Whitney Mercilus had a career game on Sunday, despite the Texans 31-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In his eighth-consecutive start this season, Mercilus sacked Eagles quarterback Nick Foles twice in three plays for a loss of 20 yards on the drive.
"It makes you more motivated to go out there and make plays for your team," Mercilus said. "Despite that, we all, myself included, have to be more solid on critical situations."
Mercilus started for, Jadeveon Clowney, who was suffering from the flu and did not practice on Friday.
With his first sack of the game, Mercilus moved into fifth place on the franchise's all-time sacks list. He surpassed Kailee Wong, who had 15.0 from 2002-2006, and now has 17.0 career sacks in three seasons.
"I really can't say enough about Whitney Mercilus," head coach Bill O'Brien said after the game. "I mean, he practices every snap in practice. He takes some scout team reps because we were a little bit thin at linebacker. Then, he goes in the game and he's played better and better every game. He's a great guy, a really good teammate, a hardworking guy. He's just played really well for us this year and I think that was what I saw out there from the sideline."
The Texans outside linebacker also led the Texans defense with a career-high nine tackles against the Eagles. Mercilus currently has 33 tackles and four sacks through nine games this season.
