Rams coach Jeff Fisher said this week that defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s lack of sacks and modest overall numbers through the first three games are not reflective of the impact that Donald is having on opposing offenses.
Fisher isn’t the only NFL coach who feels that way about a star defensive player. Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack had 15 sacks last season, but he’s yet to have one this year while recording 13 tackles.
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio invoked Donald’s name while on Sirius XM NFL Radio with Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan while saying that Mack’s impact can’t be judged solely by the stat line.
“He’s probably a lot like maybe a guy like Aaron Donald for the Rams,” Del Rio said. “You’re talking about a couple dominant players that, in our case, with Khalil, he’s getting an awful lot of attention. That’s going to free up opportunities for other people. There were a couple of times in this past game where he was literally being tackled prior to hitting the quarterback. And the results of the rushes were winning 10 out of the 12 on third down and things like that. So he’s impacting the game. And what I keep saying is the numbers will come. Good players are going to end up putting up good numbers. His effort is great. Everything is great except having to really answer to questions about how come he’s not just steamrolling people and getting sack after sack.”
The Raiders defense took a step forward in last Sunday’s win over the Titans. After giving up 1,035 yards and 69 points in the first two weeks of the year, the Raiders held the Titans to 393 yards in a 17-10 win while forcing three turnovers.
Mack had a hand in that beyond the two tackles he was credited with making and getting the overall defensive effort moving in the right direction is more significant for the Raiders than Mack piling up sacks while the unit struggles to keep opponents out of the end zone.