Khalil Mack is on the fast track to greatness

Good defensive lineman force their opponents to show them extra attention.

Great defensive linemen force their opponents to show them extra attention and still find a way to defeat it.

I think its safe to say that Khalil Mack is well on his way to being a great defensive lineman at this point. His performance against the Broncos on Sunday was the latest evidence of that.

Just look at both of his sacks.

Denver spent much of the day chipping Mack with running backs to help their offensive tackles. Before he got down into his stance at left defensive end, before his first sack of the game, which came early in the third quarter, I am sure Mack noticed that Jamaal Charles was offset to his side beside quarterback Trevor Siemian in the shotgun.

Knowing that another chip block might be coming, Mack came off the ball and ran right down the middle of right tackle Menelik Watson to try to bullrush him back into the quarterback’s lap. Charles did indeed try to help with a chip block, but he ended up chipping Mack inside ... right into a sack of Siemian. Mack was able to take him down for a 2-yard loss.

Beating that double team was impressive as hell, but Mack’s second sack was nasty, too.

Later in the third quarter the Broncos were facing second-and-11 deep inside Raiders territory at the Oakland 20-yard line. Mack was again lined up as the left defensive end and once again a running back was offset to his side in the shotgun. This time, however, it was C.J. Anderson beside Siemian in the backfield. One other difference was that Donald Stephenson was now at right tackle lined up across from Mack instead of Watson.

The one thing that didn’t change, however, was the result.

This time Mack came off the ball a couple of steps up the field and then feigned as if he was going to try to make an inside move on Stephenson. When Stephenson stepped down hard inside, Mack stepped right back outside and swiped Stephenson’s hands to keep them off him.

Mack made the move so quickly that by the time Anderson arrived to try to help Stephenson, there was a teeny tiny sliver of space between him and the big right tackle. Turns out it was just enough room for Mack to slip through. Once he came free, he hit that turbo button to take Siemian down again, this time for a loss of 8 yards.

I watch a lot of film and I can tell you that lot of guys shut it down when they get double teamed. Mack just seemed to turn it up another notch. If seeing what he can do even when teams show him extra attention isn’t enough for you to be convinced of Mack’s greatness, seeing what he does when they mess around and single him up should definitely do the damn trick.

I’m going to give you a perfect illustration from Sunday. It’s a play that won’t even show up on the stat sheet. With 7:10 to go in the first half, Denver was facing a third-and-10 at the Raiders’ 43-yard line. Mack was at left defensive end across from Watson, but this time there was a tight end, A.J. Derby, offset to his side in shotgun rather than a running back.

Instead of Derby going to chip Mack, he stepped up inside and then went on out on his route. As soon as Mack saw Derby stepping up inside, he hit a dip-and-rip move on Watson that had him on Siemian’s ass almost as soon as he finished his dropback. Mack’s pressure forced Siemian to take off to his left, and he ended up having to dump the ball to Anderson short of the sticks.

Still not impressed?

Well, how about Mack’s pass rush at right defensive end on third-and-7 with a little over 10 minutes to go in the third quarter?

The Broncos actually motioned Devontae Booker into the backfield to Mack’s side before the snap, but for whatever reason Booker went straight to the flat without trying to get a chip on him.

FUCKING MISTAKE!

Mack came off and executed a magnificent long arm on Broncos rookie left tackle Garrett Bolles and had his ass on skates. After Mack pushed Bolles back a few steps, he escaped off the block inside and forced Siemian to take off running again. This time Mack caught him from behind to tackle him after a 4-yard gain to force Denver to kick a field goal.

It was pretty clear on film that you had better at least be trying to double Mack on passing downs, if at all possible. Even then it won’t always save your ass.

I haven’t even talked about his play against the run on Sunday, but he also had six other tackles aside from the two sacks. I saw him beat beat Watson clean on an inside stunt to get an assist on a tackle for loss. I saw him take on Denver tight end Virgil Green in a six technique, come off, and make the tackle on an inside run. I also watched Mack make several tackles on draw plays with good effort getting to the ball.

Mack is the total package, he can do it all. He isn’t just a great pass rusher, he’s a great defensive lineman, period. He showed that once again against the Broncos. He was all over the field, and there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop him, even double teams barely helped.

Two sacks, six more tackles (seven counted on the stat sheet), one hurry, and two other hits on the quarterback is what I saw on film. That’s what I call dominance. Khalil Mack’s performance on Sunday, while not quite enough to secure the victory , was definitely worthy of Hoss of the Week honors for Week 4.