Za'Darius Smith's role vs. Packers goes well beyond 'revenge'
EAGAN — After Brett Favre’s return to Lambeau Field, all other revenge games pale in comparison. It won’t be topped. We should have retired the term in Minnesota after that.
Minnesota Vikings edge rusher Za’Darius Smith is facing off with his previous squad the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at US Bank Stadium. Naturally it has been talked about as a revenge game since Green Bay elected to let him walk in free agency. His teammates say he’s excited about playing his old pals.
"He's got a different energy already,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillip said of Smith. “I don't know if he just took a three-day nap the last three days. He's fired up and got a lot of energy."
In the locker room on Monday there was an aggressive attempt to get Smith to go full “revenge game,” but he wasn’t really having it. Does he know the secrets to stopping Aaron Rodgers? Not really. Has he talked smack with ex teammates? Just a text or two. DON’T YOU WANT TO BEAT THEIR SKULLS IN ZA’DARIUS!?!?
“Very excited, man,” Smith said. “I can’t wait. I’ve been preparing for this time to come for awhile now, so it’s finally come, and now I’m ready.”
If the Packers don’t have a bulletin board because everything is digital now they’re going to need to buy one to handle that quote. *Sarcasm font.*
Look, Smith doesn’t strike me as a guy who needs to be extra motivated. He is one of the most violent pass rushers in the NFL and showed it every day in his first Vikings training camp. Between 2019 and 2020, he put up 26.0 sacks for the Packers. I’m sure he badly wants to beat his former team but also wants to beat the Eagles and the Lions and he’d cut off a thumb if it gave his team a better chance to make the playoffs. If he plays great on Sunday, that’s because he’s really good at football not because the Packers let him hit free agency for very understandable reasons.
At least in my world, in order to be a revenge game, the man has to be getting revenge for something.
Smith missed all of last season, only returning for the Packers’ playoff game. In his absence Rashan Gary became one of the NFL’s breakout stars. Based on the fact that the Ravens backed out of a deal with Smith and the underwhelming contract he got from the Vikings, you can reasonably surmise that his health was a worry. The Packers did not wrong Mr. Smith. He did not wrong the Packers. He worked his tail off to come back for the playoffs and they made a common business decision in football.
If someone pitched the tale of the Za’Darius Smith revenge game to Netflix, they would laugh it out of the room. Not even Quibi would take this thing.
Save the “revenge game” narrative for Kirk Cousins’ return to Washington. Now there’s some juice behind that one. Imagine Daniel Snyder’s face — assuming the NFL owners don’t kick him out of the league by then — if Kirk beats his team that hasn’t found a viable QB since he left. Oh and remember that time they tweeted a Cousins contract offer that wasn’t even good? Oh man. You like that? No, Washington does not like him and he doesn’t like them. Let’s go.
If we make Smith’s matchup with the Packers a “revenge game” then who else gets one? Harrison Phillips in Buffalo? The Jets for not taking Christian Darrisaw in the draft? We could do this all day. Armon Watts revenge game in Chicago? Dalvin Tomlinson revenge game in New York? The London game against New Orleans is payback for taxes on tea, yeah?
If a team treating a player well and then eventually letting him hit free agency where he can make more money is worthy of revenge, somebody please hold a grudge like that against me.
Here’s the thing about Smith versus the Packers: He is extremely important to the Vikings winning an extremely important game.
ESPN reported on Monday that star Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari is trending toward playing on Sunday against the Vikings. He missed all of last season recovering from a knee injury and didn’t fully participate in camp but when healthy he’s a premier player at his position and the potential swing man to the entire game.
Remember that one of the Vikings’ best assets in years past for harassing Rodgers was Everson Griffen. He got into epic battles with Bakhtiari and when Griffen would win, Rodgers had more struggles than usual doing legendary things against the Vikings. Now that role belongs to Smith.
