from his work on the field and related stories about his delight at seeing pictures of fans wearing his jersey in places as far away as Japan. He loves Houston and the support he receives everywhere he goes, even if it is a little overwhelming at times. He said his plan to go out for breakfast on Thursday morning was foiled because he "cant take two steps without" people asking for autographs or pictures. Considering the speed of his rise to stardom, the 24-year-old is very aware that it could all go away at any moment. That, he says is one of the things that drives him to improve. This year, hes excited to play with ball-hawking safety Ed Reed and about the return of linebacker Brian Cushing from knee surgery. Reed had surgery to repair a partly torn labrum on April 30 and its unclear when hell be ready to play. He wasnt available on Thursday, but Andre Johnson, who has been close with Reed since the two played together at Miami, provided an update. "He feels like hes ahead of schedule," Johnson said. "He said hes feeling fine and hell be ready to go for opening day." Watt, who earned the moniker J.J. Swatt for his knack for batting down passes, has grand plans for how Reed, a nine-time Pro Bowler, can help complement his game. "I hope were going to the end zone many, many times," Watt said. "Ed and I talk about it all the time. I want to be tipping him interceptions all the time." Watt has noticed a different focus among the team than it had at the beginning of the season and believes it is partly due to the disappointing way Houston finished the regular season. The Texans began the season 11-1 before losing three of their last four regular-season games, which cost them bye week and home-field advantage in playoffs. "We definitely didnt play up to our potential at the end of the season last year," he said. "We just didnt finish the season strong and thats what we need to do." Houston won the AFC South title and its first-round playoff game in each of the last two seasons before losing in the divisional round. That kind of performance is unacceptable to Watt this year. "Division championships thats cool, but thats old news. First-round playoff wins -- cool -- but thats old news," he said. "We have one singular goal." Darren ODay Jersey . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Kevin Gausman Jersey . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. http://www.baseballbravesproshop.com/adam-duvall-braves-jersey/ .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Matt Joyce Braves Jersey .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Brian McCann Jersey .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A couple of California college kids who came north for a nonstop summer of baseball relaxed in the shaded grandstand one bright afternoon, before the gates opened and the Rochester Honkers hosted the Mankato MoonDogs.The two teams had just played a lunch-time game in Mankato and bused 80-some-miles across the flat farmland of south-central Minnesota to Rochester for the second half of this dual-city doubleheader, part of the 72-games-in-76-days schedule in the flourishing, fostering Northwoods League.Theres nothing Id rather be doing than be out here, said Casey Worden, a senior-to-be at UC Riverside who homered in the first game that day for the Honkers.The teammates marveled at the abundance of green grass around the five-state, one-province footprint of the league. They missed seeing the mountains but not the smoggy sky.And theres actually stars at night, said Mark Contreras, another UC Riverside rising senior.Future stars arent hard to find on the field, either.With Curtis Granderson, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer among the alumni, the Northwoods League has served as a meaningful stepping stone for many a college player to a professional career over two-plus decades. The reach of this 18-teams-and-growing league designed to simulate the minor league grind has only increased.I enjoy playing the game. Its a muse to me, Contreras said. If the draft does happen for me, then I have that confidence Ive lasted that many games and can do it here.The Northwoods League founders werent sure how long it would last past its 1994 inception. Dick Radatz Jr., a former college player with operational and promotional experience in the minor leagues and with major league spring training in Florida, needed a job and wanted to stay in the sport. So he helped spawn the league with a $25,000 down payment that drained his savings. There were five teams then, two of which remain in operation in their original city.A little bit of inspiration and a little bit of desperation, Radatz said. In the early years we were robbing Peter to pay Paul. If you had a good night in Wausau you had to get that money down to Dubuque to pay those bills.With a shorter season than the minors, the Northwoods League had fewer bad-weather nights on which to sell tickets. Games were affordable for families, and some teams created all-inclusive party decks to keep 20-somethings coming. The first alumnus to reach the majors, Jeff Weaver, debuted in 1999 for the Detroit Tigers.The for-profit model, with 5 percent of team revenues redirected to the league, fueled investment in innovation like an in-house webcast on track to feature four high-definition cammeras at every site by next year.dddddddddddd. So many season subscriptions were sold that Google and YouTube started asking the league questions about its success. This year brought three-man umpire crews.Now the new-franchise fee is $1 million. League-wide attendance this summer entering the weekend was 1,597 per game, with a league-high average of 5,681 fans flocking to see the Madison Mallards. Next year could bring one to four expansion teams. The number of all-time alumni to reach the majors rose this month to 153 , with more than half since 2011 and 56 active this season.This is the best competition Ive seen my entire life, said MoonDogs All-Star Jordan Kozicky, a Minneapolis native who redshirted his freshman year at Minnesota.Current college enrollment is the only prerequisite for participation, with clubs recruiting players through connections at various NCAA programs. Strict rules protect pitchers, such as five days of rest required after appearances of 100-plus pitches. Relievers cant pitch on consecutive days.Gracious hosts house and feed the players when theyre in town.Its truly like a second family. They treat you like one of their own, Worden said.Travel is an integral part of the experience. The North Division stretches 500-plus miles from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to Waterloo, Iowa. The eight teams in Wisconsin have a long way to go around the lake to get to Battle Creek or Kalamazoo in Michigan. Yes, thats a lot of napping. Its also time for players from different regions to bond over pizza or Mafia, the group strategy game that gets top billing on the MoonDogs bus.Anything thats this compacted is going to bring the best out of you, Honkers pitching coach Demetre Kokoris said. The more adversity, the better. The more games you play, the more scenarios that come up. Im a firm believer that the more challenging you can make things, the better off it is.The Cape Cod League, with 292 alumni playing in the majors in 2015 alone, has long been the amateur-league summer standard for pro prospects. It has 10 teams no more than an hour apart playing a 44-game schedule. Naturally, the Northwoods Leaguers are proud of their bus miles and game logs.I just focus on trying to get better every day and playing the game hard because you love it, said MoonDogs All-Star Jake Shepski, a Chicago-area native playing at Notre Dame who entered the weekend with a league-best .384 batting average and ranked in the top five in homers and RBI. Then I think everything will just work out the way its supposed to. ' ' '