Houston Texans: Whitney Mercilus, Defense Receive Top Honors

It feels good to be on the winning side of things, doesn’t it, Houston Texans’ fans? Yes, for a game that we thought was going to be another disappointing situation with us on the short end of the stick, this team knuckled down and found a way to win.

It feels good to be on the winning side of things, doesn’t it, Houston Texans‘ fans? Yes, for a game that we thought was going to be another disappointing situation with us on the short end of the stick, this team knuckled down and found a way to win.

What can you takeaway from Sunday night’s game?

It proves that at least we can take care of our opponents in our division and that if this team stays the course, they can meet their objectives.

We learned that Brock Osweiler can rise to the occasion when needed as he was able to march the Houston Texans downfield triumphantly in the 4th quarter.

Because in the previous three quarters, he was just plain BAD and it looked like there was no improvement to him sight with the Houston Texans facing a 23-9 deficit going into the last quarter of regulation.

Houston Texans’ fans voted with their feet and got the hell out of NRG Stadium as they somehow knew how the ending of that terrible story would be, possibly leading to their demise.

Not so!

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But a funny thing happened — this team found their “IT” factor and started their mountainous climb out of the hole they incrementally dug themselves into earlier in the game.

It was a concerted effort and that’s what it will take to win football games when times get rough as well as tough.

Although the team’s offensive engine sputtered quite a bit before turning over and moving the chains, this defense played their hearts out despite being on the field quite a bit.

Whitney Mercilus led the charge along with a fierce pass-rush that even J.J. Watt would be extremely proud of.

According to Pro Football Focus, Mercilus received tops in terms of his defensive grade among all players on that line.

He received an 85.6 grade along with six tackles and a bone-crunching sack on Andrew Luck late in the game.

That sack was instrumental in propelling the Houston Texans in the direction of completing their comeback.

And try this on for size…

Both Mercilus and Jadeveon Clowney combined for seven quarterback pressures and put the vise grip on Luck’s dropbacks — he was 20-of-41 — which was nearly half of his attempts.

The now-injured Kevin Johnson allowed just six catches that went for seven yards or fewer and defended one pass as well.

A.J. Bouye continues to headline his own coming out party, being a key component of the line, allowing two catches for 20 yards on 44 coverage snaps.

He was PFF’s highest-graded defender in coverage.

Where would be without the hard-nosed defense of this team?

At the cellar of the NFL standings, without a doubt!

Next: FIVE Reasons Why The Texans Beat The Colts

They’ve saved so many games for us, it’s mind-boggling as to how they do it on a consistent basis.

They could easily complain about the offense not carrying their weight but they just go out and do their jobs.

And they do it so well.

Who also received top marks in terms of their defense by PFF?

Clowney (83.2), Corey Moore (82.8), Bouye (82.4) and Johnson (79.8).

Let’s hope this upward trend continues because the Houston Texans will need all of their wits against a tough Denver Broncos’ defense on prime-time this Monday night.

I’m crossing my fingers that we don’t get our rears handed to us and we have an decent showing on national television once again.

Us fans deserve at least that.

Go Houston Texans.

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