J.J. Watt walked out to the hallway after stepping down from the podium, instead of taking the back way to the locker room to shower and get dressed.
Watt's wife, Kealia, and his baby son, Koa, were waiting for him when he got back to his house.
Watt was taken out of the field with 2 minutes left in the game. Watt walked to the sideline when the 49ers' offense was ready to begin. The fans at the top of the stadium applauded when the big screen showed Watt's achievement. An official stood between the center and the quarterback in order for Watt to have his chance as he walked to the sideline.
In basketball, Kliff had seen that kind of moment, but never in football.
He said that it was special.
Kyle Shanahan said the reception was more than deserved.
He was a problem in the run game and pass game. For him to have his moment where he could walk off, I think everyone in this country respects him for what he has done on and off the field. He's a great guy.
Watt finished the game with two sacks, giving him 12.5 for the season, the fifth best of his career, and 114.5 in his 12 seasons.
"I wish the game had gone differently, but I'm thankful and I'll always remember it," Watt said.
He had an emotional 24 hours.
At the team meeting on Saturday, it began.
Watt told his defensive line coach, Matt Burke, throughout the week that he was going to retire, but it just wasn't happening. The three-time defensive player of the year was warned by Burke that something was going to happen.
A six-minute video tribute to Watt was introduced at the end of the meeting by Burke, who was running the defense.
Since Watt announced his intentions to retire, Burke and the team from the video and social media departments have been gathering videos from friends, family and people around the league. They were slow to arrive.
Burke said this would be the all-time backfire.
They began to pour in. Manning, Brady and Rodgers all remembered Watt.
T.J. was the first video in the tribute. J.J. was able to break down because of that.
Watt lost it. I kept on crying until long into the night. When you hear from people in your life that are important, from your family, from your friends, and then you hear from people you have the utmost respect for, that's when it hits you.
The video was made up of 30 minutes of raw footage and was capped by a video from Kealia.
J.J. said it was the greatest gift he had ever received.
Burke said that he felt responsibility to shepherd him out the right way. Hopefully that is some memories for him. There are two sacks that don't hurt.
It took Watt longer than usual to fall asleep on Saturday night, but he woke up feeling better.
He saw a photo of his brothers walking into Acrisure Stadium each wearing a J.J. jersey.
It was lost again by J.J.
"There's no way to explain what it's like to me because I love them and I have a lot of fun watching them, and then they walk in wearing my jerseys and T.J. gets whatever he had." He said that he couldn't ask for a better send-off for his family.
Watt's family flew in from Phoenix at 8:40 a.m. and went straight to the hotel. Watt gave Koa a bottle before the game.
It was the first time I'd seen it. He said it was the first time. That was great. The time had come to eat. He doesn't give me a chance to play. The man is hungry.
Watt played 83.6% of the defensive snaps for the Cards and finished with two sacks, five tackles, and a pass deflection.
Watt said that he should have had his son in attendance for all of his games because of how well he plays.
Watt played well in his final game.
He said he wanted to go out and play well. I know I can, I'm just choosing not to.
Watt was supposed to go to the wheels fall off.
"You don't want to leave the game, but you don't want something bad to happen, so what was I saving it for?" Watt chuckled. I'm going to have a lot of drinks tonight. It is over.
Watt and his mother were reminded of his time at the University of Wisconsin when he was farewelled on Sunday. He could have continued to play at a high level, but he knew it was time to go.
He's going to try to celebrate a bit this week, maybe play nine holes of golf in the middle of the week, and then he, Kealia and Koa are going to fly back to Wisconsin to celebrate his career.
He did not know what it looked like. It is very odd. It is very odd.
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