Pass Rush vs LA; Film Review

[soulman]

Chicago Bears Film Review: Where was Khalil Mack?

by Parker Hurley 8 hours ago Follow @parkerhurley

 

EDIT - Sugashane is amazing

There is no doubt that the Chicago Bears’ secondary is much more concerning than their pass rush. However, the two go hand-in-hand, and it has been stated that if the Bears were leading the league in pressure rate that their back end likely would not have been exposed as badly as it was.

This is concerning mainly because the Bears invested so much more in their front their secondary. You can blame Eddie Jackson, but between Akiem Hicks, Robert Quinn, and Khalil Mack, the Bears have a lot of money here.

To be fair, Hicks was dominant, and even Robert Quinn had a better game than his 2020 version. However, the big issue was Mack. Mack had a quiet game, registering just one pressure, and one tackle per PFF.

With that in mind, I reviewed the tape to see where exactly Mack went in this game.

Chicago Bears Pass Rushing Opportunities

It gets annoying when you have to say it every week that Mack does not have a huge game, but the offense does always cater to him. Mack rushed the passer 25 times on Sunday, but four of those were screens.

On top of that, there were five passes where the Rams executed a play-action or bootleg that helped take Mack out of the play. Only twice did Mack get a serious double team from a tight end or extra blocker, and lastly I charted seven passes in which the pass just came out so quick that Mack could not do much.

The play below is an example. Stafford is in shotgun, he takes two steps back and the ball is gone. No one is getting to a QB releasing it that quick.

 

Considering the scheme, quarterback, and situations Mack had 19 of his 25 pass rush chances wiped out. PFF charted Mack with 10 pass rush chances, and if I had to guess, they added two double teams, but also two rollouts that I gave Mack no chance, but Stafford did roll out towards Mack, and not away from him. Still, the dropback took Mack out of the play.

With that in mind, below are six chances that PFF, and I believe Mack had a chance to create a sack or pressure. They gave him one pressure from these six chances.

Khalil Mack Play 1

To start we see Mack squaring off with Rob Havenstein. This actually may be the PFF pressure, but I am not sure. Mainly because Stafford was able to check the ball down to Darrell Henderson, who beats Alec Ogletree and picks up a first down.

 

Mack gets a running start and then is able to get his hands into Havenstein driving him back. Watch the left leg of Havenstein and how big of a step back he takes. Still, for as strong of an initial push Mack brings, Akiem Hicks is just as fast in the backfield. Stafford stands flat-footed for a second, so it was not too fast of a release, but unfortunately, neither Mack nor Hicks can create pressure here.

Khalil Mack Play 2

Mack looks to get Havenstein off balance by stepping hard to the inside then breaking to the outside and attacking his outside shoulder. Once again, we see that Mack is close, and may have been able to draw a hold, but Stafford once again gets rid of the ball at the right time.

 

Stafford was able to get to his third read, so it was not a play where you can say the scheme or a quick route disrupted things. Rather, Mack did not attack quite hard enough to either draw that hold or drive Havenstein into the path of Stafford, disrupting his throwing lane.

Khalil Mack Play 3

This is one where Mack wins, and the result here is an incomplete pass. Mack starts outside and stays outside. However, he is able to push the hands of Havenstein away and get beyond his shoulder. Pressure from Robert Quinn helps push Stafford towards, but Stafford feels the pressure and hops up. Still, Now, Akiem Hicks is in the backfield as well, and the ball is incomplete.

 

This play could make the case that when all three are on at the same time, Stafford could struggle. It was just bits and pieces, and not a cohesive rush from Hicks, Mack, and Quinn.

Khalil Mack Play 4

This is easily the biggest win for Rob Havenstein when taking on Khalil Mack. While it results in a sack, everyone but Mack was in on it. To be fair, Mack knew he had a blitz to his left, so his job was to contain to the outside. Still, you can see that Havenstein is able to keep his hands down, and even immediately steps in the way of his spinning counter.

 

Khalil Mack Play 5

In the second half, the Chicago Bears decided to try to move Mack around, and see if they can create a bit. It did not really work well, as shown by this stunt where Mack starts off over the guard.

 

He looks to stunt to the outside of the tackle and has some success getting to the edge. However, Stafford quickly steps up in the pocket, and this play actually resulted in the Cooper KUpp touchdown. Mack had a long loop outside, and aside from that Stafford had a clean pocket to step into.

Khalil Mack Play 6

Now, we see Mack lined up over the guard and then take him on. The guard gets some help at first, but the tackle bails quickly due to a blitz. Still, with the running start, and taking on a slower interior player you would really like to see Mack dominate this matchup.

 

Plenty of talented rushers thrive when they get matched up in that spot, and we did not see much push from Mack at all as Stafford stayed clean in the pocket.

Overall

The biggest takeaway is that the combination of Sean McVay studying this defense every year, and knowing Brandon Staley who coached this defense along with Matt Stafford knowing this team well helped. They came in with a game plan to beat this defense and keyed in on Mack. They also keyed in on how weak this secondary was, and Stafford got the ball out quickly.

Still, he also maneuvered the pocket with ease and a feel for the rush around him. Mack was scheme out of plays, and you hear that every week, but there was meat on the bone, and Mack could have turned two or three more of those six plays into winning moments.

