Why Pete Carroll played Geno Smith for all of 37-3 loss; the 4-letter word QB needs most
What does Geno Smith need now, besides maybe a hug?
Help.
Pete Carroll used that four-letter word (and, no, not others) twice Monday when asked about his starting quarterback who has eight turnovers in the last four games.
That was after the coach answered why he kept Smith in for all of the 37-3 smack-down the Ravens put on the Seahawks (5-3) Sunday in Baltimore.
The Ravens (7-2) replaced starter Lamar Jackson with backup Tyler Huntley for the final 12 minutes after Baltimore took a 30-3 lead.
The only time a Carroll-coached Seahawks team has gotten routed more badly than it did Sunday was in December 2017 when the Rams ended Seattle’s playoff hopes with a 42-7 win in Seattle. Russell Wilson almost never missed a snap in his decade as Seattle’s starting quarterback. But to end that 35-point loss to L.A. six years ago,Carroll had Wilson take the final series off. Backup Austin Davis mopped up the last 1:50 of that mess.
Yet Carroll didn’t have Smith take any time off Sunday while down by 34.
Monday, Carroll was asked how much he considered taking Smith out of the blowout late and having backup Drew Lock finish the game. The coach didn’t directly answer that.
He answered what his objective was in keeping Smith in for the game’s entirety.
“I wanted to get going. I wanted to show that we could get the ball moving and start to make some progress,” Carroll said. “And, so, thinking positively that we would be able to do that, that’s it.
“I just wanted to have some success before the day was over.”
Smith and Seattle’s offense didn’t. They turned the ball over on downs on an incomplete fourth-down pass on their first drive of the fourth quarter. After the Ravens scored again to make it 37-3, Smith and the offense went three plays and out, on a 5-yard pass then two incomplete throws with Smith under pressure again by Baltimore’s pass rush.
Smith completed just 13 of 28 passes for 157 yards, with four sacks that dropped Seattle’s net yards passing to 123. It was his first start with a completion rate below 50% in nine years. On Oct. 26, 2014, in his second NFL season, with the Jets, he went 2 for 8 with three interceptions and got benched in the first quarter against Buffalo.
Smith’s passer rating at Baltimore was 49.3. That’s his lowest in a start since, again, his second NFL season. He had a 35.7 rating Dec. 1, 2014, against Miami. He lost his Jets job for good at the end of that season.
Seattle finished with 151 total yards against the Ravens. It was their fewest in a game since that 2017 season the Seahawks missed the playoffs.
Last season, in his first 12 games as Seattle’s replacement for traded Russell Wilson after seven years as an NFL backup, Smith had a total six interceptions. That was one every other game. He had zero games with two turnovers. He finished with 30 touchdowns passing, one rushing score, 11 interceptions and four lost fumbles.
Smith with more than twice as many touchdowns (31) as turnovers (15) was the formula for Seattle making the playoffs. Smith made his first career postseason start and his first Pro Bowl.
Sunday in Baltimore, Smith committed his seventh and eighth turnovers in the last four games. Yes, that’s way more than one every two games.
For the season, through eight games, Smith has nine touchdown passes and has committed nine turnovers.
Carroll said, again, that Smith’s accountability for the turnovers is a strength that helps the team.
“We’ve already talked about it and started the conversation and moving forward,” Carroll said.
But...
“We have to help him,” Carroll said.
“One of the things I want to help Geno with as much as I can is (him) not over-trying, pressing to make every play, where he feels like he’s got to go above and beyond and find a throw that may not be there, and work too hard at it.
“He’s a great competitor. He believes in himself. So there’s times — as all great quarterbacks — they think they can get it in there, and so they’ll take their shot at it.
“But I would to make the point to anyone that’s watching our program that we are doing everything we can to not give them the football. So anytime—ANYtime—we are turning the ball over, it hurts. That does play into when we feel like we are at our best.”
Ravens swarmed Geno Smith
The Seahawks knew they were up against it Sunday. Baltimore entered the game with the league’s top-ranked pass defense and the most sacks in the NFL.
Against Seattle, the Ravens varied their looks in the defensive front and secondary. They did zone blitzes. They did man-coverage blitzes. They blitzed linebackers and stunted their tackles and ends. They faked blitzes and disguised one look with another before the snap.
The few times play caller Shane Waldron began a series of downs with a running play — lead back Kenneth Walker had only six carries in the first half when the game was still semi-close — the Ravens ran a safety blitz into those runs inside.
“They did zero blitzes on early downs,” Carroll said, “so when they disguise it (on third downs) you have to honor it.”
The Ravens overwhelmed Seattle’s offensive line that was starting its seventh combination in eight games and alternated Stone Forsythe and 41-year-old Jason Peters again at right tackle. Baltimore sacked Smith four times, all in the first half when the game was still close (0-0 into the second quarter) then semi-close (14-3). The Ravens batted down three of Smith’s passes at the line.
