SANTA CLARA – Aldon Smith spoke after Ahmad Brooks on Wednesday. Smith talked about the level of attention he expects to receive from opposing offenses this season, his transition from defensive end to outside linebacker and his friendly competition with Ahmad Brooks. Here’s a transcript.
Q: Is there a difference rushing the passer from a three-point stance as opposed from a two-point stance – standing up?
ALDON SMITH: Not really, other than a hand in the dirt. If I’m rushing, I’m rushing.
Q: Is it easier to do stunts and creative stuff with Justin Smith from a two-point stance?
ALDON SMITH: The stance doesn’t matter. It’s more the angle you take to get to that stunt.
Q: Is there any sort of rivalry between you and Brooks this year to see who can get more sacks, and is there a number of sacks you’d like to get this year? What’s your goal?
ALDON SMITH: As far as Ahmad goes – that’s not a rivalry, it’s a friendly competition. We want to just get (sacks) period. I don’t have a sack number set for myself, but I want to improve on what I did last year.
Q: What’s been your impression of Justin Smith’s performance in training camp?
ALDON SMITH: It’s good to see it, whether it’s the way he throws people around or the way he penetrates. He’s still got it. He’s still a weapon out there.
Q: Do you expect opposing offenses to pay more attention to you this year?
ALDON SMITH: Yeah, I expect them to definitely pay more attention. I’m not flying under the radar. They’ve seen what happened last year, so whether that causes double teams or chips, I’m preparing for it.
Q: What types of changes did you see offenses make against you as last season went on?
ALDON SMITH: Just adding another guy to block me, or things like that. Not letting me be one-on-one with their tackle.
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It will not be as easy for the Condor now that he’s a wanted man in every NFL OL Meeting Room. Lucky for him he’s surrounded by talent, and the Cowboy heads up the possee. If he has improved his game, Mr. Rogers may have a new neighbor.
I hope they send double teams and chips Aldon’s way. That will create opportunities for the other guys to step up and make the sack and one less guy the back 7 needs to account for in the passing game.
We have the most underrated defensive line in the NFL. To me, it could be the best in football. With that being said, we have the most unorganized offensive line in all of football. With 3 first round picks, a superbowl winning centre, and a wildcard in Boone, it should be a lot better than what they have shown.
prime
I think the new weapons on offense will in itself help the OL. Last year, was there a reason for teams not to put 8-9 in the box? If there were, our leading WR didn’t get the memo.
Teams loaded the box because there was no threat outside. MC isn’t fast and isn’t big enough or run his routes well enough to demand 2-teams. If he does/can this year, and especially another guy does in addition, nobody can stop us but us.
The OL will get better now that they are even numbers wise with the D.
Prime,
How can the O Line be better than what they have shown when they haven’t even played a game yet?
It will be tough for teams to double Aldon without keeping a receiver in to block or leaving Justin one-on-one. A single blocker on Justin is a good way to commit quarterback-icide.
That would make life easier for the secondary and/or Ray McDonald though. With the attention Aldon and Justin will get this year would 10 sacks for Ray be outrageous? He pulled 5.5 last year.
Seriously!! Other teams are going to have to start focusing so much Justin and Aldon that RAy and Ahmad are going to be left 1 on 1 all day long. Its a pick your poison kind of situation for them. Fearsome!
i blogged this once earlier. i’m going to repeat it here, the 9er D this yr will get close to 60 sacks and is going to be thought of as one of the great all time D’s [if we stay healthy]
“We have the most underrated defensive line in the NFL” um lol no. if people still underrate our defense they need to learn how to watch film. clearly our front 7 / front 4 is the most dominat part of our team, especially last year. A smith being in on every play is only going to open up plays for our other linemen.
Id rather havce A Smith double teammed over J Smith as of now. and you cant double team both of them. thats a good problem for other teams to have… for us at least.
Opponents can’t continue to Double both Smiths all game this year. If they attempt to do that then if I’m any of the rest of the 49er Front 7 I would take that as a personel challenge.
