KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston was a guest this morning on ESPN's "First Take" from Scottsdale, Arizona. Houston again denied he skipped playing in Sunday night's Pro Bowl because he was concerned about getting injured.

Houston's contract will soon expire. Whether the Chiefs make him their franchise player or he signs for the longer term, he's about to get a big contract.

"That's not true at all," said Houston, who led the NFL in 2014 with 22 sacks. "I woke up early that morning with a stomach virus. I called the trainers and everything. They just told me to see how I felt later on that day. I didn't feel too good so that's why I didn't play."

Here's Houston from the First Take interview on other topics:

On the Chiefs' problems scoring points: "We had our ups and downs. It's a team effort. The way I see it, if our defense did a better job of not letting them score we could have pulled out some more games."

Pressed on whether he really believed that, Houston said, "We're a family. So I'm going to keep it in the house."

On whether the Chiefs can win a Super Bowl with Alex Smith as their quarterback: "I'm very convinced. The past two years we've had winning seasons. But we need some more pieces. This year I feel our offensive line struggled a little bit. We had some injuries on our offensive line that caused him to get sacked more than usual. But I think we can do it with Alex."

On the Chiefs' wide receivers; none caught a touchdown pass in 2014: "We definitely need some more receivers."

On whether J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, Houston's leading competition for defensive player of the year, was deserving of MVP: "I think so. He's a guy that's playing on offense. You don't see that in the NFL. He's playing both sides of the ball. He's catching touchdown passes and making plays on defense."

On whether Watt, who had 20.5 sacks in 2014, was better than Houston: "I wouldn't say that."