That is what he is being paid for, and while the chances are limited, the best players see their one chance and dominate. We did not see that Sunday with Mack.

[soulman]

Since the pass rush in general and Mack's role specifically have come up I though this might be used for discussion.  Unfortunately I can't get the GIFs to post so we may have to do this the hard way via using the link to the orginal article than comment on each example or the whole.

What I can add after having watched them is this.

Note both the size and the athleticism of both LA OTs.  Whitworth is 6'7"/330lbs and Havenstein is 6'8"/330lbs.  Look at the arm length, their feet, and their technique. Together they have 20 years combined NFL experience.  Those are two very big guys for a couple of 250-260lb edge rushers to overcome all game long.  Now compare them to our OTs.  Now you know why Stafford had time to go deep and we lacked it.

And as I posted previously McVay knew what he was up against in Mack, Quinn, and Hicks and had an answer for it by scheming Mack out of the play at times and allowing Hicks to be doubled instead.  Desai did try moving Mack around but even their smaller OGs and OC were up to the task of keeping Mack away long enough for Stafford to get a clean pocket for a quick release.  Simply put, we were out coached.....again.

[Heinz D.]

On 9/15/2021 at 6:15 PM, soulman said:

There is no doubt that the Chicago Bears’ secondary is much more concerning than their pass rush. 

I'm not at all sure that that is a true statement. 

[Sugashane]

I added the gifs in for you Soul. (I credited myself too lol)

 

My biggest issue is that Stafford rarely had to do anything more than a simple step up into the pocket. His feet are clean in the gifs above, Hicks goes into beast mode on number 1, in 2 the big boys get 1-2 yard penetration and thats it, in number 3 all make pressure but it is annoying to see Hicks just trying to swing at hands (youre a 335 lb monster, be more physical than that), number 4 is great, in 5 he had 4ish yards of clear field in front of him, and in 6 you see we take a 335 pound man and do a loop with him while putting Quinn in coverage.

I'm at the point of just asking to put 4 guys hands in the dirt and then scheme whatever you want with the back 7. Quinn, Mack, and Hicks should be pinning their ears back in 100 percent of the plays they are in there. Nichols should too. IDC if it is a 34 or 43, but FFS eventually you need to beat a man across from you. Hell go to a 5-2 for all I care. Quinn - Nichols - Hicks - Edwards - Mack and if Goldman gets back then put him in for Edwards. These performances are laughable.

[Sugashane]

36 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

I'm not at all sure that that is a true statement. 

The talent level is abysmal IMO and they were completely out of sync. I thought Desai would have at least been able to put them in position but they were horrible last week. Christian had easily the worst performance and on a good CB corps he would be nothing but a special teamer or practice squad guy. Him getting that many reps hopefully speaks more to just having a bad game rather than the talent level of the group.

I hope to see improvement there because that was a performance of a bottom 3 group in the league. I won't really judge them and Desai until maybe week 8 since this is his first DC gig and the talent level he is working with is substandard, but he definitely had a rough welcome to the big leagues kind of game.

Hopefully you get to tell me to eat crow at seasons end.

[Heinz D.]

On 9/15/2021 at 6:15 PM, soulman said:

The biggest takeaway is that the combination of Sean McVay studying this defense every year, and knowing Brandon Staley who coached this defense along with Matt Stafford knowing this team well helped. They came in with a game plan to beat this defense and keyed in on Mack. 

Looks to me like they simply blocked him efficiently. Whenever they wanted to, 

[soulman]

3 hours ago, Sugashane said:

I added the gifs in for you Soul. (I credited myself too lol)

How you do dat when it no workee for me?  Thankee kindly. 

Oh ****, NOW I see the GIF function.  I am truly losing my marbles.  🤪

I wanted everyone to see just how big those two LA OTs are.  They're like twin Grizzly Adams

[Madmike90]

I think this just goes to prove how vanilla our blitz packages are...Mack rushing the outside shoulder of the OT on basically every play...you have to at least threaten that we are going to line him up all over the formation and run some games...we are wasting his talent at this point. 

[Madmike90]

Who would have thought that lining up Mack next to Quinn would create a sack for Quinn or indeed running a T-E stunt would get a sack for Mack? 😂 that is how we should be using this guy...put him in spots the OL 100% don't expect him and don't want to see him.

[soulman]

We get Mario Edwards back next week.  That should help the pass rush by playing him next to Quinn who did get another sack today.

Keep it up Robert.  One per game.

[Madmike90]

5 hours ago, soulman said:

We get Mario Edwards back next week.  That should help the pass rush by playing him next to Quinn who did get another sack today.

Keep it up Robert.  One per game.

Keep it up...but don't undo that good work by given away a really stupid personal foul penalty.

[WindyCity]

Mack is no longer a dominant player. He is 30 with a ton of violent miles on his body.

He is still a very good player, but the scheme needs to help him out more.

[Madmike90]

20 hours ago, soulman said:

We get Mario Edwards back next week.  That should help the pass rush by playing him next to Quinn who did get another sack today.

Keep it up Robert.  One per game.

Getting Mario back will be big but in reality playing Cleveland the player we really need is Eddie Goldman...Chubb and Hunt coming at us behind that OL is not going to be good for us.

[soulman]

I guess we'll know more by Wednesday when they practice again but it sounds to me like Eddie is hurting more than Nagy will say.  (Not that I'm at all shocked by that).