A couple of missed throws in the red zone.
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Unquestionably, the sacks total was bolstered by so many teams being banged-up on the offensive line.
The strength to overpower tackles who outweigh him by more than 50 pounds, the speed to get around those lumbering blockers and the developing repertoire of moves that help him get to the quarterback have made Mack one of the most feared defenders in just his second year in the league.
That’s kind of scary considering Mack, a Fort Pierce Westwood High School graduate, has already emerged as one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers. The bumbling offense ended up wasting a historically great first half by Denver’s defense, which allowed minus-12 yards.
With the loss, the Broncos dropped to 10-3 and find themselves a game behind the Patriots for the top seed in the AFC.
After Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders, I will admit – I was in a state of disarray.
“We have to run the ball better down there”, tight end Owen Daniels said. “I’m looking forward to getting a lot better”. After getting sacked five times on Sunday but dropping back 56 times, Osweiler actually decreased his sack rate to 9.1 percent.
Carr completed just 12 of 29 passes for 135 yards in the win but the 2 touchdowns were huge. “That really doesn’t pertain to me right now”. I wasn’t making the right throw at times. “It culminated in a loss tonight”, he said.
As soon Davis grabbed Mack, Mack knew that a flag was going to be coming and that’s when the second-year linebacker showed off his hands.
Osweiler’s receivers weren’t much better.
But zero value does not mean average (again, the average Passing NEP per drop back of quarterbacks with at least 100 drop backs is 0.12). One, by Demaryius Thomas, cost Denver a touchdown late in the first half. He also lost a fumble.
Also, Oakland’s go-ahead touchdown was set up by a muffed punt by Emmanuel Sanders at the Denver 11.
“I remember thinking, ‘OK, this guy can do something.’ But, I was watching on the sideline and thinking, ‘Man, this guy is an animal.’ He definitely had a game, I would say that, a career game for sure”.
“Mack has nine sacks in the past three games, and 14 sacks on the season”. Broncos LB Von Miller stretched his streak of games with a sack to five, the longest current streak in the National Football League….
Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio told his players to “Go out there and have fun” in the second half. “At halftime, Jack came in in upbeat, he came in smiling and he just asked the team: ‘Did we believe in one another?’ and everybody screamed out, ‘Yeah!”
The premier matchup in Week 15 is at Heinz Field, when the Broncos and Steelers meet with major playoff implications. Rather than risk sending out the backup snapper, Del Rio tried for the conversion.
And, through the course of this season, Del Rio and his staff have gained the trust of their players and helped young talents such as Derek Carr, Amari Cooper, Khalil Mack, Mario Edwards Jr., Clive Walford and Gabe Jackson grow and thrive.
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“We’ll have a plan in place by the time we get to Wednesday”, Kubiak said. Anderson out, the line failed to generate any running room for Ronnie Hillman. “When it comes down to it, it comes down to execution and we just didn’t quite get it in the end zone”. Everything was going wrong for Oakland in Denver. Osweiler was 35 for 51 for 308 yards and no picks on Sunday.