Either way the Opponents are screwed.
And DS finds another way to take a cheap shot at MC. Nice to see another post about a different player (Aldon Smith) somehow finds it’s way back to MC.
Wow DS, for a person who does not hate MC, you sure are trying your best to discredit your own statement (lol).
DS hates MC, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, He is a HATER.
DSL is the queen Douchebag
“Teams loaded the box because there was no threat outside. MC isn’t fast and isn’t big enough or run his routes well enough to demand 2-teams. If he does/can this year, and especially another guy does in addition, nobody can stop us but us.”
Article about Aldon Smith and DS decides to trash MC for no reason at all. Don’t try to say you dont hate MC when you pull this kinda garbage out of your A$$. Teams loaded the box because they knew the QB (you know that one position that THROWS the ball) wasn’t going to take chances down the field. There are few WR’s in this league that require double teams. This is complete BS.
Jerry Rice would suck if AS was his QB.
Thats a bit extreme. MC doesn’t suck with this QB. But JR wouldn’t have been nearly what he was. He would have averaged 1000-1200 yards 8-10 TD’s a year in my opinion. So he would be good but not near the greatest.
That is my point Adam, tired of the Smithers bashing Crabs.
DS has said many times how he loves Fitzgerald and how he wishes he was a Niner. I don’t know why though. He is a great WR but his style doesn’t mesh with AS. Alex has never been the type of QB to throw “jump balls” which is the main area LF thrives in. Many will argue that the reason AS has never throw those is because he has never had a WR with jump ball skills, well now Moss is a Niner. The best “jump ball” receiver to ever grace the gridiron. I for one hope/pray Alex takes more deep chances, throws more jump balls, will make our offense much more exciting to watch. This year will tell us if Alex is capable of throwing the deep ball.
Adam707
During the game, they showed LF practicing tough to make catches on the sideline. Sure enough he made
nearly the same catch in that game against us. I’ve never seen MC doing the same ting on the Niners sideline after 40+ games.
JR/LF will demand 2 teams no matter the QB. AS is WAY better than any QB AZ has had since Warner. Yet he still demands and beats 2-teams. He was responsible for preventimg a shutout against us with a catch he makes all the time and MC never has yet with fantastic concentration.
LF didn’t nearly beat Pitt on jump passes. He did it by streaking thru the TP healthy led Pitt secondary getting himself open and outrunning the D to the endzone. Much like VD did in the playoffs. I’ve never seen a WR do that to TP all game long.
Plus LF is great in the playoffs. So he shows up when it matters. MC didn’t. LF on this team with VD makes us the best offense in the NFL. Didn’t happen, so it is just a dream. But LF is the best now. And he can adapt to any QB.
LF was great in the playoffs with a Hall of Fame QB as his QB. I know you dont think Warner is a HOF, but statistically he is one of the best playoff QB’s ever. LF hasn’t gotten his team to the playoffs without Warner. And if he were to have the running game the niners do or the TE the niners do then he wouldn’t be doing what he is doing. With AS the QB of our team the ideal WR should be Andre Johnson, not LF. He would fit in here a lot better than LF. You dont think MC has concentration? Check the TD he scored in 2010 against the Rams, the toe tapper, and tell me thats not concentration. If MC is to leave after next year, like you claim, and he thrives with his next QB, will you then admit it was AS? or claim MC wasn’t trying?
Teams don’t cover QB’s. They cover WR’s. And if you look at the teams that made the playoffs, most of them have a WR who demands 2 teams from most D’s.
Pit – Wallace
NO – Meachum sp?
NY – Has 2 -Nicks/Cruz
NE – Forgot his name (but we know the guy but he has like a milion catches the past 2 years.
Detroit – Megatron
Denver – Eddy Royal
Atlanta – May have 2 now as well
GB – Yeah. At least 1.
