Mercilus had seven tackles (five solo), including two sacks and three for a loss, in Houston's 27-14 win over Oakland in their wild-card round playoff game Saturday.

EDGE Analysis

The Texans' top-ranked defense was in full effect Saturday, stymieing Raiders quarterback Colin Cook, a rookie making his first NFL start. The Raiders fell behind early and when it became evident Cook was going to throw, Mercilus and the defense got after the rookie. The bar gets raised next week when Houston travels either to Kansas City or New England for the divisional round.