Geno Smith Sounded Pretty Excited About Facing Seahawks in Raiders' Preseason Opener

Pete Carroll, on the other hand, isn't putting too much pressure on the reunion matchup in Seattle.

Former Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith will return to Seattle for the Raiders' preseason game. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

Geno Smith is getting his homecoming return to Seattle out of the way early after being traded to the Raiders this offseason, seeing as Las Vegas will travel to the Seahawks on Thursday night for their preseason opener.

Smith sounds very excited to face his former team, with whom he spent the past five seasons and experienced some of the best moments of his career. And, he will, of course, be returning with Raiders coach Pete Carroll, who led the Seahawks from 2010-23 and won a Super Bowl title there.

"I'm really looking forward to it," Smith said on Tuesday. "Looking forward to seeing my old teammates. Old coaches. People in the building. It'll be fun. I'm also going back with Pete. That's pretty cool."

Carroll, on the other hand, downplayed his return to Seattle ahead of the matchup. He's more focused on the game itself than the homecoming aspect.

"It's the only game we got," Carroll said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "It happens to be in Seattle. I loved my time in Seattle, loved the fans and the people that we met, and dealt with, and competed with. But it's a game for us. We're going to go play ball."

The Raiders and Seahawks will not face each other during the regular season this year, so this preseason meeting will be highly anticipated due to Carroll's and Smith's returns.

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