When Rodgers was pressured last year, he averaged just 5.1 yards per pass attempt, the third lowest in the NFL tied with Kirk Cousins (per PFF). When nobody got in Rodgers’ face, he gained 8.5 yards per attempt and threw 29 touchdowns and just one interception, good for a 123.7 clean-pocket rating, best in the NFL. That seems like a big deal.
The Vikings were careful all summer to make sure Smith got to this point where he’s going to play a pivotal role in a game that could ultimately determine how the NFC North plays out — or at least the Vikings hope it does. They put extra care into managing his health, which is becoming a staple of how the organization now operates in the modern age under Kevin O’Connell.
”It was great, it was big for us,” Smith said. “We didn’t have too many injuries, you know? We didn’t. It’s good that Coach is bringing something new to the system. Showing what he did previously with the Rams, it really worked. He went and got a Super Bowl…We had a great training camp, and you can see now that I’m healthy.”
The Vikings landed the Packers at the best possible time: Before anyone gets banged up. And defensive coordinator Ed Donatell can use Smith and Danielle Hunter in whatever ways he sees fit along the defensive line and at the standup rusher spots. In 2019 and 2020 Smith was a menace against the Vikings, in part because he would exploit their weaknesses by lining up over the softest parts of their offensive line rather than simply going one-on-one with a tackle.
In his 2020 matchup against the Vikings, here’s the breakdown of where he lined up (per PFF): Six plays at defensive tackle, nine plays at left outside linebacker, 13 plays at right outside linebacker, nine plays at middle linebacker.
The Packers’ offensive line doesn’t have that many weaknesses if Bakhtiari is in there but their starting right guard Jake Hanson is a 2020 sixth-round pick who has never started a game. How about Hunter and Smith rushing right next to each other on the right side to create a Smith/Hanson matchup on a key a third down?
Smith changes the whole operation. Without him, the Vikings would be relying solely on Hunter for pass rush. Lots of teams have one good guy and it’s not usually enough to make them dangerous. Smith makes them dangerous.
Another part is that Griffen was the engine of the Vikings’ defense for many years. He was a lightning bolt of energy who wore out the opposing offense. PFF data showed that Griffen got tons of attention from tight ends and running backs as blockers, limiting the offense’s options and helping the secondary. Smith can have that type of impact if he looks as good in the games as he did in camp. And the Vikings need that. While their secondary has experienced players in Patrick Peterson, Cam Dantzler and Chandon Sullivan, there’s still questions about how they will come together, particularly with a new scheme.
Oh hey we forgot about Chandon Sullivan’s revenge game!
Anyway, it’s dandy that Za’Darius Smith is going against a bunch of guys who wear the same laundry as he used to wear but there’s so much more on the line this week and his actual matchup and play will be central to whether the Vikings win. That should be the main story.
See the Vikings aren’t like the Packers, who could take a clubbing in Week 1 and not have it matter at all. See: Last year. The Vikings’ first two weeks will set the tone for the entire season. If Kevin O’Connell’s club starts out with a huge win against the Packers, they head to Philadelphia with a chance to go 2-0 with winnable games against the Lions and Saints on the way. You might not believe in momentum in a “week-to-week” league but a victory over Rodgers and his new band of straggly receivers would set them off on a much easier path than feeling like Philly is a make or break game right away.
Plus Vikings fans are angsty. Last year they made it clear they weren’t happy with the Mike Zimmer regime and Aaron Rodgers even commented that the crowd wasn’t as tough as usual. Since the Vikings chose to set expectations high by signing players like Za’Darius Smith, the crowd is going to want a great showing, not to be carved up again by one of the GOATs.
Oh yeah, Rodgers is also looking for revenge for.. I’m sure something. Now there’s a guy who holds a grudge.
Look, it’s Packers/Vikings. It’s a revenge game for everybody. But if the Vikings win it’ll be in large part because Smith caused havoc and the Vikings will look extra clever for bringing him in despite health concerns and it will set the tone for the defense right off the bat. That’s the story of Za’Darius Smith vs. The Packers. Not his revenge against a team who gave him a chance to elevate to stardom and provided a better brand of cheese curd.
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