Falcons’ Antone Smith on Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney: ‘He’s just a guy’
Jadeveon Clowney attempted to break twitter when he blew up running back Antone Smith in preseason week 2. Well, Antone Smith sent a message to Clowney.
“Just a guy” running back Smith said, via 610 Sports Radio in Houston. “I don’t see anything special. He’s just a guy. He’s a guy who plays defensive end. He plays pretty good. Made a good play.”
Sure, Clowney’s just a guy — the guy who turned Smith into a rag doll. Please review the play.
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“I didn’t see anything,” Smith said. “The only thing I seen was me hitting the ground.”
Admittedly, Smith is right in one sense. A tackle is a tackle. It doesn’t matter how good it is. Clowney’s was only exceptional because it was a tackle for considerable loss. But that’s ignoring the fact that it was a bone crushing tackle. That’s ignoring that Clowney has a history of making bone crushing tackles.
Texans head coach Bill O’Brien was impressed, via Pro Football Talk.
“I think that Clowney has come in here and worked hard, he’s a very instinctive player for a rookie,” O’Brien told reporters on Sunday. “He’s a hard working guy. He’s a guy that when he’s played in these games, he’s played well. He’s been able to show his pass rushing abilities. He’s been able to show his defense against the run ability. He’s dropped into coverage, so he’s done a lot of different things for us and he just needs to keep improving and that’s what he’s going to do.”