With no Watt, Mercilus may start seeing double
Whitney Mercilus laughed at the suggestion that he’s about to become a marked man in a Texans defense suddenly bereft of defensive end J.J. Watt.
The outside linebacker joked that he might use the element of disguise to avoid that scenario of double-team blocking attention. That respect could be paid, though, to the Texans’ most established pass rushing threat who’s not on injured reserve.
“I’m just trying to sneak in there real nice and smooth,” Mercilus said. “I’m going to tape the 9 on my jersey: ‘It’s just 5 out there, don’t chip him.’ ”
The absence of Watt, who is out for the season after tearing his pectoral muscle Sunday against the Raiders, should provide a litmus test of Mercilus’ impact. It will be instructive to see how opponents react to a defense that no longer has the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year lining up at left defensive end.
Because Mercilus leads the Texans with 5½ sacks and four forced fumbles, he’s going to be paid a lot of respect from opposing blockers and offensive coordinators.
“He’s going to play to the best of his ability,” Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel said. “It’ll be interesting to see what teams think and how they try to protect, because if you leave him one on one, he makes some plays. Now, whether they slide the line or chip or whatever they decide to do, then somebody else from the other side has to step up. You have to look at who you have and what their abilities are and then try to put them in the best spot to make plays to help the team win.”
The last time Watt was placed on injured reserve was in 2017, when he suffered a broken leg. Mercilus got hurt at the same time, the fifth game of the season , when he tore his pectoral and was out for the year.
Mercilus played nearly a full season without Watt in 2016, when Watt was sidelined after three games because of a back injury. That year, Mercilus played a full season and built a formidable tandem with Jadeveon Clowney, who was traded this year to the Seattle Seahawks. Mercilus finished with 7½ sacks.
“You’ve got to look back at years when we’ve had a lot of key injuries,” Mercilus said. “Honestly, it’s just the way the league goes. You have to have guys step up in all different areas from the front end to the back ends in order to compensate for what he’s brought to the defense and all that.
“As a defense, it’s going to be tough to replace what he brings to the table. He’s drawn a lot of attention for a lot of guys to make plays. His enthusiasm for the game really elevates everyone around him. The biggest thing is nastiness. He brings a lot of that to the table. Just being who he is, he draws triple-teams and quadruple-teams.”
Sunday’s game in London against the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium is the first game this season the Texans will play without Watt, who leads the NFL with 20 quarterback pressures and has four sacks and one forced fumble.
Judging from the esteem that Jaguars coach Doug Marrone holds for Mercilus, he can expect a lot of attention.
“When I first came into this division a couple of years ago when I was an offensive line coach, I was like, ‘Who is Whitney Mercilus? This guy is unbelievable,’ ” Marrone said. “You talk about a guy that can hold a point against the run and make plays and can’t get outside him, to a guy that has just that uncanny ability, he has enough speed to get around the edge.
“He does a great job of his long reach and being able to knock the ball out, and then he’ll come back and he has a spin move that I haven’t seen many people stop. So, he’s got power, he’s got speed. He’s going to be a tough matchup for us. We’ve got to know where he is all the time.”
In the final year of a $26 million contract, the 29-year-old Mercilus has a lot on the line this season.
Excel in place of Watt, and it might motivate the Texans to pony up a big contract extension for Mercilus, or another NFL team if he hits the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
Regardless of where he plays next season, Mercilus is one of the most disruptive pass rushers and run-stoppers in the NFL.
“I think that Whitney is having a good year,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “There’s a lot of different things that we can do with Whitney. When J.J. is in there, we do certain things with Whitney. When J.J. is not in there, maybe there’s other things we do, and I think that also includes some other guys — Brennan Scarlett, Jacob Martin, Barkevious Mingo, (D.J.) Reader, (Angelo) Blackson, (Charles) Omenihu.
“I think there’s a lot of different things that we can do. I think that Whitney has always been a guy that does what’s best for the team, so whatever we ask him to do, he’s going to try to do it to the best of his ability. We’ll see how that plays out over the week here.”