The Raiders have figured out how to use Khalil Mack, and it’s terrifying

I selected Raiders DE/OLB Khalil Mack as my Hoss of The Week for Week 3 in the 2015 NFL season. Two sacks, a caused fumble, a couple hurries and a tackle for loss is the kind of stat line that will eventually become closer to the norm for Mack as he continues to develop. For now, this was definitely a breakout game for this season. I’m sure this won’t be his last time winning this award this year.

Mack had an up-and-down rookie campaign in 2014, largely because the previous coaching staff couldn’t quite figure out what to do with him. For that matter, they couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be a 4-3 team or a 3-4 team or some crappy mixture of both. Oakland gave last year’s coaching staff the boot this offseason and excitement and expectations for Mack grew immensely.

There were no scarcity of analysts predicting all manner of heroic exploits he might carry out under new head coach Jack Del Rio. He brought with him former Seahawks linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr. to run his defense and the news got even better for Mack fans when the staff announced that he was going to be rushing the passer pretty much every play. That is what you’re supposed to do when you have a player with Mack’s rare talent level.

You may recall that I too am a Khalil Mack fan from all the way back when I did his pre-draft profile. But even I thought maybe the hype train on this kid was a little out of control in the preseason. He was a very polished pass rusher coming out of college, but he would still be transitioning to a new scheme under a new staff.

I figured it might take him a little while to adjust to all that. He played well as a rookie, but it’s not like he set the world on fire with only four sacks to his name in 2014. Still, long term, there is no doubt that the more he gets to rush the passer, the more productive he will be. All the hype won’t matter at the end of the day because he will eventually live up to as long as he stays healthy.

Sure enough, coming into the third week of the season, Mack had yet to record a sack and only had five total tackles in the first two games. Complicating matters further was the fact that the Raiders picked up ex-49ers outside linebacker Aldon Smith just before the season started. The problem, so to speak, was that Mack had spent much of the preseason pass rushing from the right side of the defensive line, but Smith has also rushed primarily from that side for most of his career.

Don’t get me wrong, both guys can rush from the left side pretty well. It’s just that most pass rushers have a side where they feel more comfortable. So I wondered: A) who would end up getting that coveted right defensive end/outside linebacker spot on passing downs, and B) if it wasn’t Mack, how well and how quickly would he transition to rushing primarily from the left side.

Against the Browns, it was indeed Smith who was on the right side most of the time and Mack rushing from the left. But it didn’t seem to matter because Mack was all over the place Sunday no matter where he lined up.

In the middle of the first quarter, Mack forced a hold on Browns right tackle Mitchell Schwartz after making a spin move. Mack still managed to pressure Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown on that play. With a little more than a minute left to go in the first quarter, Mack, again from the left side, stunted inside Browns tight end Jim Dray like he wasn’t even there and hit running back Duke Johnson in the backfield immediately after he took the handoff. That run went for a 1-yard loss, and the Browns are probably lucky that ball wasn’t fumbled on contact.

Mack was just getting warmed up.

The very first play of the second quarter Mack ran an absolutely beautiful TEX game (defensive tackle penetrates the B gap, edge rusher sprints up field 5 yards, then loops inside to A gap), this time from the right side, perfectly setting up his defensive tackle, Denico Autry, by getting up the field and making Browns left tackle Joe Thomas bail out of his stance. Then he looped inside to the A gap and absolutely splattered McCown just after the quarterback released the pass. Browns tight end Gary Barnidge ended up making a catch for 10 yards on the play, but it just so happened to be third-and-14 so Cleveland still ended up punting. All things considered, hardly seems worth it.

In the third quarter, Mack stayed active as well, tackling Browns running back Isaiah Crowell for a 1-yard gain after doing a great job of playing through the wing tight end’s block on a zone play away from him. He also helped get McCown on the ground after his teammate, linebacker Malcolm Smith, got to him first on a blitz.

All good stuff, but Mack was saving his best for the last quarter of the game.

For context’s sake its worth pointing out that the Raiders were leading 20-3 up until 3:38 in the third quarter when the Browns scored a touchdown to make it 20-10. Oakland ended up scoring a touchdown of their own on the very next drive, which bled over into the fourth quarter, to push their lead back to 17.

Then, in that moment, Mack decided to turn it up a notch.

On Cleveland’s first play of the fourth quarter they decided for some dumb-ass reason to try to block Mack on a passing play one-on-one with their fullback.

The f*#%ing fullback, breh?

No disrespect to Malcolm Johnson, said fullback, but his coaching staff definitely set him up for failure on that one. Mack. playing on the left side once again, easily side stepped Johnson’s attempt at a cut block, then turned on the afterburners to hammer McCown from the side. This time, McCown still had the ball in his hand and Mack was credited with his first sack of the season.

To McCown’s credit he got up, dusted himself off, and hit his receiver Brian Hartline up the left sideline for a 41-yard gain on the very next play. Mack would have to do more if he wanted to end that Browns drive before they scored another touchdown.

Cleveland ended up driving alllll the way down to the Oakland 19-yard line where they eventually faced a third-and-10 situation. They were a mere 19 yards away from pulling to within 10 points of the Raiders, but Mack just wasn’t about to let that happen.

Mack pulled out a personal pass-rush favorite of mine, the out-in, out-spin move, to git ‘er done this time.

First, he lined up wide and took two quick steps up the field on the snap of the football to get Schwartz to set back hard. Then, he took two steps inside and faked a rip move as if he was about to run an EX game (end comes inside and blasts the guard, the defensive tackle advances on the guard to get him to set down and loops outside around the offensive tackle for contain) with the defensive tackle inside of him. When Schwartz, predictably, reacted by trying to sit down on Mack’s inside rip, Mack instead made a spin move back outside which caught Schwartz flat footed and unable to catch up with the move.

What I loved about this pass-rush move was the attention to detail from Mack, throwing his right arm back to finish the spin move and pin Schwartz inside so he couldn’t recover. Then Mack used that same right arm to help him turn the corner tightly by reaching down and touching the ground with his right hand to keep his balance.

Just f*#%ing gorgeous.

McCown was looking at the other side of the field, going through his progressions, when he felt Mack coming at the last minute, but he couldn’t climb the pocket quick enough to get away this time. Not only did Khalil Mack get his second sack of the season a mere eight plays after his first, he also stuck his hand in there and forced McCown to fumble. Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Browns recovered the football and were still able to kick a field goal to finish the drive. But any threat of a touchdown on that drive was null and void after that outstanding spin move from Mack.

I give props to the Browns for coming back from down 17 and getting within a touchdown of the Raiders before McCown’s interception with 43 seconds to go sealed their fate for good. There is no doubt, however, that Mack’s play helped keep that offense down for most of the day.