Texans Need More from Clowney Replacement Whitney Mercilus

A peculiar stat turned up as I was making my rounds on the division. Pro Football Focus has tallied the Houston Texans thusly: 

Player	Hurries
J.J. Watt	6
Whitney Mercilus	6
Brooks Reed	5

Wait, Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus has as many hurries as defensive end J.J. Watt? The same Whitney Mercilus who was playing extensively in the fourth game of the preseason?

So I sat down with NFL Game Rewind and asked it to tell me the tale of Mercilus' improvement. 

I didn't really see much improvement as a pass-rusher. In fact, I began to get skeptical of PFF's number on hurries when I started counting on my own. Mercilus has shown some improvement, in my mind, both as a run defender and in his spatial awareness of the field. 

New defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel's system has asked Mercilus to drop into coverage much more often than previous defensive coordinator Wade Phillips did. Mercilus is hardly graceful, but he's got a knack for finding a spot in an underneath zone. I am more impressed by his growth setting the edge.

Source: NFL Game Rewind

Mercilus has gotten better at moving horizontally while taking on blockers. In his rookie season, he would often overpursue as a rusher and wind up giving the entire outside of the field to backs on toss sweeps or zone runs. 

On this play, the Oakland Raiders test him by bouncing to the outside, and he's able to get off a pulling blocker and secure a jersey tackle on running back Darren McFadden to save a big gain. 

If you've read my previous work, you'll know that sometimes I talk about the idea of a hurry or a sack being extremely deprived of context. It's one of my pet peeves of creating a catch-all stat. When solid outside linebacker Connor Barwin bulldozes journeyman tackle Guy Whimper to get to frightened quarterback Blaine Gabbert, that's a sack. When All-Pro J.J. Watt turnstiles Pro Bowler Louis Vazquez to pull down All-Pro Peyton Manning, that's also a sack. Which one is more impressive? Which one leads you to have more confidence in a player going forward?

Mercilus' early numbers look nice, but the added context makes me skeptical that they're going to add up to much going forward. 

Source: NFL Game Rewind

Here's Mercilus sacking Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III past offensive tackle Trent Williams. Sounds good, right? But Griffin reverted to a remedial version of his pocket awareness in this game. One step up gets him out of Mercilus' way. Griffin doesn't take that step. Does this mean Mercilus is more effective? 

Source: NFL Game Rewind

Here's Mercilus hurrying Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in garbage time. The offensive tackle, Khalif Barnes, is the epitome of a replacement-level tackle. The situation lets the Texans pin their ears back and worry exclusively about getting after the quarterback. 

The fact is, outside of a tackle-end stunt hurry in the Raiders game, almost all of Mercilus' hurries or sacks have come bending the edge. There's a reason that's a tried-and-true tactic, of course. It works. But Mercilus effectively has no countermove to that as a rusher. 

Because Mercilus is a speed rusher, he rarely tests the inside of his blocker. He doesn't have the power to make plays like that. And that relates to the other main issue he has this season: He doesn't know how to use his hands to knock down the offensive lineman's. Without fail this season, when a lineman gets his hands on Mercilus, Mercilus' role as a pass-rusher is over. 

Bob Levey/Getty Images

Mercilus can have a big game against the New York Giants because anybody can have a big game against that offensive line. 

But there's a reason the Texans drafted outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney No. 1 overall: Mercilus hadn't shown enough to convince Houston that he was a key contributor for their future. Heck, when Clowney went down in Week 1, Mercilus even shared passing-down rushes with OLB Brooks Reed, despite Reed having no track record of success as a rusher. 

But Clowney's absence is an important period of time for Mercilus. He needs to prove that he still has the talent to stick in this league. If not for the Texans, then at least for someone else. 

It's incredible to me that someone could play with J.J. Watt and still be so bad with his hands. Perhaps a new defensive line coach and a change of scenery could finally turn the obvious talent Mercilus has into a player worth building around. 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.