Last season, the Oakland Raiders finished the season under new head coach Jack Del Rio with a disappointing 7-9 record. The team made it to the midway point of the season with its playoff hopes very much alive.

Sporting a 4-3 record, the team headed in to a tough Week 8 contest in Pittsburgh. Ultimately, the Raiders last-second loss at Heinz field was a result of Steelers kicker Chris Boswell’s 18-yard field goal with only two seconds remaining in regulation. The game produced a 73-point offensive explosion with the final score 38-35.

In many ways, last season’s Week 8 contest against the Steelers imperfectly encapsulates the Raiders’ 2016 season thus far:

• The team has been involved in multiple high scoring affairs in 2016, 4 of 5 games have produced 55 or more points.
   
• The Raiders have been involved in multiple games that were decided by three or fewer points. Specifically, 3 of 5 games were decided by three or fewer points and the remaining two contests were decided by a touchdown or less.
   
• Through Week 5, Oakland has already been involved in two games that were decided in the final minutes of regulation [Week 1 vs New Orleans and Week 4 against the Ravens].

The game of football comes down to outscoring your opponent. Accordingly, the Raiders’ catalyst in the majority of its victories has been its high-scoring offense. Meanwhile, the defense seems suspect given the amount of points it yields.

This season, the average team score per game this season is 22.6 in the NFL, yet the Raiders average offensive output per game is 28.4, which looks great. However, its defense has surrendered an average of 27.4 points per game, which explains why the team is ranked dead last in NFL team defense. It also ranks seventh for the most points [137] surrendered by a defense in 2016.

The team pulled out a razor thin victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday to raise its record this season to 4-1, sharing AFC West division lead with the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos.

The young Raiders are learning how to win close games. The squad has been able to pull out two victories this season, against the Saints and Ravens, by a single point. A third victory, which came at the expense of the Titans, was decided by seven points and this weekend’s game was decided by three points.

This season, almost every game the Raiders have been involved in has gone down to the wire. Oakland’s All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack recognizes who needs to be a difference maker in these types of close games.

“The difference is defense, man. The defense has to be the difference in these (types of) games. Can’t have too many of these games coming down to the wire,” said Mack to Raiders reporters.

Khalil Mack is correct, the difference is defense and Mack is the difference-maker for the Raiders.

Mack is one player who consistently jumps out on film and in the stat lines. In 2015, he accounted for 15 of the Raiders’ 33 sacks on the season, which equates to 45 percent of the defensive sacks on the season. Mack already had three sacks and five tackles for a loss by Week 5 of last season.

However, this season he has only accumulated one sack and two tackles for a loss. Accordingly, Mack needs to disrupt opposing backfields more often in the weeks to come if the Raiders hope to continue their winning ways.

Mack is a hybrid defensive end/linebacker. Essentially he is an edge rusher that uses a rare combination of speed, strength and leverage to disrupt opposing offenses.  

Last season, during a Week 14 win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, Mack had an eye-popping five sacks and one tackle for a loss. It seemed like every time he touched the field he made a difference.

Below is one of his sacks from the game:

Mack begins the play flashing an outside speed rush. He uses quick and violent hands to lockout the linemen, shed the block and get into the backfield for a sack.

Mack is able to quickly and effectively shed his blocker and get into the offensive backfield to disrupt the play.  

The purpose of this drill is to teach defensive players to successfully disengage from an offensive blocker and make a play.

Drill Setup