Khalil Mack storms onto national stage with five-sack day
DENVER – Even when Brock Osweiler couldn’t see Khalil Mack, he felt him.
Such was the case when Mack, the second-year Oakland Raiders linebacker, walloped the Denver Broncos quarterback in the end zone in the third quarter of Oakland’s 15-12 win over the Broncos on Sunday. That sack resulted in a safety, and it was just one of five times Mack took down Osweiler in the second half.
“That’s what you call determined,” Mack said of his rush that led to the safety.
Those five sacks catapulted Mack atop the list of the NFL’s leaders with 14, ahead of the Detroit Lions' Ziggy Ansah and the New York Jets’ Muhammed Wilkerson. The Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt entered Sunday night’s game against the New England Patriots with 13.5 sacks but was unable to get to Tom Brady.
But what has been so impressive about Mack is that 10 of his sacks have come in the past five weeks, after the Raiders have lost pass rushers Justin Tuck (to injury) and Aldon Smith (to suspension), both of whom would have taken some attention off him.
Instead, he’s just wrecking games.
“He was unbelievable,” Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said. “He’s just getting better and better.”
On Sunday against the Broncos, Mack did most of his damage against Broncos right tackle Michael Schofield, but Gary Kubiak said the Raiders deftly moved Mack around the defensive front to exploit a variety of matchups. It made it hard to give either of the tackles any extra help.
“He played a tremendous football game. He’s a great football player. We knew that he was a great football player,” Osweiler said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to do, but sometimes you have to give credit to the opposing team when credit is due. Mack played a phenomenal football game.”
Mack admitted after the game that it meant a little more to beat the Broncos, and to do it in Denver, where the Raiders hadn’t won since Sept. 2011. And he was reluctant to take much of the credit for himself, crediting teammates in the secondary instead for providing him the time to consistently get to Osweiler.
But teammates spoke up for him instead. Even if Mack didn’t want to give himself credit, his monster day deserves its due.
“You’re just seeing flashes of what he’s going to be,” safety Charles Woodson said. “(Sunday) is an awesome game, but this guy, throughout his career, stays healthy, the sky is the limit to what he’s going to be able to accomplish in this league.”
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
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