From the outside, it sure looks like something’s clicked for Nolan Smith.
The effort has always been there. The production hasn’t. The last few weeks he's shown up in a big way. But Smith insists nothing's really changed.
He has the game of football whittled down to two things: Work hard during the week, play hard on Sundays.
Right now – finally – the formula is paying off.
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“Man, I just try to work,” the 23-year-old Smith said at his locker Thursday. “I just try to work on my job and do my part and just take every day one day at a time and try to get better.
“Coach Wash (pass rush coach Jim Washburn) has been working with me a lot. We work before practice and after practice every day. Still just trying to learn the game and how everything flows. And I just feel like it's slowing down a little bit for me.”
It’s way too soon to say Smith has arrived, but the Eagles desperately need this sort of production on a consistent basis from their second of two 1st-round picks last year.
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His first 21 career games, he had one sack, one tackle for loss and four quarterback hits. The last two, he has two sacks, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits.
Part of the equation is that he didn’t play much last year. But another part is that he didn’t earn playing time.
In meaningful games, he averaged fewer than 10 snaps per game last year. This year he’s at 26.
He said last year was important for him and indicated that he may have been judged unfairly by his lack of playing time and playmaking because behind the scenes he was learning so much.
“I mean, last year, man, I was behind an excellent group of guys,” he said. “I had Derrick Barnett in front of me. I had B.G., I had Hass (Haason Reddick), I had (Josh) Sweat. So it was more like I was learning. I know some people don't see it, but that's mostly how you learn and be a sponge and just absorb everything that you see.”
Smith became the first edge rusher drafted in the first round with one or fewer sacks in his first 21 games since Jerry Hughes, the Colts’ 1st-round pick – 31st overall – back in 2010. Hughes has recorded 70 career sacks and is now with the Texans in his 15th NFL season.
When a 1st-round pick isn’t playing, it’s not a good look. But Smith said he never got frustrated because he knew he was improving.
“Development is one of those things that you've got to work on every day, but it's one of the things that the more times you see certain things, the more it happens faster for you, the more you'll get better at it,” he said.
“And for myself, like I see stuff over and over and over again a lot of reps over and over and over again that just help me prevail and just help me.
“People think, bleep, you're supposed to do this (as a rookie), but it's really not like that. Sometimes it's like, bleep, I'm ebbing and flowing and I'm trying to figure things out. But once you figure it out, you just got to keep going up and ride that wave.”
It’s easy to understand why Eagles fans might have been thinking, “Here we go again,” with Smith.
This is the organization that drafted Jon Harris, Jerome McDougle and Marcus Smith in the first round.
They combined for nine career sacks.
But the thing about Smith is that he’s got the physical tools and he always plays hard and his positive outlook never wavered.
“Nah, you don't ever get frustrated,” he said. “You just know in the NFL it's hard to get sacks, it's hard to get pressure on the quarterback, you’ve just got to keep working every day and prepping the same and don't let it get to you. Don't get too high, don't get too low. Just even keel and keep working. …
“I just run to the ball really hard and I try to play really hard. And I give it all I got. I leave everything out there on the field every time. And it's for the city and it's just how I play.”
Smith has been in the middle of a pass-rush resurgence that’s seen the Eagles go from six sacks the first four games to 13 the last two. Bryce Huff has his first 1 ½ sacks of the year and Sweat has a sack in three straight games.
Jalen Carter has three sacks the last two weeks and Nakobe Dean recorded the first two full sacks of his career Sunday. That means Georgia Bulldogs have seven sacks in the Eagles' last two games.
“I just like being out there with all my guys, flying around, just attacking the quarterback,” he said. “My first four weeks, I ain't did nothing. So I'm trying to keep it going every week.”
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