Oakland Raiders: A Few Predictions For Week Two Game With Falcons

Mack Collects His First Multiple Sack Game

Following the thrilling win down in Bayou country, a lot of pundits and “experts” made note of the fact that the Saints contained Khalil Mack all game long. And that’s true. The Raiders superstar sack machine was held without a sack for the game. He also had no hurries or hits against New Orleans.

But that’s going to happen when an offense throws everybody, including the towel boy and peanut vendor in your way to block you.

New Orleans actually devised a pretty solid plan to keep Mack out of their hair – Drew Brees’ lightning fast release and a scheme of some very effective chip blocking on Oakland’s edge rushers.

At heart, Mack is a competitor and his desire to eat quarterbacks is strong. If he’s frustrated with the lack of help he’s getting and the impact on his production, he hides it well.

Mack’s bookend though – Bruce Irvin – isn’t one to mince words. And in a recent interview, he recently identified the problem – and challenged his teammates to step up.

He said:

"“It’s been like that the last three weeks. Anybody that knows football can see that. Tennessee was chipping us. So was Green Bay. And now New Orleans. We need the inside guys to show up. They gotta step up if teams are going to double us.”"

This is a team that isn’t afraid to hold one another accountable and demand greatness. And in challenging Oakland’s inside defenders to show up and step up, he’s doing just that. If Mack and Irvin are going to lead this defense to the heights they expect, they’re going to need help to do it.

And that help will start arriving on Sunday against the Falcons. With the challenge issued, Oakland’s inside guys like Dan Williams, Justin Ellis, and Darius Latham will step up against the Falcons. They’ll help push the pocket and make Atlanta have to adjust to an influx of black jerseys flooding their backfield.

All of that is going to help both Irvin and Mack. And as a result, Mack is going to get a little more free to make some plays. He came within a hair’s breadth of sacking Brees on a couple of different occasions. He just needed a split second longer.

But with a good push up the middle – and the fact that Matt Ryan doesn’t have a release nearly as fast as Brees’ – will enable Mack to get his hands on Atlanta’s signal caller. A few times.

Next: Playing With Something to Prove