Geno Smith’s 2 TD passes late rescue Seahawks at Titans, 20-17 win saves season
The Seahawks’ season — at least the meaningful part of it — was at stake for the second time inside the last week.
Then Geno Smith did Sunday what Drew Lock did Monday.
Smith drove Seattle 14 plays and 75 yards with key third-down throws to Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. DK Metcalf then broke free to draw a huge pass-interference penalty on Tennessee at the 5-yard line. On third and goal from there, Colby Parkinson would not be denied the ball in a fight for it with a Titans cornerback. Smith’s 5-yard touchdown pass with 57 seconds left sent the Seahawks to a 20-17 victory.
Merry Christmas, Pacific Northwest: The Seahawks now hold the 7th and final seed in the NFC playoff race with two weeks to go in the regular season.
Smith said as he took the field for the final, winning drive “I’m thinkin’: Just like last week. I felt like Drew did a great job last week. And we had a chance to match it this week.
“And then Colby made a heck of a catch to seal the deal right there.”
Smith, playing after missing the game Lock won with a 92-yard drive late against Philadelphia Monday night, was 7 for 10 passing for 57 yards on the winning drive. Smith completed 25 of 36 passes for 227 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns in his return from a groin injury.
This was his fourth late game-winning drive this season.
Dre’Mont Jones’ largest play since signing with Seattle this spring, a 10-yard sack of Ryan Tannehill when Tennessee had reached midfield with 29 seconds left, moved the Seahawks (8-7) into the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC. That’s thanks to Minnesota’s home loss to Detroit Sunday.
To get the six seed, the Seahawks need to beat Pittsburgh (8-7) at home New Year’s Eve and win at Arizona (3-11) the following weekend while having the Los Angeles Rams lose one game. The Rams (8-7) play at the Giants (5-9), then at San Francisco (11-3) to end the regular season.
“I love being around these guys. I feel like I never want this stuff to end,” Smith said.
“I’m just appreciative of this team.”
It took the Seahawks until the fourth quarter to score a touchdown against a Titans defense missing seven starters, including all four starters in the secondary.
Then Seattle scored two TDs in the final 13 minutes.
On third and 14 with 2:00 left and the holiday crowd in Nashville at its loudest, Smith got a smashing block by center Evan Brown and completed an 18-yard pass over the middle to Smith-Njigba. That got Seattle to midfield.
A stout blitz pickup by running back Zach Charbonnet allowed Smith to complete another pass for 12 yards to Lockett. Seattle was at the 38-yard line with 1:43 left.
Smith to Lockett got the Seahawks a first down at the Tennessee 27 with 1:19 to go.
Metcalf was on the sidelines for two plays. Then he re-entered, and Smith went right to him. The quarterback saw Tennessee in a zero blitz, no safeties in the middle, and one-on-one coverage versus Metcalf. Smith called for maximize protection. He got it. Helpless Titans defensive back Tre Avery pulled on Metcalf at the 5-yard line to prevent a touchdown on a deep post route. The pass-interference penalty gave Seattle first and goal.
On third and goal, Smith threw outside left to 6-foot-7 tight end Colby Parkinson versus the 5-11 Avery. The throw was lower than Smith wanted. But Parkinson simply would not be denied the ball. He ripped it from Avery’s hands for the 5-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left.
The Seahawks sideline — and the many Seattle fans who made the holiday trip — erupted in roars.
In the visiting locker room of Nissan Stadium, with music bumpin’ off the walls, Parkinson said he’s waited all season for that play call against that coverage. The Seahawks have been running that play in practices.
“We’ve been practicing it, man,” Smith said. “I feel like we’ve been practicing it every day since training camp.”
On Christmas Eve, they went to it — to save their season.
“I was joking: We called it once, I had to catch it,” Parkinson said, as teammate Brady Russell clowned and smiled behind him in the raucous room.
“We’ve been working it all season. We have a lot of confidence in it.”
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Smith and the Seahawks marched 96 yards for their longest touchdown drive of the season.
And best-timed. They finally scored on their fourth advance inside the Tennessee 40-yard line, when they absolutely had to.
On third and 3 at the Titans 24, Smith got the ball out quickly against a blitz and connected with Metcalf on a slant for 12 yards. Then Smith threw to Metcalf in the back left corner of the end zone. With Tennessee’s Avery grabbing his arm, Metcalf used the other, free one to catch the pass. Then he deftly dragged his right foot into the turf to complete the catch for the touchdown.
Three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Seahawks had their first touchdown and lead, 13-10.
On the first play after the touchdown, Bobby Wagner violently sacked Titans fill-in quarterback Tannehill, playing for injured rookie Will Levis. At that point, the Seahawks seemed to be taking control.
But rarely is anything easy with this team.
The Titans still extended the drive on a screen pass then third-down conversion to get into Seahawks territory. On a fourth and 1, Tennessee’s Tyjae Spears ran for 2 yard to the Seattle 25.
