Every team has a meat-eater. That player that grounds and pounds or gets on the edge and brings a pass rush complete with smoke contrails. If I wanted to get a little fancy and be a little cultured and refined, then it would be "Mangeur de Viande," (tip of the cap to Dale Lolley, you didn't think I'd come up with that on my own?) in French.
Yet being cultured and refined in the trenches could get you beat up, or worse, lead to giving up a sack. In the days of yore, when Coach Chuck Noll roamed the sidelines, to give up a sack by an offensive lineman was downright criminal. I suppose it had to do with him being an offensive linemen back in his playing days.
The heavy lifting always comes in the trenches, that bloody knuckles turf war that has existed since the first line of scrimmage was established. It's not for the faint of heart, nor the weak. Violence and chaos reigns supreme at the snap of the ball, and the bodies begin to fly. And drop. But if you're a like-minded ex-player, coach or fan, there's no place you'd rather watch.
And this week's entry for the Classic Jurassic Meat-Eater Matchup brings one of those smoke contrails, quick edge rushers that can make life miserable for an offensive tackle. His name is Boye Mafe, a second-year edge rusher for Seattle.
Mafe stands 6-foot-4 and 265-pounds, and can bring the heat in a passing situation. He leads the Seahawks with 9 sacks and 7 QB knockdowns to go with 8 hurries. Because the Seahawks don't blitz much, it's up to the front four to get the job done in terms of pass rush. They do, having accumulated 45 sacks. And Mafe is their leading pass rush meat-eater.
Mafe will play the stand up man on the end of the line or kick down with his hand in the dirt to eyeball the outside eye of the offensive tackle. Sometimes, when he plays that outside eye, he will ram to the inside of the offensive tackle, cross his face and get up the "B" gap. Or, he can sprint to the sideline while fighting off an attempted double team.
Mafe is hard to hook. His lateral mobility is excellent. He plays with good leverage and excellent hand play. Though he's not all that big, he's strong enough to set the edge or hold the point when a ginormous troglodyte of an offensive tackle locks horns with him. It's about the leverage and low pad level with which he plays.
Mafe will flip sides and rush over both tackles. He likes to "trap" or knockdown an opponent's hands by whacking the arms of the opposing player against which he's rushing. So when Dan Moore or Broderick Jones reach for him, it could be a problem. That's why punching to redirect is always better than placing your hands on a guy, which gives them an opportunity to knock your hands down.
Mafe also will use a sweeping technique where, as he rushes, he will sweep an opponent's hands to the sides rather than knocking them down. When you sweep to the side, it shortens the corner and gives that extra half step to the quarterback.
He also throws a "ghost move" every once in a while. It's a duck-under move that bamboozles some offensive tackles who are waist-benders instead of knee-benders. You'll see TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith also incorporate the ghost move into their pass rushing techniques.
Mafe also can play in space. When he drops into coverage, he does a good job. Misdirection plays where a QB will reverse roll-out aren't good choices because he keeps good backside leverage. And from the backside, he's disciplined in squeezing his run gap responsibilities to the ball.
With the noise level at Lumen Field being on the order of sitting on a runway near jets taking off, you can bet Mafe and the other predators roaming the front end trenches will attempt to use the crowd noise level to win that all important first step at the snap of the ball.
