Despite the disappointing loss against Kansas City, DT Marcell Dareus proved – again – that he is a force to be reckoned with in the NFL.
A shot-by-shot, second-by-second gallery of Marcell Dareus' sack of Chiefs QB Alex Smith.
On the day he had: seven tackles, three sacks, three tackles for a loss, and four quarterback hits.
"He's a beast," DE Jerry Hughes said of Dareus. "Somebody that big, that fast, that strong that moves that fast, he's physical freak. He's a beast. He's going to do whatever he can to impose his will and we love it."
Of why he was able to get to QB Alex Smith so many times, Dareus said that he had studied the Chiefs QB all week and saw that he played with a 'clock in his head' and if Smith's first read isn't open then he panics and runs himself into a sack.
Dareus also said that Smith was getting frustrated with the Bills' run defense and that makes it easier to push the pocket and get the quarterback uncomfortable.
It wasn't all Dareus, though – the rest of the defense played pretty well too. Hughes and DE Mario Williams recorded sacks and the team had a combined 10 QB hits which makes it easy to understand why Smith was rattled.
And although Dareus was not happy with the outcome of the game, he remains optimistic and looks to bounce back against Miami.
"I think we missed a big opportunity of course but at the same time we have to come back and just do the best we can next game," he said. "We all would've loved for us to come in out of our week off, our bye week, and come out strong like we wish we would've but at the same time, the ball took funny bounces."
Through Week 9 in 2013, Dareus had just four sacks. Through Week 9 in 2014, he has 10. He leads all NFL defensive tackles in sacks and with the three he earned against Kansas City, he passed his single-season career high of 7.5 – and there are still seven games left.
He continues to play at such a high level and opponents can't seem to figure him out. He recognizes this of course and says the reason he is performing so well isn't because of the opponent, it's because he wants to be playing this well.
"There doesn't really need to be a 'why'. I just want to do it. If I'm going to take over the league, if I'm going to reach the goals that I wanted to reach coming out of college and be the best player and best person I can possibly be, why wait until a contract year like most guys do? I want to do it and I want to do it now. Last year I started to get the ball rolling and now I'm in cruise control and I'm ready to have fun."
