Smiths Celebrate That Their Celebrations Have Not Been Sacked
Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith have had plenty of reasons to celebrate in piling up a combined 13 sacks to start the season.
They got another reason to celebrate on Friday. Their sack celebrations, apparently preempted by coach Matt LaFleur, are on again.
During Monday night’s victory over Detroit, Za’Darius Smith sacked Matthew Stafford, laid down and pretended to take a nap. It was all in poking fun at himself for missing a special-teams meeting that morning and getting fined.
Asked about their penchant for third-down sacks on Thursday, Za’Darius Smith mentioned the ban on celebrations. He then asked reporters to bring it up to LaFleur on Friday.
“That is incorrect,” LaFleur said after Friday’s practice. “What I told him was they better be done in a timely manner. I don't want to see these guys celebrating when I see the punt team’s already out on the field, it’s a third down and we have to burn a timeout or we get flagged for too many men on the field. I know a couple years back, and we showed the team this, in the Oakland-Kansas City game, Sio Moore and Khalil Mack [had a sack during a two-minute drill] and they were on the other side of the line, celebrating and Kansas City’s getting ready to snap the ball and they had to burn a timeout. It’s basically to avoid those situations. I want our guys to celebrate, to have fun. I like it when they celebrate together as a team and you certainly you want to have reasons to celebrate. So, and that’s only if you’re doing well out there. Just have to be smart about how we go about that.”
And this was especially smart: The Smiths have a celebration in mind for their next sack and have run it past LaFleur.
“We just saw Coach in the hallway and we actually showed it to him and he was like, ‘OK, it’s OK,’” ZaDarius Smith said.
As usual, the Smiths answered questions together.
“We got something for you guys this week and it won’t take up as much time as we have been taking,” Za’Darius Smith said.
“It’ll be short and sweet,” Preston Smith said.
Za’Darius Smith said it will be a Halloween-themed celebration but wouldn’t provide details.
“See it on Sunday,” Preston Smith added. “Can’t ruin the element of surprise.”
Whether it was a case of miscommunication or a middle ground found between the coach and players, the Smiths appreciate LaFleur for letting them celebrate.
“Coach understands, man. He’s a young coach and he feels like it’s all about the players,” ZaDarius Smith said.
Added Preston Smith: “Have fun and be situational aware. Great coach.”
Said Za’Darius Smith with a nod: “Great coach. We love our coach.”
