New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is not quick to praise ... well, pretty much anyone. We know this.

He doles out praise so infrequently that there have been two separate articles focusing on that specific fact written this year alone: one from the Wall Street Journal on how infrequently he praises his own players, and one from NFL.com on the rare players on opposing teams who have received his blessing as good football players.

On Wednesday, Belichick gave an opposing player (Texans defensive lineman/superhero J.J. Watt) the highest possible praise for a defensive player:

Look ... There's a reason I preface where other defensive linemen rank in certain statistics with "among human 3-4 defensive ends" and other phrases like that. It's because Watt is so much -- and so obviously -- better than everyone else at his position that it's pretty much not fair to compare other players to him. That's what LT was to his generation of players.

J.J. Watt got the highest praise from Bill Belichick. (USATSI)

Belichick is not just blowing smoke here. Watt is preposterous, one of the best defensive players of all time already, in just his fifth NFL season. That's just a thing that's true. It should not be controversial at all. He's (presumably) about to make his fourth straight Pro Bowl, be elected a First Team All-Pro for the fourth straight time, and win his third Defensive Player of the Year Award. If he has a particularly good stretch run, he could notch his third career 20-sack season (he's 6.5 away with four games left). Nobody else has more than one 20-sack season in their entire career. Again, this is Watt's fifth season in the NFL.

The Hoodie's not going to sit there and lie and say something like, "Yeah, J.J. Watt's a pretty good player." Nah. He's going to tell it like it is. Watt is on his way to becoming a legend and Belichick knows it. The praise is entirely deserved.