Geno Smith’s resolve — and promise kept to his coach — led Seahawks to season-reviving win
Geno Smith had just thrown another interception.
His overthrow of Jaxon Smith-Njigba deep to a 49ers defensive back deep in Seattle’s own end in the third quarter of this NFC West showdown at San Francisco was Smith’s league-leading 11th interception in 10 games.
“He just has to make a better decision in that moment,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “Considering where we were on the field, let’s just punt the ball and play defense.”
The feeling, if not among the sputtering Seahawks then across the Pacific Northwest, was their team was going to lose to the 49ers for the seventh consecutive time. San Francisco, which had dominated Seattle last month in Lumen Field, seemed about to again.
As Smith came to the sideline, with their season at the brink, Macdonald, a son of a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, went Special Ops.
“We talk about ‘clearing the next room,’ and just go clear the next room and rock and roll,” Mike Macdonald said late Sunday afternoon.
“Clearing the next room” is a special-operations mentality for absorbing setbacks and moving on to the next phase in the task at hand, specifically a security sweep of a building in a combat zone. The NFL’s youngest head man at age 37 has had special military units visit his Seahawks during his first season as their coach.
Smith not only cleared the next room, he silenced it. He silenced all of Levi’s Stadium.
His offensive coordinator and play caller Ryan Grubb had said three days earlier Smith’s greatest trait was his resilience.
Smith proved him right on this Sunday by the Bay that revived Seattle’s season.
The Seahawks’ defense responded to Smith’s interception by holding the 49ers out of the end zone to keep Seattle’s deficit only 10-6 in the third quarter. Smith responded by leading the Seahawks to a touchdown drive to take their first lead.
And with 2:35 remaining down 17-13 and 80 yards from a season-turning win, Smith walked into the Seahawks huddle with a look that told his teammates: We got this.
“He came out there, and something was just in his eyes, man,” 10th-year veteran guard Laken Tomlinson said. “He came into the huddle smiling.
“And I knew. Man, I just knew it. I was like, ‘This is it.’”
Smith then completed 7 of 8 throws for 54 yards. Four of those were clutch passes to Smith-Njigba, including on third down.
Plus, instead of holding onto the ball too long as he had for much of Seattle’s uneven season, Smith took off running decisively twice on scrambles on this final drive. One was for 16 yards. That got the Seahawks into the red zone in the final minute.
Then, with 23 seconds remaining and no time outs from the 13-yard line, Smith dropped to throw. He saw the 49ers rush four defenders and drop most of their seven others deep toward the goal line. He knew if middle linebacker Fred Warner followed running back Zach Charbonnet inside pass pattern across the field all that would be between him and the end zone for a game-ending touchdown on another scramble would be the goal line itself.
The 34-year-old Smith took off running left. No 49er defender was near him. The first guys to touch him were delirious teammates who mobbed him in the end zone. Smith celebrated the biggest play of the 10-game Macdonald era — and the Seahawks’ 20-17 win that ended their six-game losing streak to their biggest rival — by throwing the ball into the tunnel behind the end zone and leading off the field.
“That was probably my best throw of the day,” Smith deadpanned.
That was after his 25 completions in 32 attempts for 221 yards and his team’s win that revived its chances to win the NFC West.
Seahawks revive their season
Two minutes from being in last place with six losses in seven games, the Seahawks (5-5) instead are one game behind the first-place Cardinals (6-4) in the division.
“I was out there smiling on that last drive, like when I walked on the field,” Smith said. “I mean, I just kind of felt like (1990s baseball-fantasy film) Angels in the Outfield, like somebody’s rubbing my shoulders the whole time. I just felt like there was no pressure.
“I think the perspective that I’ve gained over my career has allowed me to play that way. Whenever there is a moment or a mistake that’s made, I never really get too down on myself — and I also don’t get too high when good things happen. I think as long as you stay even-keeled throughout the process, things work out better that way.”
Smith also said: “We knew how much was at stake, man. We were trying to turn our season around.”
They did.
For Smith, it was staying true to his word to his coach the previous week.
Geno Smith promises Mike Macdonald
During the Seahawks’ bye, Smith was ticked at himself for throwing two interception inside the Rams’ 10-yard line the previous game. That doomed Seattle to a 26-20 home loss to Los Angeles.
Smith apologized to his teammates for that loss.
Then he promised his head coach.
“I talked to Coach MacDonald during the bye week and told him I was going to do everything in my power to make it right,” the Pro Bowl QB his first two seasons as the Seahawks’ starter said.
“Today was just a step in that direction. But we have a long way to go.”
Seattle hosts Arizona Sunday at Lumen Field for the NFC West lead.
Smith was asked what’s possible for his Seahawks now, following this revival.
“We get to determine that. I think that’s the best part. We get to determine what our season’s going to be,” he said.
“The 49ers are a great team. Hats off to them. Much respect to those guys. They have great players.
“But we do, too.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
