He only played three snaps on Saturday night, but Whitney Mercilus made the most of them.
The veteran outside linebacker tallied a strip-sack on the Lions' second offensive play from scrimmage, swatting the ball loose from quarterback Josh Johnson. Detroit recovered the fumble, but lost seven yards in the process. Cornerback Bradley Roby broke up a pass on the next play, so Mercilus' night of work was quickly finished after the Lions' three-and-out.
"It felt good just getting into the routine of things," Mercilus said. "Just going out there and showcasing your stuff, as far as the little drives that we get. Got back into the groove of things as a unit."
On the night, the defense added another sack, as well as an interception and a fumble recovery. Of the Lions first eight drives, five ended with punts, one with a pick, one with a fumble, and another with a field goal
Mercilus described the level of excitement he has for the 2019 defense.
"Super," Mercilus said. "We've got a lot of talented players. Man, especially the secondary, the linebackers and the front line. I think we can really do something pretty special this year."
Earlier in the week, defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel said the plans for Mercilus in 2019 will be a bit different than they were in 2018.
"We're going to try to move him around a little bit more this year than we did last year, and see what that does for him," Crennel said.
Mercilus liked the sound of that, and is ready for the change.
"Really just moving around, getting some different looks, and running through some different games, as far as what I've done in the past," Mercilus said. "Being over the center. Being over the guards, and things of that nature. Just really disrupting some weaknesses in the offense that we see."
The Texans travel to Arlington later this week and will face the Cowboys on Saturday night in the preseason's third game.
Houston Texans take on the Detroit Lions at NRG Stadium for the second game of the 2019 NFL Preseason.
