Geno Smith, Seahawks Fall in Overtime to Steelers

Geno nearly pulled out a victory on Sunday night.

Former West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith made his first start with the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night but fell in defeat 23-20 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime.

For much of the first half, Pittsburgh's defense controlled the line of scrimmage and didn't really allow much to happen in either the passing game or run game. Maybe the biggest reason Geno didn't have much of a chance to get going in the first half was due to the Steelers having possession of the ball for over 20 minutes. 

Seattle trailed 14-0 at halftime but put together a really strong drive to begin the third quarter which heavily featured running back Alex Collins. The Seahawks fought all the way back to tie the game at 17 and then once again at 20 to send the game to overtime. With just 90 seconds on the clock and two timeouts, Pete Carroll finally let Smith loose, mainly because he had no choice but to. Smith went 6/7 for 46 yards on the drive to set up a Jason Myers 43-yard field goal to knot things up at the end of regulation. The lone incompletion on that series came when Smith spiked the ball into the ground to stop the clock. 

Unfortunately for Geno Smith, Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt played one of the best games of his career and made several big plays including forcing a Geno Smith fumble in overtime. The Steelers ran one play to center up the field goal for Chris Boswell who booted it through with ease to give Pittsburgh the win, 23-20. The fumble by Smith wasn't necessarily a bad job of protecting the football on Smith's part, but more so just another really good play by Watt.

Smith finished the night 23/32 for 209 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. The Seahawks will return home next week to take on the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. Geno Smith will once again start for Seattle in place of the injured Russell Wilson.

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