Geno Smith agrees: He needs to get the ball out more quickly for Seahawks at Cowboys
Urgency is all over the Seahawks this week.
“There’s always a sense of urgency,” linebacker Jordyn Brooks said before practicing Monday for Seattle’s test at the high-riding Dallas Cowboys (8-3) Thursday night (5:15 p.m., channel 13/Amazon).
“But, shoot,” Brooks said, “we’ve GOT to win.”
It’s urgent on top of urgent for Geno Smith. The Seahawks need their quarterback to rebound, right now, from getting dumped six times and turning the ball over again in his last game, the team’s 31-13 thrashing by San Francisco on Thanksgiving.
Smith also can’t wait any more to throw his passes.
His coach, who usually doesn’t single out players for needing to do something specific to better give the Seahawks (6-5) a chance to win, did just that this week.
Pete Carroll was talking about Smith on Sunday when he said: “There are always things he can do better. It’s just reading more quickly and get the ball out more readily, so we can avoid the (pass) rush. Of all of the things in particular like this week, we need to get the ball out. The ball has got to get out of his hands so that we don’t give the rusher a chance.
“If there’s anything in particular, that’s what I’m hoping Geno (Smith) can find his keys, his reads, and get the ball out ahead of the rush.
“That’s easier said than done.”
Especially against the Cowboys (8-3). Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Carroll’s former coordinator for Seattle’s defenses, will be lining up All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons up and down the line of scrimmage, inside and outside. Parsons has 11-1/2 sacks in 11 games.
Smith has been sacked 13 times in Seattle’s last four games. That’s just below half his total times sacked this season (27). The Seahawks have lost three of those games to fall two games plus a tie-breaker behind San Francisco for the NFC West lead.
If Seahawks play caller Shane Waldron has Smith drop back deep to throw long passes and Smith waits like he did against the 49ers last week, Seattle is going to lose for the fourth time in five games Thursday.
Waldron’s game plan against the 49ers was to throw deep passes into their secondary for big gains to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and constantly test a secondary that had seven defensive pass-interference penalties in 10 games. Four of the six sacks of Smith against San Francisco came on third down, as he waited — and waited — for receivers to be open.
Smith holding onto the ball is a large reason Seattle is 29th in the 32-team NFL in third-down conversion rate at 31.34%.
Dallas has six defensive pass-interference penalties in 11 games. The Cowboys also have the league’s leader in interceptions in cornerback DaRon Bland. Remarkably, he’s returned five of his seven interceptions this season for touchdowns.
“I know. I was thinking: ‘He’s got more touchdowns than me,’” Metcalf said, laughing about his three TDs in 80 targets this season.
So Waldron’s game plan this week is unlikely to be the same testing with deep passes as it was against San Francisco. The Niners ruined that plan by dominating the Seahawks’ offensive line with Nick Bosa and their pass rush, as they have for the last two seasons in winning four straight in the series.
Smith knows getting the ball out more quickly against the Cowboys is the key to Seattle scoring more at Dallas than the one offensive touchdown it has the last two games, and only three TDs in the last four games.
“Just processing and going through reads and getting the ball out to the designed guy, within rhythm in the play and the offense,” Smith said.
“Coach is right. I’ve been probably holding the ball too long to ‘see guys open,’ instead of what I normally do, which is to throw them open. It’s trusting the guys, again, trusting myself, believing in just getting the ball out ...”
Smith offered two reasons he’s holding onto the ball too long: tight coverage and feeling the pass rushers coming in on him.
“I would say it’s a little bit of all,” he said. “The thing is to continue to rep it, continue to practice, continue to believe in. And like I said, trust it and throw it, and let the guys make plays.”
Geno Smith’s health
On top of the challenge of playing an 8-3 team with a ferocious pass rusher and a top interceptor that’s won five of its last six games averaging 39 points its last five: Smith is still hurt.
He said the bruised triceps on his right, throwing arm that Aaron Donald gave him in Seattle’s loss at the Los Angeles Rams eight days earlier is still paining him.
Smith needed the two full days off he and the Seahawks got Friday and Saturday after the loss to the 49ers. Those were two rest days from injury he didn’t get in the four-day turnaround from the Rams game to getting pounded by San Francisco Thanksgiving night.
“It was helpful for me, because I really need to get healthy,” Smith said. “Still working. Still battling, you know, working through some things.”
Yes things, plural.
He turned his right ankle while getting sacked on a third and 8 early in the fourth quarter against San Francisco. Bosa, Fred Warner and Arik Armstead easily beat Seattle’s blockers then crunched Smith into a squat with the QB’s legs awkwardly folding under him and them. Smith limped and hopped to the sideline after that drive-ending sack.
He said this week the ankle is OK. Smith appeared to be jogging smoothly, without a hitch or limp, during the first portion of practice open to the media Monday.
Smith said he knows it’s there, the firepower of Metcalf, Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Seattle’s passing offense. He draws as proof — and perhaps, inspiration — the 369 yards he threw for against Washington two weeks ago, the most yards in a game in his 11-year NFL career.
“We’ve just got to be better at being more consistent,” he said.
“And it starts with me, of course. I’ve got to be better, overall. So, shoot, man, I’m working my tail off to try to get that done.
“But we know what we have inside this locker room. It doesn’t always show up every single play and every single week. And that’s something we’ve got to work on and be better at.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 3:27 PM.
