As the Green Bay Packers get ready for their playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a few former players were also suiting up for their own postseason performances elsewhere. Former pass-rusher Preston Smith was going to help the Pittsburgh Steelers in their attempt to upset the Baltimore Ravens.
Smith, who tallied 44 sacks in parts of six seasons with the Steelers, was traded to Pittsburgh for a very late draft pick as Green Bay tried to clear house. Smith's value as an edge-setter was clearly acknowledged by Pittsburgh, but it wasn't valuable enough to earn him any postseason reps.
Despite facing the mighty Ravens ground game, Smith and another former Packer in Dean Lowry were designated as healthy scratches. This preceded a 28-14 beatdown at the hands of the Ravens that was not anywhere near as close as the scoreline would indicate.
Baltimore ran for just shy of 300 yards in this game, with Derrick Henry himself amassing 182 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Lamar Jackson chipped in 82 yards on 14 carries to push Baltimore to the next round. If Mike Tomlin had it to do over again, he probably would have made Smith active.
Former Packers stud Preston Smith's healthy scratch hurts Steelers in playoffs
Smith has recorded 13 tackles and two sacks in eight games, none of which were starts, for the Steelers. Even at this point in his career, Smith can still have a role on a solid defense if his team lets him put his hand in the dirt as an edge defender.
Smith may not have the speed he did in his past, but he wouldn't be getting snaps without his run defense. Baltimore runs the ball like no one else in this league, and the Steelers decided that what they had on the defensive line was somehow good enough to slow down Jackson.
Not only were Jackson and Henry fooling them quite often with one of their many devastating runs, but Amazon had enough footage to make an entire compilation of TJ Watt tackling the running back when Jackson would keep the ball on read options. Watt's lack of discipline was shown in front of a nationwide audience, which was not a good look for Pittsburgh.
Smith would not have changed the outcome of the game, but Pittsburgh did deprive themselves of one of their best Jackson-stopping weapons in this game for seemingly no reason. If only they had flipped on a few Packers fans before this contest.