After a hit from Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons on Monday night, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith immediately called it a “dirty play.”
Smith was tackled out of bounds by Simmons in the second quarter and the 2020 first-round pick appeared to awkwardly land on Smith’s knee from behind. There was no flag on the play but the Seattle signal-caller injured his knee and played one more snap before getting looked at in the team’s medical tent. He eventually returned in the second half, but before that, Smith spoke to ESPN’s Lisa Salters.
“A dirty play. Dirty play,” Smith told told Salters, per ESPN. “You guys can see it. It was a dirty play. It’s no place in this sport for that and hopefully something happens, but other than that, the grace of God allowed me to come back into this game and I’m happy to be back out there.”
Geno Smith showed his frustration after Isaiah Simmons tackled him on the sideline 😳#SEAvsNYG pic.twitter.com/d0trgckmkc
— ESPN (@espn) October 3, 2023
After the tackle was made and before he was evaluated in the medical tent, Smith appeared to confront the entire Giants defense, leading to some heated words with players needing to be separated. Simmons later denied it was a dirty play after his team’s 24–3 loss.
“I really don’t got much to say about it,” Simmons said, per ESPN. “We playing football. He’s mad he got hit? What do most quarterbacks do when they don’t want to get hit? They go down. I don’t really know what else to tell him about that.”
Smith finished the game with 110 passing yards and one touchdown on 13-for-20 passing.
