This pass rush makes it a game within a game
Mercilus, Clowney, Watt target QB and say ‘beat me there’
METAIRIE, La. — Drew Brees was trapped in the New Orleans Saints’ backfield, boxed in at every turn with little hope of escape or not having his timing disrupted by the Texans’ surging pass rush.
When the 10-time Pro Bowl quarterback and former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player turned to his right, there was star defensive end J.J. Watt invading his personal space.
When Brees sought safe passage, and passing lanes to his right, he had to account for the spin moves of speedy outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus.
And Brees was under relentless pursuit from Pro Bowl defensive end/outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, giving chase from the edges of the Texans’ top-ranked
defense.
Although it was only a joint training camp practice with the Texans at the Saints’ suburban practice facility, there was enough heat being generated to collapse the pocket. It was enough to practically render Brees claustrophobic.
“They’re as good as you get,” Brees said of the ultra-dangerous Watt-Clowney bookend tandem. “And you throw Mercilus into the deal and that linebacking corps, that’ s as good a front seven as there is in football.”
Because of the Texans’ uncommon amount of talent at defensive end and outside linebacker, they’ve created an enviable situation and a fun game within their ranks. It’s a case of “meet me there, beat me there” when it comes to harassing quarterbacks.
‘’It’s a race to the quarterback, man, to see who can get there first, honestly ,” Mer ci luss aid .“It’ s great to have guys and build a little bit of a friendly competition amongst ourselves. That’s what we like to do.”
Brees’ compliment raises the point about some difficult situations opposing offenses will be tasked with this season when trying to block the Texans’ rare trio of pass rushers.
How do offensive lines and quarter backs account for the presence of Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year who’s in the midst of a strong comeback from a pair of back surgeries?
Who do NFL offensive coordinators single out for double-team blocking attention?
Should they chip-block Watt or tilt their schemes to try to contain Clowney on the heels of a breakthrough season last year when he established himself as a disruptive run-stopper and pass rusher.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Clowney said. “We’re going at it. I think we take pride in competing with each other. First one to the ball, to the quarterback, is what we come out here and try to do. When you have all the guys wanting to have that attitude, the sky’s the limit for this defense.”
What happens if offenses leave Mer ci l us relatively unblocked considering he has recorded a combined 19½ sacks over the past two seasons?
Versatility makes unit tough
In terms of strategy, new Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel should be able to come up with some creative stunts, twists and blitz packages with which to attack offenses.
The Texans can get to the quarterback without dialing up blitzes, but they have the luxury of being able to also utilize second-team AllPro inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney on fire blitzes up the middle or deploy him as an outside linebacker. The 6-4, 260-pounder had five sacks last season and led the Texans with 129 tack les.
“It’s difficult to go against our kind of defense with guys who are so versatile, guys who can rush, who can cover, who can play the run, things like that,” Mercilus said. “It’s awesome to have those types of guys, like JD and J.J., everybody, because we can mix it up, play different fronts and confuse offenses.”
By practicing against Brees, the Tex ans’ front seven got to test their mettle against a quarterback with one of the quickest releases in the history of the game.
On Thursday, Mercilus knew he had only scant seconds to react before B re es would uncork a spiral downfield.
Matching wits with the former NFL Offensive Player of the Year involves a chess match with one of the chess masters of the league. And Mercilus enjoyed testing his reactions against one of the NFL’s most accomplished quarterbacks.
Heading into his 17th season, Brees holds the NFL career completion percentage record with an all-time 66.7 clip, passing for 66,111 career yards and 465 touchdowns. Last week, the Texans practiced and played against New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady. Now, they’ve squared off against Brees in advance of Saturday night’s preseason game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
“He gets the ball out quick, of course,” Mercilus said. “He runs the offense, everything goes through him, so it’s great work for us to understand what we’ ve got to work on. I think it’s important.
“Every game is important, of course, especially, against Drew Brees, who gives us a good look just like Tom Brady last week. Those guys know how to read defenses. They understand when and what to run at us and understand what we’re doing to them. So, it’s very challenging.”
A scary proposition
A year ago, Clowney notched a career-high six sacks and 52 tackles. He did so without as diverse a repertoire of pass-rushing moves as Watt and Mercilus. Clowney primarily relied upon a powerful bull-rush, his speed rush, a swim move and a spin move. It still was enough to make C low ne ya matchup nightmare.
“Working on my pass-rush skills,” Clowney said. “If I can take that part of my game to the next level, I think I can be even better than I’ve been.”
That’ s a scary thought for opponents,when factoring in the return of Watt and Mercilus’ steady improvement over the past two seasons as one of the more complete outside linebackers in the NFL.
The Texans put a lot of pressure on Brees on Thursday. A lesser quarterback probably would have gotten seriously flustered by the Texans’ pass-rushing crew of Watt, Mercilus and Clowney.
“We have a good front and I think we were just getting after the quarterback, just rushing to our ability and just going hard,” Clowney said. “Our secondary was locking down the receivers so it gave us time to get to him. When you put the two together, it can be a good thing.”
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