HOUSTON – Houston Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus has been named AFC defensive player of the week after his week two performance in the team's 13-12 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Mercilus finished with two sacks, two forced fumbles, two quarterback hits and two total tackles. He sacked and forced a fumble on Jaguars rookie QB Gardner Minshew in the fourth quarter for a loss of nine yards. The Texans recovered that fumble and the offense scored their only touchdown of the game following that turnover.
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This marks his second career player of the week award and first since Week 1 of the 2016 season.
Mercilus also sacked and forced a fumble on Minshew in the second quarter for a loss of nine yards. He is the only player in the NFL with multiple forced fumbles in a game in 2019.
He now owns 11 career games with 2.0-or-more sacks, which is the third-most in team history behind Watt (24) and Mario Williams (12).
Mercilus joined Chris Jones (2017), Terrell Suggs (2011) and Simeon Rice (2003) as the only players to record 3.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception in their teams' first two games of a season since 1993.
He recorded his third sack of the season and now owns 45.5 in his NFL career (2012-19), which is the third-most in franchise history behind Watt (92.0) and Williams (53.0).
He also registered his first two forced fumbles of the season to give him 11 in his NFL career and his third quarterback hit of the season to give him 92 in his NFL career.
This marks the 44th time a Texan has been named Player of the Week in franchise history and the first time this season. It is also the 17th time Houston has won the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award in team history.
The Texans (1-1) play at the Los Angeles Chargers (1-1) on Sunday at 3:25 p.m.