Packers: Top five performers vs. Broncos in Week 3 victory
By Jesse Fry
1. Preston Smith
In his third game as a Packer, Preston Smith had arguably his best game as a pro. Smith finished with five tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble that Rashan Gary recovered.
Smith has been all over the defense making plays since coming over from the Redskins this offseason. In addition to getting sacks, Smith has been involved in turnover plays in consecutive weeks. After intercepting a deflected pass last week, Smith was the creator in this game, stripping Joe Flacco of the ball inside the Broncos’ own 20-yard line.
On the season Smith already has 4.5 sacks, more than the starting duo of Clay Matthews and Nick Perry from a year ago. The front office was expecting big things out of Smith when they signed him, but I don’t think anyone expected he’d get off to the start he has.
It’s scary for other teams to think Mike Pettine may have only scratched the surface. It’s only Week 3 and Pettine has yet to dig deep into his bag of tricks. As the season continues on, we are sure to see different combinations of players to help keep the offense fresh.
We haven’t seen much of the five-linebacker package the Packers practiced during training camp; they haven’t needed it yet. But you can be sure Pettine has quite a few tricks up his sleeve to maximize Smith still to come.