MINNEAPOLIS -- David Bakhtiari is willing to admit it now: He was a little miffed when, during the second day of full-pads practice in training camp this past summer, Za'Darius Smith blew by him on consecutive reps.
Bakhtiari, the Green Bay Packers' All-Pro left tackle, doesn't lose in the one-on-one drill.
Like hardly ever.
The summer before, he lost once.
The summer before that, he lost once.
The summer before that, he didn't lose a single rep, going 16-0.
So it was business as usual when Bakhtiari turned Smith away on consecutive reps on the first day of pads.
"The next day he was in front of me one moment, and the next moment he wasn't," Bakhtiari said. "That man is too big to flash like that."
Smith, fresh off signing a four-year, $66 million contract in free agency, had done something no one had ever done to Bakhtiari in a practice: He beat him on back-to-back one-on-one reps.
"I didn't want to admit it then, but now that I see what he's been doing, I'm like, it makes me feel [better]," Bakhtiari said. "He's an animal."
That's one word for what Smith has done.
Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander offered a couple of others.
"That dude's a beast," he said. "That dude is the real deal."
Alexander, Bakhtiari and the rest of the Packers had just watched Smith wreck the Minnesota Vikings offense in a 23-10 victory on Monday night to the tune of 3.5 sacks -- the first Packers player to do that in a game since Clay Matthews during the 2012 season. Among Smith's seven tackles were five for a loss. He also accounted for a season-high eight pressures, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and upped his league-leading total in that category to 57.
The Vikings managed just 139 yards -- just the third time the Packers have held an opponent under 140 yards in the last decade.
Somehow, Smith was left off the NFC Pro Bowl team when it was announced last week.
"You name it, he's done it," said Bakhtiari, a Pro Bowl pick. "I will say this right now: You're an idiot if you don't vote for him as an All-Pro."
For his part, Smith said he doesn't need a Pro Bowl or anything else.
In fact, he got what he wanted on Monday night when the Packers handed out hats to commemorate their NFC North title and T-shirts that read "The North is not enough."
"The only thing I want for Christmas is a hat and a T-shirt, and they came through with it, man," Smith said. "My Christmas gift is here already, and I'm happy."
But he collected more than that.
With his 3.5 sacks on Monday, Smith took over the team lead (13.5) from fellow free-agent signing Preston Smith, who shared a sack with Za'Darius on Monday to run his total to 12. Za'Darius ranks sixth on the NFL sack list, while Preston is eighth.
Za'Darius' impact, however, has gone beyond just the field. He was elected one of the season-long captains, rare for a newcomer to a team.
The Packers haven't dived deeply in free agency over the past decade, but when they've dabbled, they have found some who have made major impacts both on the field and in the locker room. Charles Woodson was one of the spiritual leaders of the 2010 Super Bowl team, and Julius Peppers -- although more understated than the vociferous Smith -- became a leader for the 2014 and 2016 teams that reached the NFC Championship Game.
"He just has a great presence about him," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after Monday night's game. "When he talks, guys listen, and he reminds me a lot of Julius, who was so special to our success over the years. I think Z is a more willing talker. Julius, as you guys probably remember, was a man of not too many words. But when he spoke it carried a lot of weight. Z is that type of player."
Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga wasn't around when the Packers signed Woodson in 2006, but he was a rookie on the 2010 Super Bowl team.
"I'm not going to compare Z to Wood," Bulaga said. "I think what you see with Z and Preston and those guys that are on that D-line, they've brought a different attitude to that defense. We had good players on the defense. I'm not going to sit here and say they were bad players, but Z and Preston, they brought something else out in a lot of the guys on the team, on the defense. They gave them a different mentality, a different attitude, and you saw it tonight. What was it, 130-some yards? That's pretty damn good. We haven't won in this building [U.S. Bank Stadium] in three tries. It feels pretty good."
It probably helped that Rodgers and Za'Darius Smith hit it off almost immediately. It's not unusual to see Smith stop at Rodgers' locker during the week for a chat. Together, they helped form the leadership council that began midweek meetings with first-year coach Matt LaFleur midway through the season.
"[LaFleur] really needed, I think, myself and Z to be deep in his corner to get this thing where it goes," Rodgers said. "And that's not some pat on my back; that's just what a head coach [needs]. He just needed the leaders to believe in him and to spread that message to the squad."
The message Smith sent on Monday night was that even with a sometimes shaky offense, the Packers can win important games.
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December 25, 2019 at 12:04AM
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Za'Darius Smith's dominance key to Packers' win over Vikings and beyond - Green Bay Packers Blog- ESPN - ESPN
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