Za’Darius Smith wants to celebrate his 32nd birthday in style.
The Browns edge rusher is in luck, with Cleveland’s season opener against the Dallas Cowboys falling on his actual birthday on Sunday, Sept. 8.
So just how is he hoping to mark the occasion?
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“We got four more days, so you’ll find out in four days,” Smith said with a laugh on Wednesday.
When it comes to certain elements of his ideal celebration though, you can certainly make an educated guess.
It starts with hitting the quarterback, in this case, Dak Prescott.
Smith has played against the Cowboys Pro Bowler three times in his career, and has sacked him twice. Both of those takedowns came when Smith was still with the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
“Dak, great quarterback, man,” Smith said. “Strong, can move around in the pocket. … So hopefully we can get some more (sacks) this weekend for sure. Be a nice birthday gift.”
Taking down Prescott would also be the first step to Smith avoiding the slow start he had in 2023, his first year in Cleveland after the Browns acquired him via an offseason trade with the Minnesota Vikings.
A year ago, Smith had just one sack through his first seven games; and that came on the heels of the anticlimactic ending to his 2022 season in Minnesota, when he had just half a sack over his final seven games after suffering a knee injury. Combine those two stretches, and it was 14 games with only 1.5 sacks.
He finished 2023 second on the team with 5.5 sacks and added 60 pressures, which, according to Pro Football Focus, tied for 20th in the league among qualifying edge rushers.
Considering in three of the prior four seasons he finished with double-digit sacks (13.5 in 2019; 12.5 in 2020; 10.0 in 2022), there’s still room for him to contribute even more in this defense though. And he should certainly have an opportunity for a strong start on Sunday going against a young Cowboys offensive line.
Dallas will start rookie Tyler Guyton, who they selected 29th overall in this year’s draft, at left tackle. He replaces future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith.
The Cowboys will also start a rookie center in Cooper Beebe, their third-round pick from Kansas State. He never played center in college, and this game will mark the first time since 2011 that Dallas is starting two rookies on the O-line.
“We really can’t say too much, but they got a couple young guys, man, and as always, we try to attack the younger guys first before the veterans,” Smith said.
So is it safe to say that Smith expects defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who has made the D-line his bread and butter over his decades-long career, to give the rookies on the Dallas offensive line a rude welcome to the NFL?
“You know he’s drawing up something special, man,” Smith said. “Possibly to the right side with the younger guys, but you know who’s going to be on the right side. So man, hopefully we’ll have fun and have a party in the backfield all game game.”
The “you know who” Smith alluded to is Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year. While Garrett spends most of his time on that right side of the line, Schwartz is still likely to move everyone around in a D-line rotation that will run about nine guys deep.
With just four days until the game, there’s plenty to be excited about for Smith and the Browns.
A team that has struggled with injuries throughout training camp, the Browns may be getting healthy at the right time — every player on the active roster participated in Wednesday’s practice.
There’s also the more general hype around this game. The Cowboys are one of the marquee brands in the NFL, seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady will make his NFL broadcasting debut in the booth for Fox, and it’s one of only two games that kicks off at 4:25 ET on Sunday (the other is Buccaneers-Commanders, and there’s no doubt Browns-Cowboys has significantly more star power).
And yes, on top of all that, Smith’s birthday is infusing this game with even more excitement.
“I’m already amped up,” Smith said. “I’m getting the chills already just talking about it, but it’s going to be big, man. Like you said, it’s going to be the only game that’s going to be on at the time, so the world is going to be watching. So you got to show up and show out for sure.”
All the details of that birthday celebration, however, are still to be determined.
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