Raiders’ Khalil Mack could be difference vs. Chiefs

As the Raiders got ready to butt heads with the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, cornerback David Amerson had a request for his teammate, Khalil Mack.

“Before we went on the field, I looked at him and said, ‘Go do what you do and be special,’” Amerson said after the Raiders’ 38-24 victory at the Oakland Coliseum. “It’s almost expected that he’s going to make plays. It’s just a matter of when. It’s nothing surprising.”

Mack had already turned in one huge play in that game, hitting the arm of Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor on a pass rush and forcing a fluttering duck that was intercepted by safety Nate Allen early in the fourth quarter. But the Bills wouldn’t go away, and late in the game they lined up for a first down at the Oakland 17. Up in the media box, former NFL coach John Robinson, now an analyst for the Sports USA radio network, turned to partner Bob Fitzgerald and said, “This is a down for Khalil Mack.”

Nailed it. Mack lined up at left defensive end, knocked Bills right tackle Jordan Mills backward, took an inside angle and separated Taylor from the ball, then fell on it for a fumble recovery. Just like that, the Raiders had wrapped up another win.

The Bills were suitably impressed.

“We checked him before the game, we made sure that he wouldn’t destroy the game,” Buffalo running back LeSean McCoy said. “I think that got away from us a little bit.”

Teammates like Amerson, foes like McCoy and detached observers like Robinson all know the truth. While Derek Carr is the face of the Raiders, and while a physical and ornery offensive line might be the core, Mack is the guy you now expect to make the big plays at crucial moments.

The San Francisco Giants found a closer this week when they signed free-agent fireman Mark Melancon. The Raiders already have theirs: Khalil Mack.

“I think he knows, ‘This is the time,’” Robinson said. “He looks at the scoreboard and says, hey, it’s time, baby. You have a bunch of different moves in a game. You don’t want to waste your best move when the quarterback is throwing a three-step quick pass. You may give him your best shot and get nothing. You wait until you say, ah, it’s third-and-12 and they’ve got to get the ball down the field.”

Mack’s ability to close a game may prove crucial tonight when the Raiders play their biggest game of the season in frosty Kansas City. Oakland sits atop the AFC West (and the conference seedings) at?10-2. But the Chiefs are right behind them at 9-3, and would seize control of the division with a win, having already gotten the better of the Raiders in an Oct. 16 game in Oakland.

That loss to KC was one of two games the Raiders have played this season (the other being a win against lowly Jacksonville) that weren’t within a touchdown’s difference at some point in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs, meanwhile, have played five consecutive games that were decided by five points or fewer.

This one should be a grinder, and no one grinds like Mack these days.

He wasn’t exactly a surprise coming out of the University of Buffalo in 2014. The Raiders took him with the No. 5 overall pick after he had set the NFL scouting combine on fire, and were generally lauded for the decision. But while you saw flashes of Mack’s speed and power during his rookie year, he didn’t put up big numbers.

Justin Tuck, who retired this year after a stellar 11-year career as an NFL defensive end, came to the Raiders as a free agent the year the team drafted Mack. He immediately started telling everyone the rookie reminded him of Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas.

“I remember telling him, like, ‘Yo, the one thing you have to do is have a curveball,’” Tuck said by phone. “He has a fastball. That’s explosion off the line. It’s using his leverage against the size of the offensive linemen, gaining separation without losing speed. He can turn a power rush into a speed rush or vice-versa faster than anyone I’ve been around.”

Tuck urged Mack to use his hands more, and to decode what each blocker was trying to accomplish against him. Which ones are wrappers and which are strikers? Which are inside-hand guys? In Mack, he found a willing pupil. In fact, the rookie requested the locker right next to Tuck’s so he could find even more time to ask questions.

“At one point of the season, it got to be annoying,” Tuck said. “And I’m hearing from other people that hasn’t changed. He’s in the film room. He worked out with my friend during the offseason; he’s an MMA trainer. Little things like that people don’t see, but this kid’s worked his butt off.”

And it has gotten results. Last year Mack recorded 15 sacks, third most in Raiders history. He had five in one celebrated game against the Broncos, who would end the season as NFL champions.

This year Mack got off to a slow start. Coaches and teammates pointed to the constant double-teaming he faced. Still, it was puzzling. Mack didn’t record a sack in the first three games of 2016.

After five games, he had one. Since then he has strung together a streak of seven consecutive games with at least one sack. Mack is currently tied for third in the NFL with 10 sacks, behind only Denver’s Von Miller (the reigning Super Bowl MVP) and Atlanta’s Vic Beasley.

For a more detailed analysis, turn to Pro Football Focus, which grades every player on every NFL play. Over the first seven weeks of the season, Mack had an average grade of 74.7; his average ranking among NFL edge rushers was 34th. Over the most recent five games, all of them Oakland wins, PFF has given Mack an average grade of 89.5; his average ranking was sixth.

And Mack seems to be accelerating as the season winds down, with two huge plays in each of the past two games. Against the Panthers, he became the first NFL player since Charles Woodson in 2009 to record a sack, an interception return for a touchdown, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the same game.

Mack’s turnaround has mirrored that of the Oakland defense as a whole. The Raiders’ first two opponents, the Saints and Falcons, combined for 1,035 yards of total offense, an all-time record. The defense still isn’t dominant by any means. But it has improved.

As we begin the final quarter of the season and gear up for the playoffs - the Raiders can clinch a spot with a win against the Chiefs and a loss by either Denver or Miami this weekend - Mack’s presence could become increasingly essential.

Carr knows that. He was the Raiders’ second-round draft choice in 2014, 31 slots after Mack.

“I say it all the time, but I’m glad they took him first,” Carr said. “I’m glad he’s on my team.”

The alternative doesn’t look so good to a quarterback.

You can reach staff writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.