It sounds like a law firm headquartered near the Financial District.
Instead “Smith & Smith” are pass-rushers who relocated to Green Bay in March and a reason the Packers are more realistic Super Bowl contenders than other years during the Aaron Rodgers era.
Consider it a lesson to be learned for the Giants, who will enter the offseason with $61 million in cap space and a glaring hole. For a general manager who lives in the past as much as Dave Gettleman, he seems to have forgotten about restocking a line of Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre-Paul.
Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith didn’t add to their combined season sack total of 20.5, but Za’Darius’ five quarterback hurries were felt in the Giants’ 31-13 loss to the Packers on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones threw three interceptions, including one where Za’Darius rushed a throw by beating guard Will Hernandez.
“We didn’t give him a comfortable pocket to throw in,” Preston said. “It forced him to make passes earlier than he anticipated.”
The Giants expressed interest in both Smiths during free agency, a source told The Post, but quickly were priced out of the market because of all the dead money — an NFL-high $34 million at the time — on the salary cap. Za’Darius ($66 million) left the Ravens and Preston ($52 million) left the Redskins, and both signed four-year contracts.
Smith and Smith agreed: Even with zero sacks of Jones, this was “most definitely” the most complete game the Packers defense played all season.
“Pressure amounts to big [plays] if you don’t get a sack,” Za’Darius said. “He threw a lot of incomplete passes [17]. I think he got hit a lot, too. On our side, it helped us a lot to get a lot of pressure.”
The Giants’ best pass-rusher, Markus Golden, had eight tackles but didn’t add Rodgers to his 7.5-sack count. Golden and Leonard Williams — who had his first tackle for loss in 11 games — both are 2020 free agents, so the Giants must decide whether to re-sign them or look for upgrades.
Rodgers, an innovative scrambler, sometimes had up to five seconds in the pocket as he threw for four scores.
“There are times we look like a really good defense,” said Giants linebacker Lorenzo Carter, who is supposed to be a promising young pass-rusher, “and then there are times we look like a bunch of guys still trying to figure out what’s going on. We’re already pretty tired of it, pretty fed up.”
For more on the Giants, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast: