Geno Smith owns up to his play in Seahawks’ latest loss. But if he’s not perfect, they lose
It’s as simple as it is true right now. The way the Seahawks are getting run over in run defense and aren’t running the ball on offense, Geno Smith has to be perfect to win.
The quarterback was far from that Sunday.
He was a co-factor as the Seahawks lost at home to Carolina. But Smith wasn’t the reason for Seattle’s third defeat in four games, all to losing teams. The defense rightly claims that.
Against the Panthers at Lumen Field, Smith had his first two-interception game in eight years, though the last seven of which,as a perennial NFL backup, he wasn’t playing. He was also brilliant at times Sunday, as he has been for much of his rebounding year for Seattle.
But his season has become like his team’s. After a meteoric start, it is falling back to earth.
Smith still leads the NFL with a completion rate of 71.5%. He’s fourth in the league with 25 touchdown passes, against eight interceptions. That was after he completed 21 of 36 passes for 264 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in a 30-24 loss that really wasn’t that close — because Seattle’s defense allowed 224 more yards rushing.
Smith also still leads the Seahawks (7-6) in accountability.
“I feel like I was up and down,” he said after his and Seattle’s third loss in four games, all to teams with losing records. “I had some good plays, had some not-so-good plays. It’s the NFL. Nobody is perfect. I don’t expect to come out here and be perfect.
“But,” Smith said, “I do have a standard. And I don’t think I played to that standard quite (Sunday).”
Geno Smith’s interceptions
Coach Pete Carroll’s No. 1 for quarterback play is taking care of the ball, in all situations.
Uncharacteristic with most of his season, Smith did the opposite of that on two key plays Sunday.
Smith threw an interception on the Seahawks’ first offensive play. He had DK Metcalf open at the left sideline directly in front Carroll for a 7-yard gain. Instead, Smith chose to throw to Tyler Lockett running an out pattern 13 yards behind Metcalf. The Panthers had a defender beneath and behind Lockett. When Smith threw the ball, cornerback Jaycee Horn peeled back up field off Metcalf and easily intercepted the pass.
On the sidelines, Carroll exclaimed to no one in particular after that throw: “What was that?”
One play later, Carolina had a touchdown and a 10-0 lead.
“Jaycee made a great play. He is a really good player. He made a great play,” Smith said of the eighth-overall choice in the 2021 NFL draft. “It happens in the NFL. It was the first play of the game. Obviously, you don’t want to start that way.
“But I feel like we responded well, and we had more opportunities late in the game to really win it. We just couldn’t get it done. That’s unfortunate. It pains me to even say that because we want to take those steps forward, but (Sunday) it’s got to be a learning lesson for us. We have to learn from it. We have to figure it out and get better.”
Carroll said after the game there wasn’t much to figure out about Smith’s first interception.
“That was not a good play,” Carroll said, uncharacteristically. “It was one of his plays that he regrets the most. Tried a little too hard on the play. He put the ball in the flat really easily on the first play of the game. I mean, that’s really the play.”
Smith and Carroll also disagreed in assessing the quarterback’s second interception Sunday.
Seattle’s run-over defense got a rare three and out, the first of only two Sunday, when Carolina passed on two of three plays midway through the second quarter. The Panthers had built a 17-0 lead running on 16 of their first 25 plays.
With the score 17-7 after the defense’s stop, Smith used a hard count, shouting on a third and 9. Panthers safety Myles Hartsfield and defensive end Brian Burns lunged across the line just before the snap. At least that’s what Smith thought.
He proceeded as if he had a free play, as coached. He just chucked the ball to Metcalf about 18 yards down the field. Two Panthers were on either side of Metcalf. Cornerback CJ Henderson easily intercepted the pass.
Officials never threw penalty flags for Carolina being offsides. The Panthers converted that gift for three more points and a 20-7 lead.
That was 10 points Smith handed to Carolina before halftime. The way the Seahawks can’t stop offenses running the ball, that was basically the difference in Seattle’s desperate attempt to come back from being down 17-0 early.
“I saw three of the guys jump offsides,” Smith said. “I don’t know what they saw, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.”
Carroll said Smith has to see the penalty flag fly in his periphery, among all else he has to process during a play, to throw the whatever ball he threw for that second interception.
“We train him to try to see that flag out of the corner of your eye. You can’t just go on the flinch,” Carroll said.
“He thought he saw it. That’s [why he] felt it was free and all that. I know the officials came to me after halftime and they said they thought he wasn’t in the neutral zone after looking at it.
“So, no, I don’t ... who knows?”
Asked if he thought he saw penalty flags before he threw that pass, Smith said: “You can’t really look around and see all the time, but I’m looking at the D-linemen. The reason we snapped the ball is because they jumped offsides.
“That’s one where we have to learn from it. Can’t make excuses. It happened. The reason I threw that ball in the traffic was because I felt like we had a free play, and it was an opportunity if they intercepted, then obviously it comes back and we get the 5 yards. That didn’t happen. Maybe they didn’t see it. So I can’t make an excuse about it, and just have to learn from it.”
That learning must happen pronto.
Win or no division title
The first-place San Francisco 49ers (9-4) are coming to Lumen Field Thursday for a 5 p.m. game. The Niners would clinch the NFC West title with a win over the Seahawks, who are suddenly fighting to stay in playoff contention.
Seattle is on the outside of the NFC playoff race, a half game behind the New York Giants (7-5-1) for the seventh and final postseason spot with four games remaining.
“The reality is that we have more games to play. We have a four-game season to really determine where we can be for the rest of the season,” Smith said. “We have to come out and play like it. I really want to see that.
“I don’t want to hear any talking or cliches. I want to see guys come out and do it. That’s where my mindset is.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 12:49 PM.