The teams that didn’t make the playoffs, LF. Gets 2-teamed if you are the QB. Most though don’t have that WR.
So Adam707, most teams that are good (playoffs) have at least 1 WR who if left 1 covered and he scores, the football world goes WTF. We didn’t last year. That ain’t BS. The proof was in the playoffs. Teams didn’t worry about MC beatingthem in single coverage. If they did, they don’t do it. And AS throws it deep fine when it is VD. So unless you believe AS throws poorly to MC on purpose, that does not work.
Maybe MC can be a TE since he is a good blocker and DW isn’t much better if at all than MC is at catching the ball.
Pit – Wallace
NO – Meachum sp?
NY – Has 2 -Nicks/Cruz
NE – Forgot his name (but we know the guy but he has like a milion catches the past 2 years.
Detroit – Megatron
Denver – Eddy Royal
Atlanta – May have 2 now as well
GB – Yeah. At least 1.
You’re right about Detroit, Atl. NE has no WR who requires a double (they have a TE who does) Welker is a great WR but he is a slot WR, slots dont get doubled. GB/NO has 5 WRs on the field just about every play so defenses cant double, Den had tebow so no WR had more than single coverage, NY you can make an argument than Nicks is a WR that would demand double coverage but thats pushing it. Only WR’s in NFL that are worthy of a double team: Megatron, Andre Johson, LF, Roddy White, Dwayne Bowe (because all other passing options are that bad), Brandon Marshall, Vincent Jackson. And possibly Steve Smith and Desean Jackson, they are maybies because they are homerun hitters but short.
To say “defenses cover WR’s not QB’s” is just plain idiotic. Defenses play differently according to how the QB is playing. A great QB brings out the best in all of his WR’s. You’re argument is complete trash. You cant spout off this BS and keep claiming you dont hate MC. You rag on MC and dont realize alot of it falls on the QB’s shoulders. Thats the way this league works. Always has and always will.
Adam707,
The two go completely hand in hand, and they play in the most balanced offense in the league. This is why neither of the two have stats that look good until you break them down. You need to stop blaming MC’s numbers on Smith.
Now back to the topic of Aldon Smith : )
Thank you Jack!
come on….MC will find spaces and lanes this year just like he did at tech…..now that manningham and moss and a rejuvenated williams are part of a roman offensive package….
u need to get past the MC thing he is a 9r….
i don’t need a neal or aes or others to chime in
i am an AS supporter and also the one who all those years back on a rainy day in austria expressed my concerns on the mental make up of AS…..but i am a supporter and a fan on what he has accomplished through his trials on this team….
i am just glad that nolan and company did a good job of getting the defense on track…..now it is JH and company getting the offense on track and bringing the fagio to take the defense to the next level
this has been a great story over the years watching this team develop and if the blogging empire can’t appreciate the idea of building the empire stone upon stone then it is your loss
We appreciate it JG, but we also want to stick to the topic of the article, which is Aldon Smith. Talking about the previous two articles is fine too.
This whole MC debating is making it seem i am Anti Smith, and im not. I still think he will throw for 4000 and 27 this year.
Not really Adam. I just believe that it’s incorrect to blame his numbers all on Smith. The interesting part of it is that when you break the stats down they are both pretty good.
I agree with you on what Smith can do this year. Looking for good things. The buzz phrase this year seems to be “playing fast” and I am buying it. I really think Smith will have a big step up in year 2 under Harbaugh similar to what Luck did in year 2 at Stanford.
I’ve actually used that argument a few times on here but it is ignored. I know its vice versa. If MC is having a great year and playing at a high level then most likely AS is too. It’s when DS and Prime bash MC and say he is a “real #1″ where i get upset. Im perfectly happy with AS as the QB. He can and will win a super bowl.
Ok guys. What’s the difference between DS hating on Crabtree on an Aldon Smith article and others responding by hating hating on Smith on the the same article? Let’s stick to the topic for once. That goes for you too DS.
