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Breakfast: Whitney Mercilus has monstrous day

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Whitney Mercilus was a monster on Sunday.

He terrorized Blake Bortles, sacking the Jacksonville quarterback 3.5 times.

He also plucked a Bortles fumble out of mid-air, forced another fumble, tallied two tackles for a loss and finished with five total tackles on the day.

"It feels good, it feels good," Mercilus said. "It just means to me that I am the player I think I am, and just continue that on."

Mercilus' huge afternoon pushed his final sack total for 2015 to 12. It's the first season in which he's finished with double-digit sacks, and the 2012 first round draft pick joined defensive end J.J. Watt in the 10-plus sack category.

"It means we have guys that know how to get to the quarterback," Mercilus said. "Teams are going to be looking for that, of course, and all we have to do is just keep it going."

Watt, who dropped Bortles for a sack three times on Sunday, used the "I" word when describing Mercilus' output against Jacksonville.

"Incredible," Watt said. "I think he played great. When he gets those opportunities to really let it loose, he's done it. I think he deserves all the praise he gets. I think that he is a fantastic pass rusher."

Cornerback Johnathan Joseph was glad Mercilus was able to shine as well.

"I'm really extremely happy for Mercilus to be playing the way he is, because he is getting better every time we're out there."

Mercilus is the first player in Texans' history to have more than one game with 3.5 sacks or more in a season. It was the third multi-sack game of 2015, and the eighth time he's done that in his career.

Only Watt and Mario Williams have more sacks in franchise history.

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Check out the snapshots from the Week 17 matchup between the Texans and Jaguars.

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