It was an equal-opportunity beating. In the second quarter left tackle Charles Cross got pushed into Smith as the quarterback had Metcalf open across the back line of the end zone. It was a play the Seahawks had practiced all week in anticipation of it being open against Baltimore’s red-zone coverage. The pass rusher and Cross near Smith’s feet limited Smith’s step mechanics on the pass. It skipped off the grass in front of the diving Metcalf.
Instead of a touchdown to halve Baltimore’s 14-0 lead, the Seahawks settled for a field goal and trailed 14-3..
They never got closer.
“A lot of pressure. A lot of moving parts,” center Evan Brown said of the Ravens’ defensive front. “As an offensive line you’ve got to be able to diagnose and see it — and hold up in our blocks.”
“They did a really good job,” Smith said before the team left Baltimore on Sunday. “I think we made it easy on them, especially with the mistakes that we made.”
Asked to specify those mistakes, Smith said: “Specifically, turnovers and penalties. Those things.
“You know, it sucks. We were looking forward to this match-up, and I just feel like we didn’t play our best football (Sunday). Obviously, we made a ton of mistakes, and there are a lot of things we need to correct.
“But you know, as I always say, I put those things right at my own feet, and I look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do better to help my guys?’ I’m never going to shy away from it. And I’m going to keep on working.”
Third downs still a problem
The Seahawks were 1 for 12 on third downs against Baltimore, continuing a problem for the offense for most of the 1-1/2 seasons Smith has been the starter. The loss to the Ravens was the fifth time in eight games the Seahawks were 25% or below converting third downs. Sunday was a season-low 8%.
“One for 12 ... yeah, that’s just not good enough. It’s terrible,” Smith said.
“And that’s not going to get us any wins. So we have to correct that.”
For the season, Smith and the Seahawks are 30th in the 32-team NFL in third-down conversion rate (31.9%). The top half of the league in third-down conversions this season are all successful at least 40% of the time. Last season Seattle was 38.3%.
Running — or doing anything — with success on first and second downs would help. But the pressure and blitzing Smith and the Seahawks’ mix-and-match offensive line are getting on third downs of almost any distances are the bigger issue.
Carroll said the goal is to be in third and 5 or less. That is so defenses have to honor run or pass and not blitz so freely on Smith.
But third and less than 5 were bad plays for the Seahawks against the Ravens.
On Seattle’s first third down Sunday, third and 4, Smith threw an accurate pass onto the hands of Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a quick, short route to the right sideline. The rookie jugged the ball as he ran out of bounds. The incomplete pass was the first of seven three-play drives before Seattle gave the ball back to Baltimore.
Seattle’s second third down, another third and 4, was another quick pass, intended for Tyler Lockett. Baltimore’s Jadeveon Clowney broke that up at the line.
The third time Seattle had third and less than 5, they threw again.
That brings up Lockett’s health.
Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf banged up
When the quarterback is turning the ball over this much and the offense is stalling this badly, there are multiple reasons.
Here’s another: Smith’s top wide receivers aren’t in top condition.
Lockett has been missing mid-week practices because of hamstring soreness. DK Metcalf has been missing practices between games as he plays on with a ribs injury and a recent hip issue. Lockett and Metcalf haven’t both fully participated in all practices between games in almost two full months, since Wednesday through Friday of week two before Seattle played at Detroit Sept. 17. That’s when Metcalf got crunched in the ribs at the goal line trying to score following a catch.
Sunday in Baltimore, Smith and Lockett had what Lockett called a “miscommunication” that resulted in him stopping his route short while Smith threw longer, into the arms of the Ravens’ Geno Stone for an interception. It came on that third third and 4 for the Seahawks.
“Bad pass,” Smith said. “It was on me.”
Carroll was asked Monday if Lockett and Metcalf missing practices the last two months has affected preparation to be synchronized with Smith on throws in games.
“Well, it doesn’t help us, certainly,” Carroll said. “We need to be out there at practice. Practice is very valuable to us, so anybody who misses you stand to lose a little bit, particularly with the intricacies of the throwing game, it does affect us some.”
Carroll said Lockett and Metcalf made it through Sunday’s game relatively healthy playing 44 and 42 snaps, respectively, of Seattle’s mere 49 on offense.
“They should have a chance to be in pretty good shape for this upcoming week,” Carroll said.
“But we can only do what we can do, you know. We’ve gotta get those guys to game time, so, you are going to lose a little bit, yeah, continuity-wise.”
Abe Lucas next week?
The rotation of Forsythe and Stone could be ending soon.
Carroll said the team’s medical and training staffs believe starting right tackle Abe Lucas will return to practice next week, “if not sooner.”
The strong rookie from Seattle’s 2022 draft has played only the first game of this season, Sept. 10 against the Rams. Lucas has been on injured reserve with a knee injury.
That would help Smith.
Which is what Carroll says his quarterback needs right now entering Sunday’s home game against Washington (4-5).
Not rest.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 6:02 PM.
