Smith Bros. Must Turn Sacks Into Strips
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sacks are great. Sacks and strips are better.
Last season, eight players finished with at least 12 sacks. Of that group, only one player failed to record a forced fumble: New Orleans’ Cameron Jordan. Two players forced only one sack. One was Green Bay’s Za’Darius Smith. The other was his sidekick, Preston Smith.
Conventional wisdom suggests the Packers are due for a step backward after winning 13 games last season. They went 8-1 in one-score games. They actually were outgained for the season. They stayed relatively healthy. They finished third in the league with a plus-12 turnover ratio.
While the first three items on that list might be hard to duplicate, turnover margin is where the Packers could improve. That starts with the Smith Triplets – Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and position coach Mike Smith.
There’s a reason why 12 of the top 15 in forced fumbles last season were edge rushers. There’s also a reason why 24 of the top 25 in fumbles were quarterbacks. Quarterbacks who are getting ready to throw, have only one hand on the ball, are focused on what’s going on downfield or fail to feel pressure are all ripe for the picking.
And yet, Green Bay’s dominant duo failed to cash in, with 35 individuals recording more forced fumbles than the Smiths’ combined two.
“Man, it's crazy you say that,” Za’Darius Smith said on Friday. “Because Coach (Smith) was just harping on that yesterday. Like, we had so many attempts, but we didn't get the chance to get the ball out. So he was saying, ‘This year, man, I can see it.’ Coach Mike Smith, he said, ‘Man, I can see it this year coming, to where we’re going to have a ton of sack fumbles and forced fumbles.’ I can’t wait because Coach is speaking it into existence, man.”
The lack of game-changing production was evident with a look at the NFL’s seven 20-sack duos from last season.
Tampa Bay’s Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul: 28 sacks, eight forced fumbles.
Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree: 26 sacks, 12 forced fumbles.
Green Bay’s Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith: 25.5 sacks, two forced fumbles.
Arizona’s Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs: 24.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles.
L.A. Rams’ Aaron Donald and Dante Fowler: 24 sacks, four forced fumbles.
Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen: 22.5 sacks, three forced fumbles.
New Orleans’ Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport: 21.5 sacks, three forced fumbles.
For Green Bay, the track record is uneven. On the bright side, Mike Smith’s history as a coach is impressive. In 2018 while with Kansas City, Chiefs outside linebackers Dee Ford (13 sacks, seven forced fumbles) and Justin Houston (nine sacks, five forced fumbles) combined for 22 sacks and a dozen forced fumbles. On the other hand, Za’Darius Smith has four forced fumbles in five seasons and Preston Smith has a total of two forced fumbles in his four seasons as a starter.
“It’s always a point of emphasis,” Preston Smith said. “Even last year during us getting the sacks, we were always trying to get the ball out. We worked at it every day in practice for Coach Smith. That’s what we’ve put an emphasis on this year. Even Coach Smith said, ‘Hey, we got a lot of sacks last year, we had a lot of attempts to try to get the ball out, the quarterbacks just did a good job making sure they protected the ball.”
A turnover here, resulting in a short field there, could help the Packers replicate last year’s success.
“If we get the ball back to Aaron,” Preston Smith said, “he can utilize his weapons and put us in great position to run up the score and then we get to have fun on defense.”
