Aldon Smith — Thanksgiving Edition

from bloguin.com

Please wade through this meandering introduction; the good stuff is on the other side.

As we head into the Holidays, Thanksgiving in particular, I want to take a moment to say thanks for all the things that football and the 49ers have given me. They’ve given me the best kind of stress and anxiety. They’ve given me something to fret over and read about for the last ten years. They’ve given me something to write about.

The Niners have given us seven wins and four losses to scream about and get overly emotional and irrationally distraught over.

Football has given us surprise after surprise—joy and dismay.

We’ve had fantasy failures. We’ve had fantasy glory. We’ve had days where we were forced to lay down under a category five shit storm and listen to our friends berate us for drafting Ray Rice. We’ve had days where Ray Rice played the Chicago Bears and there was a glimpse of someone relevant, like seeing someone from another lifetime. It feels familiar, right for a moment, but then the reality is even when he’s been at his best this season he looks like he’s running with ankle weights and it all comes crashing back down around you. Oh Ray Rice, how thou art mine greatest of failures.

Let’s give thanks for all that.

And 49ers fans, I want to take a moment to really give thanks, really meditate on one of our most polarizing players. I want to give thanks that he’s back on the field, that he’s healthy, that he’s alive.

49ers fans, and really all fans of the game of football, let’s give thanks for Aldon Smith.

from espn.com

He has 40 career sacks in 38 career games. Let that sink in for a second. That’s 1.05 sacks per game. The current record for career sacks is 200 by Bruce Smith. If Aldon stays on his current pace he will make up that 160 sack difference in roughly 152 games, or less than 10 full seasons.

That means Aldon Smith could potentially match in less than 13 seasons what it took Bruce Smith 19 seasons to do. Bruce Smith, as in the Bruce Smith, Hall of Famer and No. 1 overall pick in the 1985 draft; among the top five pass rushers in history by anyone’s standards. Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor notwithstanding, he might be the most dominant defender the league has ever seen. Aldon Smith could not only reach his stratospheric level as a pass rusher, he could absolutely demolish his records. He’s looking at the potential for a legacy that is very similar to Jerry Rice’s; the discussion begins with him and ends with everyone else.

My use of italics isn’t because I like italics. They are useful at times, but I don’t like to litter my writing with them if I can help it. In this case I just can’t help it—this shit is amazing.

Granted, extrapolating those statistics comes with any number of caveats. How much longer will Justin Smith play? How much of an impact does Justin have on Aldon’s game? How will teams adjust to a player that is racking up sacks at a record pace? Will he avoid injury? Will he match Bruce Smith’s career longevity? Will he avoid jail? Will he avoid getting shot? Stabbed?

However, we also have to consider that this guy turned 24 less than three months ago. He hasn’t even played three full seasons. He’s really barely played more than two full seasons after his five game hiatus. And he’s only been an every down player in slightly over one season. There’s a very real possibility that he will continue to get better.

That is one of the real joys and most exciting things about being a 49er fan; knowing that we have an opportunity to witness the growth of a legend. Not a 49er legend, but the kind of player that is known in every football watching household across America for decades. Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Reggie White, John Elway, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Barry Sanders, Lawrence Taylor, Bruce Smith, Calvin Johnson and Aldon Smith. Plus more of course, but you get the point.

He’s on the fast-track not just to Canton and the Hall of Fame, but the Hall of Permanent Relevance.

That’s a beautiful thing. Let’s give thanks.

from sfgate.com