Raiders Week 8 Run Defense 1 : Khalil Mack vs Kellen Davis

On their second play of the day the Jets and Chris Ivory tested Khalil Mack. He result was a 3 yard loss. Here's a closer look at that play and perhaps some insight into how the Raiders Run Defense was able to hold Chris Ivory to 17 yards on 15 rushes (1.1 avg) for the day.

Play 2 : Q1, 2-2-NYJ 23 (14:20) C.Ivory up the middle to NYJ 20 for -3 yards (K.Mack).

Type	Link
TV Main	GFY
A22	GFY
EZ	GFY
Dan Williams ISO	GFY
Mack ISO	GFY
Malcolm Smith ISO	GFY
Mario Edwards ISO	GFY
Stacy ISO	GFY
Aldon ISO	GFY
Gallery	Imgur

The Jets have an Offset I-formation with the FB #40 Tommy Bohanon in front of RB #33 Chris Ivory. FB #47 Kellen Davis comes into motion from left to right and lines up in a TE/H-Back position opposite Khalil Mack.

The Raiders are in a Bear Front, where Stacy McGee, Dan Williams, and Mario Edwards Jr are covering the LG-C-RG. S #42 Larry Asante drops down to give an 8-in-the-box look.

The Jets will test Mack, but not in the traditional sense. While they will assign the Davis to block Mack one-on-one, it will be in conjunction with a some misdirection. The Jets will toss the ball to Ivory, hoping that this will cause Mack to widen outside to contain the play; but the play is designed to immediately cut up right behind the RT.

The Jets' RT #68 Breno Giacomini and RG #66 Willie Colon will double on #97 Mario Edwards Jr, dig him out of his position, and fold him down inside. If Mack is over-aggressive, he will take himself out of the play and that will open a wide gap for Ivory.

Mack does take an outside attack on Davis. He wins so quickly and so completely that he is in position to attack the play before it even gets started. As he does so, the 2nd level--Malcolm Smith, Curtis Lofton, and safety Larry Asante--flow into the gaps in the line and are ready to support against the run.

While the attention is naturally focused at the point of attack, there's an interesting defensive call on the backside that will set Aldon Smith to become a free defender.

Stacy McGee and Dan Williams will slant in opposing directions, splitting the C #76 Johnson and LG #77 James Carpenter. Aldon Smith will jab forward and then loop underneath into the now vacant A-gap. Malcolm Smith is also free to attack that gap.

Chris Ivory expects to have a lane to run into, but upon receiving the ball, he immediately sees Mack charging down. Inside, he sees that Mario Edwards has been moved out, but Dan Williams is flashing to the inside of the Center.

Ivory needs to get out of there.

But there's nothing backside either. In fact, the backside may be worse.

Ivory tries to cut back, but Mack is closing hard.

and there's nowhere to go

Once again, Khalil Mack shows that opposing offenses cannot block him with a TE/FB/HBack. It's just a total and absolute mismatch and it's mostly a question of how badly will the TE be beaten.

In this case, the FB Kellen Davis does what he can; he tries to take the inside position and kick out, hoping that the Toss action will give him some help. As Vince McMahon might say, he had "No chance in Hell."