Earlier in his career Mercilus was very good at setting the edge and also containing his side of the field. After last year, it appears Clowney moved more into that role and he bites on almost every misdirection trying to make a play. I miss the days of Mercilus playing his position and containing the run. There are obviously some ways a creative defensive mind can keep them on the field together or rotate them, but having him drop into coverage is not one of them. I'd hope they could get a pick for him rather than release him.
I posted about the trio of Clowney-Mercilus-Watt previously and wondered if their effectiveness was reduced due to Watt not lining up inside as much this year. I think that is their best rush combo, and they seemingly went with Clowney standing up in the A/B gaps as their preferred rush formation.
Or the coaches or organization in general doesn’t have the testicular fortitude the ask Watt to sacrifice for the team. We always seem to have Clowney or Mercilus rush from the interior but never Watt. Is it any coincidence that our best defense (Mercilus included) in the BOB era came when Watt barely play in 2016? If the entire defense can sacrifice for Watt to get stats then why can’t Watt do it for the rest of the defense?
The one year vrabel had merci playing inside in pass rush situations and he was a force. Especially in the New England game.
They need to try to package Mercilus with their 1st so they can move up and get one of the top OT's/CB's. Or use Mercilus and a 2nd to move up in the 2nd to get a guy that's a 1st rd talent that's dropped to the top of the 2nd. This is where Mercilus and his contract has the most value. The Lions are a team I would look at as a trading partner in the top of the 2nd. There's a Pats connection there between the Lions/Texans.
Here is what I don't understand.. quit sticking to your weird guns. Switch to a 4-3. We have 2 amazing DEs in Watt and Clowney, you could also put reader/covington inside with watt and have Clowney and Merci be your DEs. Then have Cunningham - McKinney - Cole behind them. Its not that hard, not sure why they don't try that. Clowney and Merci are not OLBs...
For sure, if there's a team out there that would give us a 5th round pick for him or whatever, you jump on that rather than releasing him, but I'm not sure that team exists.
There's not a scenario where they can't keep Clowney. He'll either sign long term, or they'll franchise him.
They seem to want to move JD around, leave Watt at LDE, and shuffle in Mercilus when JD lines up as a stand-up ILB. I liked it when they had 90 and 59 at DE and 99 as a DT in passing situations. I understand not wanting to put Watt inside to avoid more traffic, but it might be a more optimal use of their skills, especially giving them a push inside if JD and Merci crash effectively off the edge.
This. I feel like Romeo used to bring some exotic looks with Mercilus, JD, Watt & McKinney. Seems like McKinney didn’t blitz as much this year either, something he’s really good at doing. The Badger blitz’s were really effective too & those stopped later in the season. I’ll give Romeo another year. He basically had 1 true CB at his disposal all year in J-Jo. Gotta find a way to get all these guys going though if we’re keeping Mercilus.
A reunion with Arians & Bowles in Tampa seems likely at this point IMO. Fully expect him to have a reunion with Arians & Bowles in Tampa Bay at this point.
I think the fewer blitzes this year was due to how awful the situation at CB was. They tried to make up for it by having more people in coverage, but since they were competent people in coverage, it still failed. That said, the Texans were still a top 5 defense in the NFL this season.....so it wasn't THAT bad.
With this new craze in the NFL hiring college-style offensive minds, I’m a little surprised Art Briles’ name hasn’t surfaced
With this new awareness of sex crimes against women, I'm a little surprised you're surprised no teams want to touch him just yet.
Art Briles has already benefited more than he should have with the money he has made thus far.... I hope he is black balled at the collegiate and NFL level for the rest of his days on this planet.
Briles was hired by a June Jones’ CFL team but immediately reversed course after the backlash. A coaching convention also cancelled his speaking engagement last year for the same reason.
