Marcus Smith waited a long time to make an impact play on defense. A really long time.
But the 2014 first-round pick finally got his chance last Sunday in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
And it felt pretty good.
“Man, I really haven’t gotten a hit on a quarterback for real since college,” Smith said Thursday. “I had maybe one or two in preseason. But it’s a great feeling. You know if you get a couple hits on a quarterback, those sacks will come, so you just got to keep working. The 20, 22 snaps I get, I just have to make the best of them.”
Late in Sunday’s 39-17 win over the Saints, he simply beat rookie left tackle Andrus Peat and laid a hit on quarterback Drew Brees. The pressure on that QB hit from Smith forced a bad throw from Brees, which allowed safety Walter Thurmond to jump the route and intercept the ball.
Smith, who was active for just the second time this season, played 22 defensive snaps. The outside linebacker had the big quarterback hit and also picked up an assist on a tackle — the first in his young career.
No, a quarterback hit and an assist on a tackle isn’t exactly the production any team envisions from a first-round draft pick in his second year.
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But for Smith, it’s a start in the right direction.
“Oh yeah, it’s definitely good to see because it’s all about confidence in this game,” said linebacker Brandon Graham, who is in his sixth year. “I think with him getting out there and knowing he can play with these guys, I know that was a confidence booster for me. For him to finally get that, I’m happy for him because I know it’s only going to get better from here.”
Graham is a guy who knows a little something about dealing with first-round pressure and not living up to draft status.
Graham was the Eagles’ first-round pick (13th overall) out of Michigan in 2010. He was notoriously selected one spot before Earl Thomas and two before Jason Pierre-Paul. Graham was labeled as a draft bust and was torn to shreds on local radio. But he stayed in Philadelphia and eventually became a starter this season after Trent Cole was cut.
Graham’s story and his advice has helped Smith.
“It’s helped me tremendously because he kind of went through a lot worse than I went through,” Smith said. “Him talking to me each and every day, this is just my second year and I’m starting to get the feel of everything. I think I’m going to take off because I’m doing all the things I’m supposed to be doing.
“I’m confident in my play. He just tells me to stay confident in myself because he went through way worse than I went through it last year.”
Graham’s advice for dealing with the pressure is to tune out the noise. Specifically, he tells Smith to not focus on what fans and pundits are saying on social media.
As a rookie, that noise grew louder as Smith played just 74 snaps all year.
“I understand that not everybody has their [rookie] NFL season play out the way they want it to,” he said. “And definitely last year wasn’t the way I wanted it to go. I just had to come back stronger and faster and that’s what I did.”
It appears his teammates have noticed his improvement too.
“I think Marcus is coming along fine,” veteran linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. “He’s working his way in, he was able to get some pressure and caused the interception last week. I think that was good for him, good for his confidence. I think like he’ll continue to get better the more reps he gets in the game. I think he’ll continue to improve."
This season, Smith has been active just two of five games this season. Some weeks he knows early if he’s going to play in that weekend’s game and some weeks he doesn’t.
Heading into the Saints game, he had an idea early in the week that he would play based on his involvement on special teams in practice.
Coming into his second season, Smith looked like a much improved player. He performed well in spring workouts and had a very good game in the preseason opener. But he hurt his hamstring on Aug. 20 — at “the worst possible time” — which set him back.
“I know me getting hurt early in the year kind of set me back,” he said. “But, hey, I’m back now and I’m ready to go.”