Excellent post, Chromeburn. I appreciate the analysis, and pulling in all those highlight reels was pretty helpful to illustrate your points.
As others have said, the thing I want to see from Mack most before I'm fully onboard with him at the #1 next year is consistency. Premier backs don't have nearly the up-and-down fluctuations he's shown over his career as a Colt so far. That said, he seems to be trending up, but having Ryan Kelly back at center is a pretty massive contributor to his success.
I'll agree with you that the biggest difference between his off days and his big days is the level of patience and vision he's able to exhibit waiting for his blocks to develop and picking is moments. I don't think any play typifies the kind of running that best contributes to the offense more than the one here at 1:00 into the video:
https://youtu.be/JY6B7ioMam0?t=60
On this play, the blocking from the line is superb:
- Kelly engages the DT who is never able to shed his block.
- Joe Haeg gets just enough of the other DT who was swimming inside and would otherwise have had a chance to hit Mack in the backfield (we're lucky the zebras didn't call a hold on Haeg for this one).
- Nelson breaks upfield to just annihilate MLB trying to get to the edge.
- Mo Alie-Cox puts an absolutely key block on the rushing OLB which opens up the hole for...
- Castonzo, with Mack in tow, engaging the DE and completely overpowering him, bulldozing him 5 yards upfield and into the broken pile of linebacker Nelson made out of his blocking assignment.
Mack basically saddles up Castonzo and rides him like a draft horse for 5 yards, shifting outside and hitting another gear once he sees daylight. 1st down.
The Cowboys defense expected a run on this play but hedged a little, clearly unsure which direction the run would go, and every single Colt beat their 1-on-1 battle to free Mack for the run.
Where Mack impressed me was with his willingness to let the play develop in front on him and recognize his moment to finish with his legs.
Plays like this are the bread and butter of the Colts run game, but they require discipline and commitment from the entire line, as well as the RB, to be successful.