Saints coach Sean Payton knows just how difficult it is to prepare for Khalil Mack.
Payton told Peter King in this week’s Football Morning in America that taking on Mack, as the Saints last did two years ago, requires a game plan designed specifically to keep him off Drew Brees, with a blocking scheme the Saints don’t use most weeks.
“The last time we played Oakland [Week 1 2016], we put in a special protection for him,” Payton said.
Payton described how if Mack lined up outside the right tackle, the Saints’ tight end would line up on the right side to chip him. If Mack lined up opposite the left tackle, the tight end would move to the left. The Saints called it “Mack Protection.”
The game plan worked out well enough that Mack did not get a sack in that game. The Saints don’t play the Bears this year. Payton and Brees will be glad about that.
