Aldon Smith Gets More Playing Time...Who Gets Less?

until he can learn to stay onsides

it would’ve been worth picking him at 7 even with the old structure, IMHO.

unless the game is on the line, and then we might not want Brooks in at all due to his tendency to jump offsides. Sort of kidding…

That will be interesting to watch

I don’t recall a play where he played on the left. He lined up behind Justin Smith pretty much all game (which is the right side).

The Eagles current starting Right Tackle was playing Left Guard until 5 weeks ago, and their starting Right Guard was claimed off waivers from the Colts right before the season started.

Aldon looked better on the left side on Sunday

Per Fooch’s snap-by-snap analysis, all 2.5 of Aldon’s sacks last game (yeah, one was nullified due to an offside by Brooks, but I’ll count it anyway) were when he was lined up at RDE, not LDE. As far as non-sack play went, Aldon often had good pressure on both sides.

When on the right, Aldon was lined up against LT Peters or TE Celek. When lined up left, he was almost always against RT Todd Herremans. May be the players he was up against were the difference between getting pressures versus getting sacks, but Aldon earned his spot playing on the right, not the left. Hoever, I don’t think Aldon’s effectiveness will be limited to either side; I think he’ll grow into a monster wherever he’s used.

That said, Brooks will lose a game for us at some point this season if the offside penalties continue, keeping drives alive for the opposition on third downs; he could well have cost us this last game. Haralson is playing well all three downs. As Aldon gains experience and effectiveness in the coverage downs, I’d consider replacing Brooks with Aldon on those downs and only bringing Brooks in on third down to replace Haralson. If nothing else, it would send a message to Brooks and the entire team that habitual sloppy play won’t earn you playing time.

which resulted in the “pass” fumble

I charted Aldon Smith’s snaps in a post going up at noon tomorrow. He played 25 snaps at RDE, 9 snaps at LDE. My mind is mush right now so can’t recall where his sacks came from off-hand, although I believe both were from the right.

isn’t set in stone. The coaches have proved already that they aren’t afraid to make adjustments.

Again, it’s important to remember that this is a very good problem to have. Aldon stepping up will cause both Haralson and Brooks to be on their game in order to get the bulk of the snaps.

except J Smith usually is a DT in this alignment. On sure passing downs, Brooks should be LE then McDonald and J Smith on the inside with A Smith rounding out the equation on the RE.

And, from a 4-3, we could also blitz one of our insanely fast ILB’s, Willis or Bowman.

they kinda do run something similar with him playing closer to the box on some plays. He can play almost like a linebacker at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Who would be the linebackers in your 3-5-3 and how would they line up and be used?

“bowling alley”

4-3-2-1

And 1 “ball”