Season Opener
The Jets were in 3-wide sets for most of the game so Mack rotated at end as the Raiders were mostly in the nickel for the season opener. Mack had four pressures in the game including two that chased quarterback Geno Smith into fumbles forced by Sio Moore. One was a strip-sack by Moore and the other Moore forced on a hard hit on Smith s he ran away from Mack.
Speaking of running away, if Smith wasn’t athletic enough to run away like he did Mack would have had at least two sacks. If those pressures he put on Smith were finished everyone would have been singing his praises and known the Raiders got one right in the first round this year. But the elusive Smith was able to keep getting away so Mack wasn’t statistically rewarded for his efforts.
Despite not showing up on the statsheet, he played pretty well and Raider Nation wasn’t satisfied because they wanted to see six sacks in Mack’s debut. The Jets ran the ball down the Raiders’ throats most of the day anyway so he made the most of his opportunities as the defense as a whole was a bit of a struggle. After the game, the talk started about Mack not making and impact but he did, setting up a sack and two force fumbles for a teammate is an impact.