Aldon Smith: Game Changer

I was not aware of the boxing and martial arts skills or basketball! Wow...I have been watching his hand work all year and that has truly been the difference. On the other side, I see Brooks who can bull rush and has tremendous closing speed when the QB is in his sights and is still getting used to playing every down. Both players are/will be getting used to playing almost every down, both can play many positions and line up anywhere including off the edge, as an inside LB, all along the DL esp. DE and RDT, both have "serious" closing speed, explode "through" the QB causing broken ribs, pain and TO's and both are great against the run and Brooks already leads the team in TFL with 5. My point? Fans...we have something special brewing here esp. when you look at the other five players along the front 7. If Brooks/Aldon can continue to work on their hand techniques, stamina to play every down effectively and continue to grow in the film room (game recognition) this could end up being a VERY dynamic duo. Right now, alone, they have combined:

30 tackles, 7.5 sacks for 61 yards, 9 TFL, 1 FF, 1 Safety and 6 PD

Name one set of OLBers right now, in just six games, who have out-performed these guys. I didn't even add in Haralson's stats here either.

Originally posted by NCommand:
I was not aware of the boxing and martial arts skills or basketball! Wow...I have been watching his hand work all year and that has truly been the difference. On the other side, I see Brooks who can bull rush and has tremendous closing speed when the QB is in his sights and is still getting used to playing every down. Both players are/will be getting used to playing almost every down, both can play many positions and line up anywhere including off the edge, as an inside LB, all along the DL esp. DE and RDT, both have "serious" closing speed, explode "through" the QB causing broken ribs, pain and TO's and both are great against the run and Brooks already leads the team in TFL with 5. My point? Fans...we have something special brewing here esp. when you look at the other five players along the front 7. If Brooks/Aldon can continue to work on their hand techniques, stamina to play every down effectively and continue to grow in the film room (game recognition) this could end up being a VERY dynamic duo. Right now, alone, they have combined:

30 tackles, 7.5 sacks for 61 yards, 9 TFL, 1 FF, 1 Safety and 6 PD

Name one set of OLBers right now, in just six games, who have out-performed these guys. I didn't even add in Haralson's stats here either.

This can only mean one thing.... We Will Stop Aaron Rodgers!

Dareus has played really well. Comparing the stats of a DT to an OLB is a bit ridiculous. I would have killed to have him on our team. He is going to be a dominant player. That being said, we really needed a player like Aldon on our team, and I'm so glad(also surprised) that he has played so well the first 6 weeks. Aldon Smith looks like the front-runner for defensive rookie of the year, with only Ryan Kerrigan coming close.

Originally posted by NCommand:
I was not aware of the boxing and martial arts skills or basketball! Wow...I have been watching his hand work all year and that has truly been the difference. On the other side, I see Brooks who can bull rush and has tremendous closing speed when the QB is in his sights and is still getting used to playing every down. Both players are/will be getting used to playing almost every down, both can play many positions and line up anywhere including off the edge, as an inside LB, all along the DL esp. DE and RDT, both have "serious" closing speed, explode "through" the QB causing broken ribs, pain and TO's and both are great against the run and Brooks already leads the team in TFL with 5. My point? Fans...we have something special brewing here esp. when you look at the other five players along the front 7. If Brooks/Aldon can continue to work on their hand techniques, stamina to play every down effectively and continue to grow in the film room (game recognition) this could end up being a VERY dynamic duo. Right now, alone, they have combined:

30 tackles, 7.5 sacks for 61 yards, 9 TFL, 1 FF, 1 Safety and 6 PD

Name one set of OLBers right now, in just six games, who have out-performed these guys. I didn't even add in Haralson's stats here either.

Willis/Bowman on the inside and Brooks/Aldon on the outside--something special brewing here indeed!

Loved the video, love our newest smith.

Originally posted by oldninerdude:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I was not aware of the boxing and martial arts skills or basketball! Wow...I have been watching his hand work all year and that has truly been the difference. On the other side, I see Brooks who can bull rush and has tremendous closing speed when the QB is in his sights and is still getting used to playing every down. Both players are/will be getting used to playing almost every down, both can play many positions and line up anywhere including off the edge, as an inside LB, all along the DL esp. DE and RDT, both have "serious" closing speed, explode "through" the QB causing broken ribs, pain and TO's and both are great against the run and Brooks already leads the team in TFL with 5. My point? Fans...we have something special brewing here esp. when you look at the other five players along the front 7. If Brooks/Aldon can continue to work on their hand techniques, stamina to play every down effectively and continue to grow in the film room (game recognition) this could end up being a VERY dynamic duo. Right now, alone, they have combined:

30 tackles, 7.5 sacks for 61 yards, 9 TFL, 1 FF, 1 Safety and 6 PD

Name one set of OLBers right now, in just six games, who have out-performed these guys. I didn't even add in Haralson's stats here either.

Willis/Bowman on the inside and Brooks/Aldon on the outside--something special brewing here indeed!

Best LB core in the NFL, imo. I hope we can keep them together for a long time.

