Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
In his first two seasons as an NFL player, Aldon Smith has already established himself as one of the best pass rushers in the league. After an impressive rookie season where he finished with 14 sacks, he followed it up in 2012 with 19.5 sacks and for a while looked like he could break the season record for sacks held by Michael Strahan. So far in 2013, Smith has continued to terrorize opposing quarterbacks as he has already recorded 3.5 sacks putting him in a tie for third.
As the San Francisco 49ers get to face off against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, Aldon Smith should be able to have a field day against an Indy offensive line that has shown some struggles early on in the season. In the first game of the season Andrew Luck was sacked four times by the Oakland Raiders, and in their Week 2 loss against the Miami Dolphins Luck was sacked three times.
Take one of the best pass rushers in the league in Aldon Smith, with a relatively young Colts offensive line who has struggled to protect and keep pressure off of Luck when he drops back to pass, and it is easy to see why Smith could have another game where he records two more sacks on his personal tally. The Colts will also be without the services of tight end Dwayne Allen who was more of the blocking tight end, and as such this means that the potential of having to use Coby Fleener to help chip Smith at the line of scrimmage may not be effective given he is considered to be more of a pass catching tight end.
Another major Colts injury which will hurt their pass protection, and as a result give Smith the opportunity to have a big game, is that offensive lineman Samson Satele who went down with an injury against the Dolphins and will likely play but be nowhere near full strength. This further weakens what is already a thin offensive line and gives Aldon Smith more of an advantage to be able to bull rush, stunt, and loop his way into sacking Andrew Luck on multiple occasions this upcoming Sunday.
Lucas Carreras is a contributing San Francisco 49ers writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow Lucas on Twitter by following him @maldini3fan and you can add him to your network on Google.
