SAN DIEGO -– Philip Rivers gets rid of the football pretty fast. His three-quarter delivery and quirky mechanics aid that endeavor, making this accurate assassin pretty tough to stop.
That negates passing-rushing effort and aids a suspect Chargers offensive line. That’s a matchup the Raiders should win Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, with Khalil Mack and Aldon Smith charging off the edge. They need to get home against Rivers, and may need some help to achieve that end.
“When you talk about disrupting the quarterback, defense is a team game, so it comes down to him having to reload because his first look isn’t there,” Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said. “If he has his first look, he’s going to take it. He’ll get it out as quick as anybody.”
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That will hurt Mack and Smith, who need to find a balance between attacking and putting hands up to clog passing lanes. If the secondary can play physical and eliminate easy openings, the Raiders pass rush could cause problems.
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Having Smith and Mack on opposite sides is a cause for concern in San Diego, which is stressing to account for one of the NFL’s best pass-rushing tandems.
“You’ve got a challenge on both edges, so you’ve got to make sure everybody understands the scheme and how we’re blocking things,” Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said. “You’ve got to neutralize them to a certain extent. All the great players in this league, they make their plays. You’ve always got to know where they are and how they’re doing certain things. So you’ve got to do a great job of having good balance in the game and try to take advantage of what we can do.”
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Stopping the run will also help Mack and Smith. That, and an early lead, will portend more passing attempts and more opportunities to make a game changing play. Mack has three sacks and Smith has one, numbers they need to increase if the Raiders hope to beat tough teams. It was easier to double-team Mack before Smith came around, but that’s not an option with talent on either side.
“When there are guys coming on both ends, you certainly have to be more focused on them,” Rivers said. “They both can wreck a game, no question about it. There’s certainly guys that are starred on the scouting report, edge guys you have to take care of. Our tackles are obviously going to have a heck of a challenge. We’ll have to be able to manage that throughout the game, but we believe those guys can do a heck of a job. Last week (in Green Bay) Clay Matthews didn’t play much end until late in the game, but he and (Julius) Peppers on the end, and our tackles, we dropped back 65 times, and they did a heck of a job. We have a great deal of confidence in them, but at the same time we have respect for those two guys as pass rushers.”