Geno Smith has been one of the most surprising players in the NFL this season, going from being a backup for the last six years to leading the Seahawks to a 6-5 record through 11 games and becoming the favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year.
No one expected the Seahawks to be very good this season after trading Russell Wilson and cutting Bobby Wagner, but Smith has helped keep them in contention in the NFC. Raheem Morris and the Rams will game plan for him for the first time this week, and the defensive coordinator couldn’t help but heap praise on Smith leading up to Sunday’s game.
“He has shown and proven that he is ready to go. This is his opportunity,” Morris said Thursday. “I immediately thought about Rich Gannon, popped in my head when we played him in the Super Bowl a couple years ago, well not a couple now, a long time ago in Tampa, but how he kind of revived his career with the Oakland Raiders. I see Geno doing those things. His completion percentage in the National Football League, his confidence, some of the throws he’s making. He’s not being a game manager, he’s making plays and he’s doing a really good job.”
Nothing Morris said is inaccurate. Smith hasn’t been a game manager the way many expected him to be. He’s averaging 7.9 intended air yards per attempt, which isn’t at the top of the league but is above average, so he is throwing the ball downfield and not just taking checkdowns.
As much as Morris likes Smith and what he’s done for the Seahawks, he hopes Smith plays terrible this week against the Rams.
“If I didn’t have to play him this week, I’d be cheering for him,” Morris said. “(It’s) one of those type of things because you like love his comment after the first game when they ‘wrote him off and he didn’t write them back,’ that is classic, right? And that is the mentality, kind of like I was just talking about earlier, you’ve got to have at corner that he applied to playing quarterback and it’s awesome. It’s good to see. Now, I don’t want to see it this week. I hope he plays terrible, but I’ve got to give absolute credit to the organization with (John) Schneider, the organization with Pete Carroll, the belief that those scouts had in him.”
Through 11 games, Smith has 19 touchdown passes and only five interceptions, leading the league in completion percentage (72.8) and posting a career-best passer rating of 107.9. His previous best as a starter was in 2014 with the Jets when he had a passer rating of just 77.5.
The Rams aren’t in position to make the playoffs anymore, but this is a huge game for Smith and the Seahawks as they attempt to reach the postseason in a year when no one expected them to.
