San Francisco 49ers: Fully Healthy, Justin Smith Is Back in All-Pro Form

Justin Smith has been dealing with nagging injuries for the better part of two years.  He tore his triceps in 2012 in the run up to the Super Bowl and had a shoulder injury that slowed him down in most of 2013.  That means this season is the first time Smith has been really, fully healthy for the 49ers in a long time, and did it ever show against the Dallas Cowboys.

Coming off of his worst-ever season in terms of tackles—Smith was held to only 32 last year—Smith nonetheless continued to be a Pro Bowl force in his 13th NFL season.  However, watching him play on Sunday brought back memories of his 2011 campaign, when he was named a first-team All-Pro.  Smith dominated the line of scrimmage, abusing left tackle Tyron Smith repeatedly on his way to a stellar performance.

Before the game, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo singled Smith out for praise.  Per Tyler Emerick of 49ers.com, Romo said, “Justin Smith might have been the best player in the NFL over the course of the last five years.  I know he gets a lot of pub on it, but when I watch tape and stuff… he’s just exceptional with everything he does.”

As for Smith, he seemed satisfied with his two-sack, four-tackle performance, but in the postgame presser, he said that there were still ways for both the defense and him in particular to improve:

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We just do our deal. We got a lot of guys banged up and nicked up ... there are definitely some things we can improve on defensively from that game. Take it, learn from it and move on to next week…we made some big plays today.

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In light of the general struggles the 49ers defense had containing DeMarco Murray, whose 118 yards rushing are partly because the 49ers struggled with making initial contact and partly because the team dropped into a more preventive shell halfway through the second corner, I thought it might be good to highlight just how well Justin Smith performed.  It’s not only a reminder  of what Smith can do when he’s fully healthy, but also a reminder that even without NaVorro Bowman and Aldon Smith, the team still has plenty of studs on defense.

Pass Rush

The 49ers, as a team, generated a very solid pass rush on the day.  Romo was under pressure about a quarter of the time, and it directly led to one of his three interceptions.

Justin Smith not only had two sacks, but he also managed to move Romo around in the pocket on multiple occasions and even get a hand to tip a pass.  He was a disruptive force.

His biggest single contribution on the day came in the first quarter with the Cowboys driving.  The 49ers had scored a touchdown on the DeMarco Murray fumble, but Romo had led the Cowboys down the field 78 yards and had a 2nd-and-goal on the 2-yard line.

Note how Justin Smith burns Tyron Smith without ever being really touched?  That’s the burst that made Smith an All-Pro.  The sack is helped by the tight coverage on the outside, but as soon as Romo’s first read was gone, Smith was on top of him.

Justin Smith doesn’t have to do much of a move to get on top of Romo here; he essentially just bulls his way past Tyron Smith, who appears to either be expecting help from Jason Witten or for the play to be going away from him.  Still, even if it was a fairly simple move, it’s an incredibly critical play—probably the most important play in the game that wasn’t a turnover.

The sack set up a 3rd-and-10 and ended up holding the Cowboys to a field goal.  According to Pro Football Reference’s expected points metric, the sack alone cost the Cowboys minus-2.72 points.  The momentum shift could have stemmed the Cowboys’ damage before it really began—had they plunged forward and scored the touchdown there, they tie the game at 7-7 and recover from the ghastly opening-series fumble.  Instead, they’re stopped at the goal line, the 49ers march back down the field and score a touchdown, and the rout is on.

But Smith didn’t just pick up sacks on miscommunications, and he didn’t just haunt Tyron Smith.  His other sack came on a stunt around the right side of the line.

With Aldon Smith out as a key pass-rusher, the 49ers need to find ways to have other people get pressure, and this stunt was called perfectly.  Ray McDonald and rookie Aaron Lynch crash from the right side, forcing the Cowboys line to move inside to handle them.  That leaves room for Smith to back up and use his motor to get around the end and flatten Romo, almost untouched.

The 49ers, as a team, only pressured Romo 10 times during the game, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), and a full 30 percent of those can be chalked up to Smith.  Smith dominated both Tyron Smith and Ronald Leary all game long.  With so many players missing on defense, Smith is the best pass-rusher the 49ers have.  Moving him around the line on stunts is a great way to get him on better matchups, allowing him to wreak havoc in the opposing backfield.

Run Defense

The 49ers allowed 127 yards rushing against the Cowboys, which isn’t good.  Once Tramaine Brock and Chris Culliver went down with injuries and the 49ers jumped out to a 21-3 lead, they spent more time focusing on shutting down the passing game, which explains some of it—16 of DeMarco Murray’s 22 carries came after the 49ers fell into more of a prevent-type defense.  That’s not all of it, though—Murray’s first six carries still averaged 5.2 yards per carry, so there are clearly issues that need to be dealt with there.

Don’t blame Justin Smith, however.  Smith so dominated his blocking assignments that Dallas only called two rushes marked left tackle or left guard, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).  They had success when they ran up the middle at nose tackle Ian Williams, or went around the end at Corey Lemonier or Dan Skuta, but Smith tended to shut holes down before they really started.

That can be attributed to the push he was getting off the snap.  This will be easier to see when the NFL releases the all-22 film later this week, but Smith tended to push his blockers a yard or two into the backfield.  You can sort of see it on this rushing play from the second quarter:

Smith, on the top of the screen, ends up pushing Jason Witten two yards behind the line of scrimmage before crashing in and helping Ian Williams shut Murray down before he can burst through the hole.  This wasn’t an isolated incident, either—Smith was fairly consistently creating a push against Witten, Tyron Smith and Ronald Leary.

This is the Justin Smith we haven’t really seen in 18 months—he’s been a very good player, but he was always dealing with a nagging injury or two.  The fact that he’s been as productive as he has been as been amazing.

With a full-strength Smith crashing the edges and winning the battle for the line of scrimmage, the 49ers have an anchor to help secure their defense until reinforcements arrive in midseason.

All animated GIFs created by Bryan Knowles from NFL Game Rewind

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on twitter.