The Packers need Za’Darius Smith to show out in the playoffs like he has all season

Za’Darius Smith is a goon. I mean that in the best way possible. He wants all of the smoke, all of the time.

I watched his film from a few Packers games this season, and Smith was just beating people up over and over, play after play, game after game, and the best part was I could tell he enjoyed every second of it. Just the violence that he plays with on damn near every down is so impressive, and it’s a part of his game that really endeared him to me. It didn’t matter who he’s going against, or how much bigger they were, he took the fight to them with reckless abandon.

He has that Marshawn Lynch mindset on the field of running through a muthafucka’s face repeatedly until they don’t want it no more.

And know this: while he might be correctly described as an edge rusher, anybody on the offensive line can get it. If they see Smith lined up across from them, they better hope their chin strap is snapped on tight because the one thing I didn’t see from Smith all year was fear. In addition to playing with an attitude, Smith’s relentlessness and hustle have definitely made me a fan.

I actually kept putting off writing about Smith during the regular season because I just figured I would get around to it, but I never did. However, since I missed my chance during the regular season, I had to take this opportunity before the Divisional Round to put a spotlight on the season he’s had since his play is a big part of why the Packers had a first-round bye with the second seed in the NFC.

It helps that I think his play will be one the keys to the Packers winning against the Seahawks on Sunday.

While he isn’t the biggest guy at 6’4 and 272 pounds, Smith is a very powerful dude coming off the football. He’s one of the better bull rushers I’ve seen all year. Mind you, he’s had success with his power rushes while lining up both on the edge and on the interior.

What I really like about Smith is that he plays with an edge — and I don’t mean dirty by any means. He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. But when he is taking on a block or taking somebody to the ground, he ain’t nice about it. He has the kind of on-field demeanor that most defenses need from at least one of their leaders. A player who just gives off that take-no-shit aura as soon as he walks into any stadium.

As a former player, I can tell you that if you play with a guy like Smith and you watch him go out on the field every week and play like a madman, it makes you want to go out there and play that way as well. It’s easy to get teammates to follow someone like that.

The truth is I don’t think I’ve ever seen an edge rusher who was more efficient with their movement than Smith was this season. And by that I mean he almost always moves in straight lines — on film it appears his preference is to run right through blockers to get to the person with the ball.

Whether he was playing the run, or rushing the passer, Smith was all about taking the most direct path to get to the guy with the ball the season.

Smith also has a knack for knowing exactly when to escape off a block. You see a lot of guys come off the ball well initially, but end up getting stuck because they stay locked up with the blocker just a tick too long.

But with Smith, he just has a feel for when the offensive lineman is going to try to sit down on his pass rush move or, when the right time is to come off and make the tackle. He immediately steps wide of the block and uses a power rip or a quick arm-over to free himself of the blocker and take the guy with the ball down to the ground.

What makes it even harder for blockers to saying engaged with Smith is that he’s adept at knocking off the blocker’s arm that happens to be in the direction which he wants to escape off the block.

But remember, Smith doesn’t always have to run through guys. His lateral quickness is absolutely ridiculous too!

Where his technique is stellar is that Smith also gets back vertical in a hurry after his lateral movement. I rarely saw him get washed inside or outside when he was moving laterally at the line of scrimmage. Instead, most of the time he was still able to explode upfield and disrupt the play even when he didn’t get into the gap cleanly.

It is that economy of motion that helps Smith make so many plays in the backfield against the run and the pass.

But let me be clear: it’s not that Smith gets a clean win every time he rushes the passer that makes him dangerous. Really, a lot of times his first move gets stopped by the offensive lineman. What forces offenses to know where he is at all times, however, is the fact that when you block the first move, he’s going to go to a second. When you block the second move, he’s going to go to a third.

And a fourth.

And a fifth.

He’s going to keep working until the play ends one way or another, and those blockers had better be ready to keep working right with him. If they falter, even for a second, he will make them pay for it.

