While Smith again failed to take the quarterback down, he turned in one of his best performances of the season by recording pressure seven times (2 Hits, 5 Hurries) and being a persistent nuisance to the Falcons’ running game, even though he recorded only one tackle. He was able to get penetration into the backfield to force redirects and helped ensure the Falcons could never control the tempo with the lead. Smith even spent some time in an interior alignment, over Peter Konz, late in the second quarter, and recorded pressure from there on the Falcons’ final touchdown drive.
– Ray Lewis isn’t the only one playing well through a potentially season-ending triceps injury. He may not be a force as a pass rusher (only two hurries in two playoff games), but Justin Smith is playing the run tremendously with three stops in each of the 49ers’ victories and plenty of disruption around those stops.
This story would have ended up driving so many people crazy had the Falcons won. Remember the shots of Umenyiora's foot day after day after day going into the Super Bowl?