After a somewhat inauspicious start to Thursday’s preseason game, Marcus Smith started to make some plays.
Smith had a sack, two tackles for loss, three solo tackles and a quarterback hit while playing 23 snaps in the Eagles' 17-0 win in Pittsburgh. That ought to be enough of a confidence boost for the former first-rounder.
It’s just that he apparently doesn’t need one.
“I’ve always believed that I belong here, regardless of how many plays that I make,” he said late Thursday night. “I know when I get the opportunity, I can make plays and every time I’ve gotten an opportunity, that’s what happens.”
Confidence certainly doesn’t seem to be the problem with Smith, at least based on what he says publicly. Remember last season when he said he didn’t think there was a gap between him and starters Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham?
Yeah.
Now, it’s time for Smith’s play on the field to catch up to his confidence level. It looked like he took a decent step toward that late in the second half of Thursday night’s game.
The game against the Steelers was the first of this preseason for Smith after he missed the opener with a concussion he suffered in practice. Smith missed a full week because of the concussion he suffered on Aug. 5 during practice. He was struck in the side of the head by an offensive tackle while doing a spin move during a team portion of practice. It was his second concussion; he also had one in college.
“It was really tough,” Smith said. “I wanted to play the first game because I know I’m trying to get better and I’m trying to be the player I’m trying to be. So me getting a concussion, that wasn’t in what I wanted to do. That was tough for me because I had to watch my teammates go out there and play without me.”
One of his teammates who played very well in that first game was Steven Means, the exact guy who might end up taking his spot on the 53-man roster. Means was signed by the Eagles during last season and has been making a strong push to earn a roster spot heading into 2016.
Based on merit alone, he seems to have an edge on Smith.
And it seems very possible only one of them will make the team.
“We don’t see it like that,” Smith said of the competition. “We just see it as playing with each other. The competition we do have is just trying to race each other off the ball and I think that just helps us get to the quarterback faster.”
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