PFF refocused, praise for Malcolm Smith, Wilson, Okung, Tate

hawksfan515

New member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
5,369
Reaction score
0
Location
Battle Ground, Washington
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2 ... s-week-13/

I know everyone's excited for Wilson, but this is the part that melted my heart.

Filling in for the injured Leroy Hill, linebacker Malcolm Smith played well in his first career start. With only 75 career snaps to his name, last year’s seventh round pick played a career high 49 in this game, finishing with an overall grade of +2.1. His four stops were second on the team as he did a nice job shedding pulling linemen in the running game to make plays, while only allowing eight yards on his two targets in the passing game. It was a good showing for Smith who was rarely caught out of position and made the necessary plays when they came to him.

God, I have wanted Smith to succeed for so long. My favorite pick at the time of the 2011 draft. Maybe he is the successor to Leroy Hill?????

Okung also got a great grade, and nice tidbit on Tate in this article!

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2 ... g-week-13/

- After breaking another four missed tackles Golden Tate now has 11 on the year. He’s on course to beat his previous best tally of 13 in 2011.

Nice.

I still think the real big thing here is that we could have possibly solved our OLB issues with Smith. Then we can use our first rounder on a big nasty DT.....
 

sturg78

New member
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
1,350
Reaction score
0
Smith looked big too (maybe my crap cable) which would be great with San Fran coming to town with their monster oline. LB shedding blocks would be key to stopping their running game and forcing QB to beat us.
 

-The Glove-

New member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
7,689
Reaction score
0
I said it in the Leroy Hill thread that I noticed Smith quite a bit in there. And every time it was because he was making a good play. Makes me feel a lot better about that situation after this season knowing we have a capable replacement for Hill.
 

Shadowhawk

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
1,513
Reaction score
0
The thing with Smith so far in his career has been his durability. If he can stay healthy he has a good shot at taking over for Hill IMHO.
 

MontanaHawk05

Well-known member
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
17,886
Reaction score
404
I've been saying since the year's beginning (yes, I'm not above bragging) that Smith might be another out-of-nowhere starter for us.
 

kearly

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
15,975
Reaction score
0
Every time I've seen Smith he's looked good. It's honestly a wonder why the team hasn't played him almost at all. It's not like Hill is all that great this season. That makes me think they don't view Smith as much more than as depth. Should be interesting to see what they do this offseason.
 

Bigpumpkin

Active member
Joined
Mar 4, 2007
Messages
8,030
Reaction score
3
Location
Puyallup, WA USA
What I am looking for is consistency. First and second year players tend to have "good and then not so good" games. What we all like about Russell Wilson is his consistency week after week...getting better each week. How much longer can he go without "falling off" in his play? We can all name players who shine one game.....and then "blows chunks" the next. Pro Bowl players tend to play at a higher level with consistency. Can Mr. Smith rise to be a top level LBer? We'll see.
 

Norn Iron man

New member
Joined
Mar 20, 2012
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
They're already starting two young linebackers, Hill's experience is probably one of the reasons he's been starting over the likes of Smith.
 
Top