They share the same last name – the most common surname in the United States. And they both played defense at the University of Missouri.
But the similarities between Justin Smith and Aldon Smith pretty well end there. Justin is a 12-year veteran; Aldon is playing his second year. Justin is listed as a bulky 6-foot-4, 285 pounds. Aldon is a chiseled 6-4, 250-pounder. Justin is 33 years old. Aldon is 23. And Aldon is growing his hair out for a Jheri Curl commercial; Justin plans to match him with a mullet.
“Yeah, we are actually talking about it,” Aldon told sfgate.com earlier this year. “I’m growing my hair out for Jheri Curl, he’s going to get a mullet, so we are talking about getting that going full swing. His hair grows fast mine grows slow. His can take a couple of months, mine will take a year or so.”
Oh, the duo share one other similarity – they are co-anchors of one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL, and they are a big reason why many expect the San Francisco 49ers to emerge victorious in Super Bowl XLVII, Feb. 3.
Consider: Last season, Justin Smith was named to the All-Pro team not once, but twice. He made the first team as a defensive tackle, and he made the second team as a defensive end because he played in both the 3-4 and 4-3 packages the Niners would put on the field. He was the first time a player had ever been named to an All-Pro team at two different positions.
Alternately, Aldon Smith broke onto the NFL scene with 14 sacks as a rookie, missing out on the rookie record by just a half-sack. This year, Aldon upped the ante and had 19 ½ sacks through 13 games, but finished the season with the same number. The 33½ sacks in two years is the most in league history for a player in his first two seasons.
How important they are to each other and the team is reflected in that Aldon didn’t have any sacks in the last three games of the regular season. Not coincidentally, Justin missed the last two, after tearing his triceps in Week 14. Without Justin to draw a double-team, Aldon was left to fend for himself.
“Justin requires attention,” Aldon Smith said last year. “He gets guys paying attention to him, which singles me up so I can make plays. He draws the double-team so I can go one-on-one.”
The same can be said about Aldon.
“You can’t plan for him, you just keep going,” Justin Smith said at the Super Bowl media day. “A guy like him, he’s going to affect all offensive plays. And as a defense, as a unit, that’s what you want — a guy that’s going to affect how the other team plays.”
Without Justin in the lineup, the Niners lost by 29 to Seattle in the regular season, and also struggled with Arizona early before regrouping to come away with the win. But in his return to the team, Justin recorded eight tackles against the Packers in the Divisional Playoffs.
Then against the Falcons, San Francisco fell behind early and often, trailing 17-0 early in the second period. But even though quarterback Matt Ryan finished the game with 396 passing yards and three touchdowns, the Smiths and the rest of the defense stood tall when it mattered, forcing two incompletions on third and fourth down from the San Francisco 10-yard line with one minute remaining in the game.
That put the Niners at a nice 5-0 this year against quarterbacks named Brady, Rodgers, Brees and Ryan.
So what makes the Combination Smith so good? Take it from one of their own teammates. Strong safety Donte Whitner said he marvels at what Aldon Smith does whenever he breaks down the videotape from each game.
“He’s a young lion, and he’s very hungry,” Whitner told the San Jose Mercury-News. “There’s no way to stop him. He’s like a new-age pass rusher because he’s so elusive. You can’t really teach a technique to block him. You need two or three guys to really stop him from making an outside move, inside move, spinning.”
Or you can ask Bears offensive linemen Gabe Carimi and Chilo Rachal. If they are in a talking mood. Both were demoted after allowing 5 ½ sacks (that’s not a misprint) to Aldon Smith in Week 10, a 32-7 San Francisco pasting. And to show he’s not a one-trick pony, Aldon added a season-high six tackles in the game.
“Aldon’s doing his deal,” Justin Smith said. “He’s setting records right now. Anytime you have a guy like that, it’s going to make your defense that much better. Kudos to him. He’s on pace to break (the record). I’m just glad I’m lined up next to him. I’ll be able to tell my kids some day.”
While Aldon may be the young buck on the scene setting records, Justin is still the wizened old man of the defense. And his contributions don’t go unnoticed.
Even though his statistics may have decreased – this year he had just three sacks, the second-lowest of his career – he contributes mightily elsewhere.
First is his durability. Until this season, he had missed just one game – the first game of his career in 2001, when he was still getting into playing shape following contract negotiations. Second is his involvement – not only does he play every game (185 straight until the injury), but he also plays nearly 90% of the defensive snaps in each game. And finally is just his leadership.
“His legend grows,” Niners coach Jim Harbaugh says. “What a player. He’s a leader both by example and verbally, and more so by example. He plays with a tenacity and an effort level that’s second to none. And it’s just contagious to everybody.”
Clearly. The statistics bear that out:
- The 49ers allow an average of 1.2 yards after contact per rush, the best rate in the NFL.
- The 49ers have allowed the fewest yards per rush after contact this season (including playoffs), and have now led the NFL in three straight seasons.
- Aldon has recorded 34.5 of his 35.5 career sacks with Justin Smith on field. In the 141 dropbacks that Aldon Smith has seen without Justin Smith, he has only one sack.
- The 49ers finished second in the league in scoring defense in 2012, allowing 17.1 points per game. That is 10 spots better than the Ravens’ defense. Teams with top-two scoring defenses are 16-5 all-time in the Super Bowl when not facing another top-two scoring defense and have won eight straight.
- The 49ers allowed only 26.4 yards per opponents drive in the regular season, the sixth-best performance in the NFL.
- Including the playoffs, the 49ers’ average drive started at their own 31-yard line. Their opponents’ average drives started at their own 24. The field position margin of plus-7 yards ranks best in the NFL.
All this from Justin Smith - whom former Mizzou coach Larry Smith said was the best player he’d seen since Junior Seau. When Justin was a high school junior. A kid who set the Mizzou single-season sack record with 10, and then put up 8.5 sacks his rookie season after being a No. 4 pick of Cincinnati.
And all this from Aldon Smith, who came along and broke Justin’s single-season sack record at Mizzou (with 11.5) and became a No. 7 overall pick of the 49ers in the 2011 draft.
Just recently, the pair added one more set of similarities to the list. They each won prestigious team awards, as voted on by their teammates.
Justin Smith (left) and Aldon Smith are all smiles as they have anchored the 49ers' defense on the team's Super Bowl run.
Aldon Smith won the Bill Walsh Award, given by players and coaches to the team’s most valuable player. Justin Smith won his second straight Len Eshmont Award, which the team says is the “most prestigious” honor given annually to the player who exemplifies the “inspirational and courageous play” of Len Eshmont.
Regardless of how the game turns out, the respect factor is there for the duo, and they realize that without each other, they – and the team – would not be anywhere near as dominant as they are today.
“Other than our last names being Smith (and) us going to Missouri, from the time I stepped into the NFL, he was the guy who helped me out with everything,” Aldon said. “I worked out with him during the (2011) lockout and he helped me a lot just coming in my rookie year. Then on the field, we just work well with each other. We feed off each other. We have a rhythm that we just developed together.”
And it’s a rhythm that could cause the Baltimore Ravens fits, and is part of the reason why The Good In Sports is predicting the 49ers will win the Super Bowl, 35-21.