One of the things that is interesting about Smith’s film is that the Packers used him a lot like the Texans deployed Jadeveon Clowney over the years. You might see him standing up as the edge rusher on one play, but the next he might be at linebacker depth threatening to blitz one of the A gaps. On third-and-long, there is a very good chance you will see him with his hand in the dirt as a three-technique on the outside edge.

This guy can do it all, and do it all well. Fortunately, the Packers recognized just how special he is and decided to move him around like a chess piece. I think that has really helped unleash all of Smith’s potential and that, in turn, has helped the Packers win a bunch of games this season.

If you compare their combine numbers, there’s no question that Smith isn’t in the same class as Clowney when it comes to measurable athleticism. However, when you watch their film, Smith is at least as disruptive, if not more so, because his technique is just light years ahead of Clowney’s. If Clowney had the same level of technique as Smith, the NFL probably would’ve outlawed him by now.

And while I know Smith ran a 4.83 when he was coming out back in 2015, there is no doubt that he plays a lot faster than that. His film says he is a helluva athlete, period, and I always defer to film when it comes to players. You can put Smith’s most physically impressive plays this season up against anybody’s.

The way I see it, the method with which Smith rushes the passer is tailor-made to face a mobile quarterback like Russell Wilson. Smith can restrict the pocket with his power rushes, which will help keep Wilson from having a lane to step up inside the pocket to avoid the rush, while keeping his outside arm free to escape off the block whenever Wilson tries to take off outside to scramble.

And, l’m telling you, Smith has an extra gear when he’s chasing quarterbacks. I’m not saying Russ will never break containment to his side, but what I am saying don’t be surprised if it’s a lot harder for Russ than you might expect.

Combine that with the fact that the Seahawks’ offensive line is still banged up and you have a perfect recipe for Smith to have a big game this weekend. With left tackle Duane Brown just a couple of weeks removed from surgery, it is still up in the air whether he will play. If I were a betting man, I’d put down a dollar on Brown’s backup, George Fant, either starting the game or at least rotating in some with Brown this week — and that is definitely a matchup I believe Smith can exploit.

At the same time, with as inconsistent as Seahawks right tackle Germain Ifedi has been as a pass blocker, and with the way Fletcher Cox got after D.J. Fluker last Sunday, I also expect Smith to share his can of whupass with most of the rest of the Seattle offensive line.

Don’t worry, he has plenty to go around.

Also, don’t forget that Fant had back spasms during a game a few weeks. If Jamarco Jones has to slide over to left tackle at any point in Green Bay, just do yourself a favor and avert your eyes. Jones had to start at there against the Cardinals, and it got ugly fast.

Whether he ends up with a lot of sacks or tackles for a loss or not, I expect Smith to be playing in Seattle’s backfield a lot Sunday evening. That bye should’ve given him fresh legs and after the Seahawks’ hard-fought win over the Eagles on the road last week, I just don’t think their offensive line will be up to the task of blocking Smith.

This matchup Sunday is exactly the kind of game the Packers signed Smith for in the first place. The Packers invested a four-year contract with a maximum value of $66 million with the expectation that he would step up in just such a situation as this. Green Bay saw the potential Smith showed his first four seasons in Baltimore, including the 8.5 sacks in only eight starts last year, and came to the conclusion that he could be much more.

They were right.

Even with a leg injury that slowed him down early on in the season, Smith was able to post career bests in sacks (13.5), tackles (55), tackles for a loss (17), and quarterback hits (37). But, just being real, all of that will be for naught if he doesn’t bring it this weekend. The Packers were expected to make the playoffs with Aaron Rodgers healthy, but with the upgrades on defense they also expected to go deep into the playoffs. It’s now time for Smith to stand up and really earn his money.

I, for one, think he will.

And while he will have help from Preston Smith on the other side and the rest of the Green Bay defense backing him up, make no mistake: this is Za’Darius Smith’s time to shine.

As much confidence as I had last week that Clowney and Ziggy Ansah would go off against the Eagles, I’m equally as confident that Smith, coming off a bye, is going to be hunting and harassing Wilson all game long on Sunday. It’s gonna be a lot harder for Wilson to hit those deep balls with Smith breathing down his neck.

Don’t believe me? Just watch.