Skins.com:Smith Becomes Sack King On 'Special Day'

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http://www.redskins.com/story.asp?ContentID=12362

Smith Becomes Sack King On 'Special Day'

12/08/2003

Inside the Redskins

By Gary Fitzgerald

Redskins.com

It was a classic Bruce Smith move. All afternoon, he had raced to the outside of Giants’ second-year left tackle Ian Allen, a late replacement for starter Luke Petitgout. A couple times, Smith had gotten close to sacking Kerry Collins and, later, Jesse Palmer. But close wasn’t good enough for Smith.

With the Giants driving downfield, the Redskins’ defense was primed for pass rushing. Sensing a pass on a second-and-three play, Smith felt he had set up Allen long enough. He faked his outside move, then sped inside of Allen. Palmer was there for the taking.

“I was rushing outside pretty much all day,” Smith said. “From the pictures I could see on the sidelines, they were using slide protection. The left tackle overstepped to the outside and that was a cardinal sin on his part. I slapped his hands and beat him inside and the quarterback was sitting right there.

“I just tried to lunge at the quarterback and hopefully to either grab hold of him or split the pressure on him. We’d been getting the pressure all day. Lo and behold, I thought the quarterback had gotten rid of the ball before he went down. But as I got up, I saw he still had the ball in his hands and that I’d gotten the sack.”

The Redskins would go on to defeat the New York Giants 20-7, with Smith’s sack helping to stymie a fourth-quarter comeback. It was one of six sacks on the day for the Redskins, a season high.

And, of course, it was career sack number 199 for Smith. The sack, his 28th as a Redskin, broke Reggie White’s all-time career sacks record. He is now alone, atop the list, adding one more credential to a Hall of Fame-caliber career.

Despite the bitter cold and windy conditions at Giants stadium, Smith said he felt earlier on Sunday that something special was going to happen.

“It started with the attitude of the team,” he said. “From the offense to the defense, it just seemed like everything was clicking. I think the players knew this would be a special situation if we were able to get them into a passing situation. They had a couple offensive weapons banged up, and we felt like we were able to take advantage of that and exploit it.”

After the game, Smith was doused with water in the locker room. He wore a velvet robe—a gift from his tailor—with the words "All Time" embroidered on it as teammates congratulated him.

Smith preferred to congratulate his teammates for helping make the record possible.

“I’ve said this from day one: Good things happen to individuals when a team wins. And that was an example of it today,” he said.

Smith credited his mentors and teammates in Buffalo, where he played 15 years before joining the Redskins in 2000. He cited players like Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Darryl Talley and Cornelius Bennett.

Then Smith thanked LaVar Arrington, Jessie Armstead, Jeremiah Trotter, Chad Morton and others who have kept urging him on. Earlier this season, Smith’s pre-game pep talks were instrumental in helping the team to a strong start. Now it was his teammates’ turn.

“My teammates were more pumped up than I was,” Smith said. “It was a special day, but what I would like to have from this point on is for this team to get on a roll and for this team to win the last three remaining games. That would certainly help this team get some momentum going into the offseason. Who knows, mathematically we may be out of the playoffs hunt, but it sure would help our spirits to continue to win.”