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The best thing about the San Francisco 49ers' Week 12 win over Washington was just how dominating the defense looked in the second half. The offense lagged a little through the first 30 minutes, and Washington was able to stick around offensively as well.
But in the second half, the 49ers brought the heat. Ahmad Brooks was already having himself a fantastic game, but Aldon Smith came alive in the second half as well. It was an excellent performance. During the game, I made a couple gifs ... they weren't the best, but I thought I'd share them here today.
Let's hope that we see a good deal of this happening to St. Louis Rams quarterback Kellen Clemens today:
That's Aldon Smith getting him a piece of Robert Griffin III. The net .gif is Smith almost getting Griffin again, but instead Griffin runs outside, thinking he'll get around, only to find Ahmad Brooks right in his face. That's not fun ... for them.
I could sit and watch these gifs all day, every day. But the Rams are coming up, and there is actually some semblance of analysis to be included in this post: the Rams are pretty good at protecting the quarterback. It's true. Before Sam Bradford went down with injury, he had only been sacked 15 times in 262 dropbacks.
Clemens has been sacked fewer times than Bradford. Clemens has taken 108 dropbacks this season, and has been sacked 11 times. He's not like to impress throwing the football by any means, but the 49ers will have trouble making life tougher on him than it already is with him just being ... him.
Brooks and Smith are possibly the best pass rushing tandem in the league, or they're getting there. They'll find their way to Clemens at some point, but wracking up multiple sacks for either player is going to be difficult, to be sure.
