Last season Whitney Mercilus pressured the quarterback, but didn’t have the meaningful sack and hit numbers that edge rushers need to have. That’s changed this season. Mercilus followed up a one sack, one quarterback hit, one and a half tackles for a loss, one pass defensed game by brutalizing Will Richardson Jr. and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Mercilus had 2 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles, one of which recovered by J.J. Watt, and 3 quarterback hits on top of that. One sack was hand fighting and ripping, something missing from last season when Mercilus was rushing way way way out wide.