Mertz talks about his preseason performance

On his game at Vikings:

"I think just subconsciously, coming off my knee that quick, I think that kind of messed with me subconsciously. Blew it with frantic feet. But when you go out there and play a game like that in Minnesota, especially as a quarterback, you’ve got to learn from it.

I learned from it quickly. I realized you’ve got to have your feet in control, your eyes in control, everything tied together when you’re playing. It was a really good learning experience, but I was ready to get out there and go play."

On his game at Lions:

"I can go out there and operate the offense. You want to give the coaches that confidence every time you step out there. You can go out there and execute when your number is called, so I was excited to go out there and do that today.
I was really appreciative about the plan the coaches put in place. Allowed us to go out there, play fast, play free. We had a lot of guys out there who just got here last week, so trying to navigate that, communicate, it was fun. It was a blessing to be out there.

You say let it rip, but it’s also calculated risk. You know they play a lot of man, but they also mix it up on the back end and play some different coverages and stuff like that. When they’re on man, you know you’ve got to be on and you’ve got to be ready to rip it.
You’ve got to be on time, and then you have to trust your guys to go make plays. It’s that fine balance of, ‘I’m going to go out here and ball.” But it’s also calculated, you know? Sometimes you’ve got to check it down to the back, the zone it off, stuff like that. It’s just playing quarterback. It’s the fun part about playing quarterback. When you play a team that plays a lot of man, you take advantage of it."

On Nick Caley:

"Nick has been awesome, just his overall scheme. I think the biggest thing is he puts a lot on the quarterback which is fun and that’s what you want as a quarterback. You want to be able to be in control of the protections, the run checks.
Whether it’s pass concepts you can change, say they give you coverage zero, you’ve got a zero answer. So, it gives the quarterback a lot of freedom to make it right, that was one thing that in college I had that, too. So, coming into the league and having that right away was definitely fun because it was an easy transition."

Source: https://www.click2houston.com/sports/2025/08/24/texans-rookie-quarterback-graham-mertz-commanded-offense-over-lions-in-sharp-performance-has-a-bright-future-here/