The Raiders defense had five sacks in Oakland’s 27-20 victory over the Browns this past Sunday, and linebacker/defensive end Aldon Smith had none of them.
Yet the former 49ers pass rushing phenom appears to be starting to make a positive impact on the defense after signing just before Game 1 of the regular season.
Smith had two quarterback hurries, batted down a pass by Josh McCown and had a tackle for a loss while being used primarily as an outside linebacker in the Raiders’ 4-3 scheme.
Since signing with the Raiders, Smith – an outside linebacker in the 49ers’ 3-4 alignment – has played both defensive end and outside linebacker.
The analytics website Pro Football Focus gave Smith an overall negative grade for the game at minus-2.9, but as James Arcellana of SB Nation noted, that negative grade is a bit deceiving.
“He clearly still has some rust to break through after spending the preseason not playing football, but with every week that passes, you see more and more of the Aldon Smith who tore the league up while playing with the San Francisco 49ers,” wrote Arcellana this week. “As the season progresses, Smith should as well, and it will mean a lot to a defense that needs to improve in every way possible.”
If the 2-1 Raiders can get Smith on track, the combination of Smith and Khalil Mack – who had two sacks against the Browns – should give defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. a terrific pair of pass rushers to move around the field to attack offenses and take the pressure off Oakland's secondary.
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Before the game against Cleveland, Smith acknowledged he wasn’t quite where he needed to be yet, but was getting closer.
“I’m trying to get a sack on Sunday, so we got to perfect this stuff,” he said. “We got to do the little things right to make it happen in Cleveland.”
That’s exactly what happened, as Mack, Malcolm Smith, Ray-Ray Armstrong and Neiron Ball got to the quarterback.
Now, it may be Smith’s turn this Sunday, when the Raiders take on the Bears in Chicago (10 a.m. kickoff).
