Maason Smith

Then you have two penalties on the same drive from A.J. Terrell.

One negates a Mason Smith sack that would've set Pittsburgh back.

The next one, he just grabs Roman Wilson to avoid a touchdown.

He got away with one later in the game when he grabbed D.K. Metcalf's arm.

I thought this defense balled out to a certain degree.

I thought this defense, especially on the defensive line, and especially with Mason Smith and Zedaria Smith, I thought they played well enough.

They were stingy against the run until the game kind of got out of hand and Pittsburgh was in their four-minute drill and the momentum had already taken them to that point.

Outside of a few explosives in the pass game, which I was disappointed in the secondary for the most part, this team played very sharp on defense.

Two of those officially count both to Big Z in terms of sacks.

Mason Smith had a sack early in the game that got wiped out due to a defensive penalty on the Falcons front on the back end.

But you saw them be able to keep Jalen Waddle and Rico Dotto for the most part contained.

Waddle had a couple of busted like one good run like a 17 yard run where he broke a couple of tackles.

Like, I think they're still working him into this lineup, you know, working him into this.

But Mason Smith was a demon to start this thing.

Like, Kael London had some nice plays.

Brandon Dorlis was playing some five tech.

You would throw an accurate ball or throw it away, whatever it may be.

So big credit to a group that had very low expectation and just did not know what to expect.

You know, Dexter had a nice TFL that I think kind of, stalled a drive where I believe that led to like the missed or botched field goal attempt from Boswell so he made his friends fall but man Mason Smith I know there are reports talking about how good a training camp he had but that first half it was just like okay this is somebody that he might play 34 snaps a game man could be a legitimate difference maker

Yeah, I thought, like, again, we were kind of, like, a little bit disappointed in the run defense for Mason Smith in the preseason.

But, you know, LeCale London was making things happen in the backfield with some big run stomps.

Mason Smith was a constant nuisance in the backfield.

Um, should have had a sack that was wiped off due to a Falcons penalty.

Um, but it looks pretty good, and I thought that, you know, the secondary, they were getting burned a little bit, but I think that it was kind of, you know, they had to win some match-ups.

And they probably will beat a lot of teams.

Now, can they stay healthy? Can they kind of maintain, um, this level that they set so far? That's to be determined.

But I think the early signs for this, uh, this defense is that, you know, the Nate Allie scheme, the way that he's, and Jeff Ulbrich have identified the right kinds of players for their front that are going to be effective, um, like that trade to br- acquire Mason Smith and, and, you know, get rid of Rook Ororo.

I think that, you know, they're being totally vindicated in what we've seen so far, and that those moves are ultimately going to pay off, and that they have a very good idea of kind of their identity on, on defense and, and what they want to be and how they want to play, and the players and attributes that they need in their players at certain positions to be able to, uh, you know, pull that off.