Was Justin Smith playing at pre-injury level?

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by monsterzero789:
No

No, simply this. He was good, but not as good as he was.

.

He wasn't as disruptive but he consistantly was double teamed. I really believe Aldons shoulder injury has hampered him more than him just not getting it done. Every since the injury he hasn't had the power for the bullrush and he seems to be trying to run around players instead of hand fighting and setting up moves.

I may have missed it but I absolutely feel we should move Justin to LDE for this game. Against the Packers the run up the middle for the TD, the RB ran right by Justin who normally would have extended his left arm and wrapped around him for the tackle or slow him up until the rest of the unit got there. This time he didn't even bother extending his arm which says a lot.

If we move him to LDE, he can use him power arm more and have Brooks run inside/outside stunts off him which he's very good at. It also disrupts the strong-side vision (side the TE lines up on) and it allows a very quiet RayMac to penetrate on the right side (use his quickness) along with freeing up and playing off Aldon.

Thoughts? I highly doubt it but Atlanta has some bruisers (our weakness) and we need to stop the run.

I like it they have moved them around some during the season and could be an option. Yes I noticed also that he was hesitant to stick his left arm out in harms way. I think the team def. speed will destroy Turner, he is to slow. Rodgers may have more success.

Originally posted by NCommand:
I may have missed it but I absolutely feel we should move Justin to LDE for this game. Against the Packers the run up the middle for the TD, the RB ran right by Justin who normally would have extended his left arm and wrapped around him for the tackle or slow him up until the rest of the unit got there. This time he didn't even bother extending his arm which says a lot.

If we move him to LDE, he can use him power arm more and have Brooks run inside/outside stunts off him which he's very good at. It also disrupts the strong-side vision (side the TE lines up on) and it allows a very quiet RayMac to penetrate on the right side (use his quickness) along with freeing up and playing off Aldon.

Thoughts? I highly doubt it but Atlanta has some bruisers (our weakness) and we need to stop the run.

Makes complete sense to me. I noticed they didn't seem to try and run that stunt and we usually see it a few times a game, with some good successes.

I don't know how different it could be switching the left and right DE but it seems like an obvious solution to help Justin use his phenomenal ability to tie up 2 defenders. Heck he doesn't even have to play LDE the entire game maybe just here and there to run that TE stunt a few times.

Originally posted by SportsFan:

Originally posted by Carhanu21:
I didnt see Aldon put all that much pressure on Aaron last night. Sacks or no sacks, Aldon hasnt been getting it done lately (at least not by his standards)

You weren't watching very closely then. He almost had a sack or two. And I saw countless occasions when he drove his man straight backwards to collapse the pocket on Rodgers.

Sorry, but I'm still not seeing "consistent" play on Aldon's part, yet, sacks or no sacks. Justin, with a torn triceps and a recent layoff, still expends more consistent effort than young Aldon. He's been disappointing these last few games. I really thought he'd finish the season with a bang, not a whimper.

Not at 100% usual, but damn close, he is still being double teamed, and is a force out there.

Originally posted by 4evrfan:
Sorry, but I'm still not seeing "consistent" play on Aldon's part, yet, sacks or no sacks. Justin, with a torn triceps and a recent layoff, still expends more consistent effort than young Aldon. He's been disappointing these last few games. I really thought he'd finish the season with a bang, not a whimper.

He's only in his second year, and lacks some of the veteran craftiness that can make a defensive player so dangerous. When he meets an O-line that pushes him around a little bit, he doesnt seem to try as hard. also i cant help but be disappointed every time i see him drop back into coverage.

The sack is an extremely overrated statistic. I'll take a game full of pressure with zero sacks anytime over only one or two pressures that both resulted in sacks, and that's what we've been getting out of Aldon all season and what we got out of not-100% Justin on Saturday.

i think aldon smith is not 100% either. He will be back full strength next season but he has to somehow makes some big plays this Sunday.

Any word on Smith's health?

If we don't move to Justin to LDE, the Falcons are going to run their tanks at the Smith brother's all day...this is my fear. Teams don't even bother to run on Brooks' side and haven't for a long while now. They run at Aldon which is smart. If we move Justin to LDE, not only is the run mitigated, but that double-team to free up Brooks is going to wreak havoc on the sight-line of Matt Ryan...an even more important piece is that it will be on the SAM side (strong side where the TE typically lines up at) and this disruption may help keep T.Gonzalez in to block or get tied up in the wave of attention Brooks/Justin will cause at the snap/POA. Brooks is also much better in coverage and can fake a rush and drop back to cover T.Gonzalez underneath with help over the top.

On the right side (RDD), with a healthy McDonald, Aldon should be a little more free and active esp. on turf. McDonald's quickness and strength at the POA could really help Aldon more than Justin right now.

This one simple move could help the entire defense from top-to-bottom in all three phases IMO: run stuffing, pass rush and disrupting/controlling T.Gonzalez.

BTW: If Atlanta game planned to to run left, imagine the element of surprise with Justin in at LDE angling right down the LOS (his strength).

Hey guys, just an FYI: according to NFL Network AM this morning, Aldon Smith sat out practice last night d/t his injured shoulder. If you guys didn't notice, last week, Brooks started rushing more and more from the right side with Aldon relegated to the bench on coverage packages. Usually it's the opposite.

I think it's safe to say Aldon is hurt more than we realized. f we've got Justin/Aldon hurt, the aforementioned moves for this game make even more sense.