How the Seahawks can help Geno Smith’s turnover problem
More Teams. More Games.
Mike Tannenbaum explains why he likes Geno Smith to get back on track against the Commanders. (0:26)
RENTON, Wash. — With the Baltimore Ravens showing blitz on a third-and-4 play in the second quarter last Sunday, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith audibled at the line of scrimmage, signaling for receiver Tyler Lockett to run a go route in anticipation of a one-on-one matchup.
Two problems: Baltimore backed out of the blitz look. And Lockett, lined up outside the numbers with the ball on the opposite hash, didn’t get the signal from Smith — nor did rookie Jake Bobo relay it to him from the slot. Lockett held out his arms in confusion then ran a route that Smith wasn’t expecting before the ball sailed well over his head for an interception.
That calamitous play from the Seahawks’ blowout loss was illustrative of an underlying theme with Seattle’s recent offensive issues, which is that Smith isn’t the only one at fault. It helps explain why Pete Carroll was so quick to defend his quarterback after what was statistically his worst game as the Seahawks’ starter, and why the coach doesn’t sound like he’s anywhere close to considering a switch to Drew Lock.
“We misread something and didn’t really see it clearly because we got fooled by their disguise and then we didn’t respond well when we communicated, so we had a lousy play that turned into a turnover for them,” Carroll said. “Kind of a number of things had to contribute to making that happen, but that’s just how it is … There are other circumstances that weigh into these things. It’s not just one guy.”
That’s the kind of line that a coach often uses when he wants to take some heat off a struggling quarterback, but in this case, it checks out.
Smith has made his mistakes of late, to be sure. When asked Thursday about his recent spate of turnovers — eight in the past four games compared to four touchdown passes in that span — he attributed some of it to pressing. That looked like the case on the red zone interceptions he threw to well-covered receivers in consecutive games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals.
“Trying to make plays sometimes when they aren’t there,” Smith said. “I’ve always been competitive. I always think that every play should work and I hate giving up on a play but hey, sometimes you have to. Throwing the ball away is not a bad thing. Punting the ball is not a bad thing.”
But Smith’s other interception in the Bengals game was the result of miscommunication with DK Metcalf, who broke off his route before the throw arrived. Smith lost a fumble against Arizona on a botched exchange in a hurry-up situation. And in keeping with the theme of shared blame, his other turnover against Baltimore was a sack fumble in which left tackle Charles Cross was beat around the edge and Smith failed to step up in the pocket.
On the lost fumble against Arizona, Smith took that snap from rookie center Olu Oluwatimi, a fifth-round pick who started because of an injury to Evan Brown. Seattle’s offensive line has been in flux all season, with seven different starting combinations in eight games. The five players who make up their preferred starting line have combined to miss 15 starts this season, including 10 from Cross and right tackle Abe Lucas.
Cross is back, but Lucas — who ranked second among all rookies in pass block win rate last season — is out for at least another game. The Seahawks’ patchwork O-lines held up remarkably well over the first four weeks, ranking 11th in PBWR in that stretch, but they’re 30th in the four games since then.
• Patience with Levis paid off
• Midseason Q&A with Mickey Loomis
• Jets mired in offensive slump
• 4 trends to watch with Jaguars
• Why isn’t Bijan used more
• Patriots giving up big plays on defense
After allowing only one sack in a win over Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns in Week 8, Smith was sacked four times against Baltimore and pressured on 49% of his dropacks, his second-highest rate of the season. The Seahawks went 1 of 12 on third down, with pass-block losses on six of nine opportunities.
“He’s right in the middle of it,” Carroll said on his Seattle Sports 710-AM radio show when asked about Smith’s role in the Seahawks’ worst third-down performance since 2020, “but he can only take what he has the opportunity to take. If we get broken down on protection or if we miss-run a route or they cover us really well, all of that, all of those things can happen. He can’t do it by himself. He has to deliver when the opportunity presents itself, but they put pretty good clamps on us and it was difficult.”
Smith has been quick to shoulder blame since he became the Seahawks’ starter last season, even in instances where he wasn’t truly at fault. But in a slight departure from that MO on Thursday, he was more transparent about the third-down issues in Baltimore, noting that the first two failed conversions were the result of a Jaxon Smith-Njigba bobble and a pass that was batted down at the line of scrimmage.
“Just looking at each one of those plays individually,” Smith said, “I just feel like we all had a part in it and we all could have done a lot better.”
When asked on his radio show what it takes to make a quarterback change, Carroll said it has to be obvious that the quarterback is the issue as opposed to what’s happening around him.
“Is it with the guys up front not being consistent?” Carroll said. “Are we not doing our route stuff right? Are we not calling the game for him? You have to call all games for the quarterback. They’re the key, and we have to make sure we’re doing our part there.”
The last line seemed like a clear implication that Carroll thinks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron can do more to help Smith with his play calls. Along those lines, a heavier dose of play action could be an answer. Smith has been considerably better across the board on play-action throws this season, ranking third in Raw QBR behind only Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. He has the 25th-best QBR on pure dropback throws, with all seven of his interceptions coming on such plays.
The Seahawks have a chance to improve those numbers on Sunday against the Washington Commanders (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX). The Commanders’ defense allows a 65.9% completion rate on play-action plays and a 60.8 Raw QBR. Their defense has faced play-action the most in the league (97 times, tied with Giants) this season.
“Really like it,” Carroll said of Seattle’s play-action game. “We like to make sure that we make it hard on our opponent by continuing to do it. We’ve been really good at it. The numbers are terrific. It’s a real positive side of the offense right now.”
But as with Smith’s recent turnovers, there may be more to that night-and-day disparity than meets the eye.
“A little surprising with the dropback stuff, but there are factors to it, and so we’ve got to be mindful of those,” Smith said. “Again, I like to look at each play individually. I don’t like to group things. I think you’ve got to look at it one at a time because that’s how the game is played and there’s things on each one of those dropbacks that I can do better, some other guys can do better. So that’s how we look at it. Obviously the play action has been really good, so we want to continue to do that. But we also want to improve in the dropback and the quick game as well.”