On third and 11 at the Seattle 26, cornerback Tre Brown bear-hugged DeAndre Hopkins directly in front of an official as the Titans receiver was making his break on his down-field pattern. That official called pass interference, gifting Tennessee at first down at the 11.
Seattle’s Dre’Mont Jones had a stop for what would have been a third and 4 for Tennessee at the 5. But cornerback Artie Burns, playing because rookie nickel Devon Witherspoon missed his second consecutive game with a hip pointer, inexplicably shoved a Titans receiver to the ground in the end zone at the end of the play.
On first and goal after that personal foul, Derrick Henry ran 2 yards for Tennessee’s go-ahead touchdown with just over 3 minutes left.
The Seahawks caught a break when more mobile rookie Will Levis was inactive for Tennessee because of his sprained ankle. Seattle’s game plan was to pressure more static veteran Tannehill.
It worked. They blitzed Wagner and others more than in recent games en route to six sacks. That was Seattle’s most in almost three full months, since its 11-sack jamboree against the New York Giants’ poor offensive line Oct. 2.
But the Seahawks continue to have big problems in run defense they need to fix during this push for the playoffs, and absolutely if they advance to them. Tennessee ran on the league’s 27th-ranked rushing defense 31 times for 162 yards. Henry, a former All-Pro who had just 43 yards on 33 runs in Tennessee’s previous two games, looked like his old self against Seattle. He romped through missed tackles and open gaps for 88 yards on 19 carries.
“We need to be better with penalties,” Wagner said, “and clean things up in the run game.
“But 8 and 7, we can’t complain.”
Lost opps around halftime
The Seahawks lost an opportunity to swing the game late in the first half and early in the second.
They could have — should have — had more than the three total points they got there on two drives inside the Titans’ 40-yard line.
After Seattle’s defense let Tannehill scramble 23 yards on a third and 11 to set up a field goal for Tennessee’s 10-3 lead in the second quarter, Smith and the offense had 3 minutes left in the half. A roughing-the-passer penalty on the Titans on a third down then a third-down completion to Jake Bobo across the middle for a first down got Seattle across midfield.
The Seahawks had a first down at the Titans 39-yard line. They then threw themselves out of points.
On first down, Smith threw incomplete wide of Lockett on the left sideline. Under pressure on second down, Smith led running back Zach Charbonnet, his safety valve on the play, about 2 steps too far on a pass off his hands in the right flat. On third down, Smith threw late in the left flat to Charbonnet, with Titans swarming him. The running back got dumped for a 4-yard loss.
Curiously, seldom-used wide receiver Dareke Young and not DK Metcalf was on the field for that third and 10.
That pushed the Seahawks out of range for a long field-goal try by Jason Myers. They punted instead, and the half ended with Seattle still down 10-3.
Smith completed 10 of 16 passes for 69 yards with two sacks in the first half. Seattle gained 93 yards in the half.
To begin the second half, Kenneth Walker ran 11 yards on a cut back across midfield. Smith converted a third down with a completion on a slant route by Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Smith connected with Lockett for a 20-yard gain on the right sideline, the same route and throw Smith missed in the first half.
Seattle had first down at the Tennessee 11. Yet they got only a short field goal by Jason Myers. Smith overthrow open tight end Colby Parkinson out of the back left of the end zone on second down from the 8. Then Titans safety Terrell Edmunds batted down Smith’s jump ball to Metcalf at the 1 on third down.
Instead of the Seahawks being tied, or leading, Tennessee still led, 10-6.
New Dad starts
Julian Love made it back from being in Seattle for his wife Julia’s birth of baby boy Noah Friday to start again at safety Sunday.
The NFC defensive player of the week for his two interceptions in the fourth quarter Monday night against Philadelphia started again next to Quandre Diggs while Jamal Adams was again home away from the team.
Love had two tackles in three plays in the first quarter, including on a Titans receiver short of the line to gain following a catch on third down.
Riq Woolen’s penance paid
One game after he got benched, Riq Woolen was back starting at right cornerback.
The 2022 Pro Bowl selection as a rookie had played one series, in the second quarter, in Seattle’s previous game against Philadelphia.
Mike Jackson started at left cornerback Sunday.
Jackson had started for Woolen and Tre Brown started at the other corner in Seattle’s win over the Eagles Monday night. Brown has been dealing with a heel injury the last couple weeks.
Brown entered for Jackson at left cornerback for one series late in the first quarter.
Love and Quandre Diggs were the starting safeties and Devin Bush the “big nickel” vs the run-first Titans as a third inside linebacker with Wagner and Jordyn Brooks.
Brooks left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury. Bush replaced him next to Wagner in base defense.
Woolen’s chance
With the Titans facing third down leading 10-6 in the third quarter, Woolen could have changed his and Seattle’s season.
He cut in front of a receiver and had Tannehill’s pass on his hands. But the ball fell to the turf. There was no one from Woolen to Memphis to keep him from returning that would-have-been interception for a Seahawks go-ahead touchdown.
This story was originally published December 24, 2023 at 1:11 PM.