Originally posted by saniner:
Dareus has played really well. Comparing the stats of a DT to an OLB is a bit ridiculous. I would have killed to have him on our team. He is going to be a dominant player. That being said, we really needed a player like Aldon on our team, and I'm so glad(also surprised) that he has played so well the first 6 weeks. Aldon Smith looks like the front-runner for defensive rookie of the year, with only Ryan Kerrigan coming close.

Von Miller is not to far off. He is only .5 sack and 1 PD off. but has more tackles and one more FF but has done it with a very bad Denver team which is even more amazing considering he doesn't have a Justin Smith beside him and mentoring him.

Kerrigan is doing well, but not as well as these two.

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Willis/Bowman on the inside and Brooks/Aldon on the outside--something special brewing here indeed!

Understatement...Willis was already one of, if not the best MLB in the game and then you add Bowman so far this year? Unbelievable pair!

We basically have two MIKE's and two WILL's right now with a ton of versatility! Dangerous. Pain Train. :)

It's silly to compare the stats of DT's and DE's. Aldon Smith is a good player. Marcel Derius is a good player. JJ Watt is a good player. Why do we need to degrade the other guys to prove that Aldon is a good player?

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Willis/Bowman on the inside and Brooks/Aldon on the outside--something special brewing here indeed!

Understatement...Willis was already one of, if not the best MLB in the game and then you add Bowman so far this year? Unbelievable pair!

We basically have two MIKE's and two WILL's right now with a ton of versatility! Dangerous. Pain Train. :)

Plus they all seem to be selfless. Willis, for example, had to have given up alot of tackles in order to cover Detroit's TE during most of the game last week. Bowman had 17 tackles. Didn't seem to bother Willis a bit, and he had a great game (though not statistically).

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Plus they all seem to be selfless. Willis, for example, had to have given up alot of tackles in order to cover Detroit's TE during most of the game last week. Bowman had 17 tackles. Didn't seem to bother Willis a bit, and he had a great game (though not statistically).

Thank you for pointing that out! Like Brooks taking most of the double-teams, McDonald/Aldon are shinning. Sopoaga had to move to the non-glory position of NT and hasn't complained once which has helped free up the Smith's. It's truly a TEAM defense and each week, like VD last week (blocking TE), someone is going to sacrifice for overall good of the team. That is football. That is family. That is 49er football!

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Plus they all seem to be selfless. Willis, for example, had to have given up alot of tackles in order to cover Detroit's TE during most of the game last week. Bowman had 17 tackles. Didn't seem to bother Willis a bit, and he had a great game (though not statistically).

Thank you for pointing that out! Like Brooks taking most of the double-teams, McDonald/Aldon are shinning. Sopoaga had to move to the non-glory position of NT and hasn't complained once which has helped free up the Smith's. It's truly a TEAM defense and each week, like VD last week (blocking TE), someone is going to sacrifice for overall good of the team. That is football. That is family. That is 49er football!

Well said, as always! Lots more to look forward to.

Those double teams on Brooks have been largely overlooked by the fans. Seems that the rest of the NFL knows about the guy, though. He's having a great year.

The entire defense this year is just incredible, and I think will rank #1 in total yards allowed and points allowed, when its all said and done. Hope they can keep them together after this season.

Originally posted by oldninerdude:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Willis/Bowman on the inside and Brooks/Aldon on the outside--something special brewing here indeed!

Understatement...Willis was already one of, if not the best MLB in the game and then you add Bowman so far this year? Unbelievable pair!

We basically have two MIKE's and two WILL's right now with a ton of versatility! Dangerous. Pain Train. :)

Plus they all seem to be selfless. Willis, for example, had to have given up alot of tackles in order to cover Detroit's TE during most of the game last week. Bowman had 17 tackles. Didn't seem to bother Willis a bit, and he had a great game (though not statistically).

Willis already got his extension. He has money so now he just wants to win.

Originally posted by WildBill:
Von Miller is not to far off. He is only .5 sack and 1 PD off. but has more tackles and one more FF but has done it with a very bad Denver team which is even more amazing considering he doesn't have a Justin Smith beside him and mentoring him.

Kerrigan is doing well, but not as well as these two.

I kept Von Miller off because he is on a bad team, and because he was benched early in the game against the Chargers 2 weeks ago. He is excelling as a pass-rusher, but they feel the need to cut his minutes because he is far less effective in other areas. link

I would put him third behind Aldon and Kerrigan right now. It is very close, and will be interesting to watch throughout the season. Through the first 4 weeks it looked like Kerrigan would run away with the award. He had 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 ff, 1 int,and 1 td.

Just my opinion though

It seems people aren't taking into account that aldon didn't hardly play the first 3 weeks so kerrigan and von started 2 more games than aldon(which will be 3 once this Bye week passes). So people are pointing at the tackle total, but if you only count the last 3 games kerrigan has 4 more tackles than aldon and von has the same amount. So if there was a "tackles per game" stat aldon would be right in the mix.

Also if you counted only the past 3 games, aldon would have a nice 1.5 sack advantage over miller. So miller might have the worse team but he's also played a few more games.