Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Geno Smith is playing the best football of his career so far for the Seattle Seahawks. Here’s a look at some of his best plays this season.
Geno Smith is playing the best football of his career so far for the Seattle Seahawks. Here’s a look at some of his best plays this season.
For the Seattle Seahawks, this season was supposed to be a “rebuild.”
After his worst season in ten years (a 7-10 record and a fourth-place finish in the NFC West), the summer of 2022 was seen as an opportunity to refresh the roster and start fresh.
For the first time since 2011, they started a season without quarterback Russell Wilson and linebacker Bobby Wagner on the roster, two of the stalwarts of a decade of winning records.
Wagner was released, but in exchange for Wilson (plus a fourth-round pick), Seattle received quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, tight end Noah Fant, two first-round picks (2022 and 2023), two second round picks (2022 and 2023) and a fifth round. It was a massive loot.
The expectation, at least from the outside looking in, was that losing a longtime, successful starting quarterback would mean Seattle had no chance this season. But instead, head coach Pete Carroll, quarterback Geno Smith and a tremendous class of rookies have helped the Seahawks to a 3-3 record and joint first place in the NFC West.
Are they real now? And how has this happened?
Geno Smith’s Outstanding Rollover
Smith and the Seahawks beat Russell Wilson’s Broncos in the first week
In a league full of stellar quarterbacks young and old, there’s one name that stands out as you review the stats so far this season.
Geno Smith, a second-round pick in 2013, who was in talks to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft that year, could have safely been described as a ‘dud’ early in his career.
With the New York Jets, where he was drafted, he went 12-18 as a starter, had a 57.9 percent completion percentage, threw for 28 touchdowns on 36 picks and had a 72.4 QB rating. In short, he did not act.
He spent two years as a backup with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers, before joining Seattle in 2019 to sit behind Wilson.
What a change it has had.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights of Seattle’s thrilling win over Detroit in Week 4
As a Seahawk, he completed more than 70 percent of his passes, threw for 14 touchdowns on three interceptions and boasts an absurd 106.2 passer rating.
This year, after just a couple of games in relief of Wilson, he is the main man and leads the entire NFL in completion percentage (73.4), is third in passer rating (108.1) and has thrown for the 10th-most . yards (1,502). He is pretty amazing.
Despite spending his career to this point catching passes from a Pro Bowler at Wilson, wide receiver Tyler Lockett is on pace to break his own record for receiving yards in a season, with 423 already. Alpha receiver DK Metcalf also tops 400 yards.
Smith, at last, has stood out.
rookie revolution
While Smith has turned heads, something else is brewing in Seattle.
Speaking after his most recent win, Metcalf he told the Seahawks website: “I told Pete (Carroll) congratulations because he did a great job writing this year.
“Especially with those two tackles (Abe Lucas and Charles Cross), Coby Bryant, Tariq (Woolen), Kenneth Walker, Boye (Mafe).
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights from Seattle’s win over Arizona last week, where the rookies starred
“Everyone walks in, keeps their heads down and just works. You can tell how much they really love the game.”
Although the franchise let Wilson go and took a chance on draft picks, so far that decision is paying off, as his rookie run has been outstanding. Five are starters and one is making a big impression.
All 1,660 combined offensive and defensive plays by Seahawks rookies lead the league so far. And they’re not just playing, they’re starring.
In last week’s win against division rival Arizona, freshman cornerbacks Bryant and Woolen forced turnovers to seal the game.
Bryant’s four forced fumbles this season are the most in the entire league, while Woolen became the first rookie cornerback to record an interception in four straight games since 2010, and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. for your efforts.
Is this the resurrection of the boom legion?
watch out for walker
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Although the Saints outscored the Seahawks, Smith and Kenneth Walker stood out
Another one of those rookies who has recently come to the forefront is second-round running back Kenneth Walker. We could be seeing the beginning of something special.
Until a gut-wrenching, season-ending injury to veteran starter Rashaad Penny, Walker’s stats hadn’t been worth mentioning (15 carries for 58 yards). During the last game and a half, when he stepped into a starting role, he’s been serious.
He has 185 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries, including a 69-yard sprint against the Saints. He’s no stranger to production: He had 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns in his final season in college, with Michigan State, winning multiple awards along the way.
However, it is not only what he has done, but how he is doing it. Walker makes people miss easily: he can run past them or run them over. He is patient but sudden. He can move laterally and then explode upfield. The sky is the limit, and Seattle would do well to use it as much as possible.
The Seahawks will show their true colors in the coming weeks, with a visit to the Los Angeles Chargers 4-2, a home game against the New York Giants 5-1 and a rematch against Arizona 3-4.
Are they really ready to compete or is our excitement premature?
Watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the Los Angeles Chargers live on Sky Sports NFL at 9:25 p.m. on Sunday.