Exactly Mid West, but if we insult his boy toy, we are not Niner Fans, but it is ok for it to bash MC all of the time.
Lol… somehow you’ve missed bay’s definition of REAL fans, Neal?
Its showing DS is a hypocrite.
smithNo it’s not. We have no idea what Crabtree will do this season so judgment should be held off on him until otherwise. Same goes with Smith. Both these guys had the screws put to them by not having the same offense in back-to-back seasons until now and also a former coach who couldn’t even begin to understand what an offense was. I don’t believe anyone has a reason to judge either of these two until we see what they do with the best opportunity that has been given to them in their NFL careers.
midwest
I talked about the OL. Why I think they will be better this year. And I also said if MC forces teams to 2 team him, our OL is in good shape.
That is as true as Washington DC is our nations capital.
Where’s the hating? I’m not making anything up. It all happened. Deny as you want. If MC does, all MC talk will vanish next year because he won’t be here. MC needs to do a lot better. And I’ll still be here.
Great DS. Why are you two talking about the 49ers O Line in an article on Aldon Smith?
As Mid West said, try sticking to the topic.
You said Crabtree ISN’T big enough or fast enough or run his routes well enough to demand 2-teams. The key word is ISN’T. If you would said WASN’T I might be able to tolerate your post a little better because I agree that he wasn’t last season, at least on a consistent basis. But neither you nor I have any idea of what Crabtree is capable of now, so hold off judging him until you see what he does this season. But most importantly, KEEP YOUR POST IN LINE WITH THE ARTICLE!
midwest
I said ISN’T. Then just a few words later said if he is does this year, we will be quite hard to beat.
So, I did do what you would be ok with. You looked too hard at 1 word and not at the whole message.
And this will be my last MC post on this blog page. But please realize I’m not carrying these discussions on all by myself either.
Good night bud.
KW tossed from practice tonight for fighting.
I was just about to write that. Beat me to it. Sounds like Harbaugh was really pissed. The anti Williams crowd will have a field day with this.
I’m looking forward to seeing what our defense does this season. I don’t see any way any opposing offense can double teaming anybody on our DL without leaving one of our guys on defense unguarded or taking away from their receiving options. Even if our defense doesn’t get a sack, they’re still going to put a hurting on the other team’s QB.
midwest
How many sacks did we get in the playoffs last year? Wasn’t it like 5 in each game for a total of 10? That happens because teams can’t run and they spread us out. Exposing their QB.
Oldcoach says 60 sacks this year. I think 75 is very possible.
The D had 3 sacks vs NO and 6 vs NY.
A big key to their pass rush was thie ability to make the opponents one dimensional by taking away the run game. Once that was established they were able to pin their ears back and go after the QB.
I’m not talking about just sacks DS. I’m also talking about quarterback hits, which our D loved to do last season.
Sacks + QB hits = 200+ easily!
That JS hit on DB where he reached over the OL and yanked DB down was something special. A person who hasn’t watched football saw that play and started screaming in glee. And they don’t care much about the game.
Great minds think alike MWN : )
I said something very similar earlier. It is kinda cool to be excited to watch the D come on the field. Very reminiscent of ’94 after they picked up Deion and you knew they were going to shut down the opposition. It was like sharks smelling blood in the water.
Can’t wait, Go 9ers!!!
Grant, what is your take on how Aldon Smith has looked in training camp? Is he picking up on playing the ROLB fairly quickly or is he struggling on some aspect?
Aldon Smith if healthy will have 18 sacks this year. He will be the most valuable player on the entire team.
A player of Aldon’s ability to get to the QB is what’s been missing for the past 15 years. I wish he could have played along side B.Y. Glad he gets to play with J.S.
From your mouth to God’s ears.
Hear, hear! Bay
Love the post Bay.
Indeed. This defense is going to be even better than last season’s. Which is why I don’t get all these “experts” calling for the Niners to backslide. 7 wins? Are you kidding me, FootballOutsiders.com?