New dad J.J. Watt has all the feels after dedicating two sacks to infant son

MINNEAPOLIS — The Arizona Cardinals lost Sunday's game 34-26 to the Minnesota Vikings. The competitor in J.J. Watt wasn't happy with the loss, along with his teammates.

The dad in Watt was thrilled, however. Watt wore white cleats with his newborn son's name, Koa James Watt, written and colored on them as part of the design on the shoes.

The baby boy was born on October 23, and Watt couldn't help but smile at the thought of going home from Minnesota to his family.

Watt had two sacks. After the first, he dropped to a knee and gestured to his cleats with his hands in a tribute to his son. After the second, he cradled his arms and rocked, then pretended to rope a calf before flaring out his arms.

The first part of that celebration was another nod to his son. The second was his version of former NFL great Jared Allen's sack celebration, for which Watt drew boos from the Vikings fans who'd just seen Allen get inducted into the team's Ring of Honor.

"Clearly fans here misinterpreted my Jared Allen tribute. Jared Allen's one of my favorite players of all time, and that was absolutely a way to honor him," Watt said. "He's one of the best of all time. He's a great player. I loved watching him and meeting him a couple times."

Watt looked forward to getting back to Arizona late Sunday night to see his wife, Kealia, and their son.

"Obviously, I'm extremely happy with my home life right now," Watt said. "I have a wife and son I'm going home to after a game for the first time ever, so to be able to honor him with a couple of sacks was great."

Watt said he had a lot of family in town (Phoenix area) to help out with the baby, for which he felt fortunate.

"Everything anybody's ever said about being a dad is 100 percent true. It's the greatest thing in the whole world," Watt said.

Watt plans to put his cleats in a glass case for display.

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt dedicates sacks to son, Vikings legend Jared Allen