Luton's Road Becomes Easier: Texans to Miss Whitney Mercilus in Week 9

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Jake Luton's road to a victory in his NFL debut looks to have become a good bit easier.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, the Houston Texans (1-6) won't have the following players on hand in Jacksonville in Week 9: linebackers Jacob Martin Dylan Cole and Whitney Mercilus are all on the Reserve/COVID-19 list and will not be able to play on Sunday due to NFL protocols.

The protocols state that Cole and Mercilus, who are on the Reserve/COVID-19 list due to contract tracing, will have to be isolated for at least five days. The Texans closed their facility on Thursday due to a positive COVID-19 test, just days before they are set to travel to face the Jaguars.

Romeo Crennel confirms Jacob Martin is on COVID IR and Whitney Mercilus and Dylan Cole “have to isolate for five days.” https://t.co/iMu5D2xzCj
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) November 5, 2020

Considering the success Mercilus, and Martin to a lesser extent, have had against the Jaguars (1-6) in recent years, this is a lucky break for Jacksonville's chances of picking up their second victory of the season.

In 15 career games against the Jaguars, Mercilus has collected 12 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 19 quarterback hits. Three of those sacks and two of those forced fumbles have come in the last three games against Jacksonville, all Jaguars losses.

Meanwhile, Martin has played the Jaguars three times. In those games, Martin has record one sack and two forced fumbles, including a forced fumble in Jacksonville's 30-14 loss to Houston in Week 5.

With Sunday set to be the first start of Luton's NFL career, the sixth-round rookie can at least take solace in knowing Houston's pass rush won't quite have the teeth it normally has.

"The hardest thing I think for all of us, especially that position, is how is that player going to be when really the bullets are flying because it’s a unique position, especially now this year without the preseason games where you can kind of see him in the preseason games where things are going fast and you have a lot of bodies flying around you," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Wednesday.

"Some guys are calm, you’ve seen them in the league, they’ve been successful, they’re calm, they step up, they can deliver the football, they keep their eyes down the field. Some guys get hit and they get rattled, I mean we’ve all seen that. So, that’s really what the unknown is.”