Seahawks QB Geno Smith Nominated For FedEx Air Player of the Week After OT Win vs. Lions
After orchestrating the game-winning drive in overtime to beat the Detroit Lions 37-31 on Sunday, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has been nominated as one of three finalists for FedEx Air Player of the Week for Week 2.
Throwing a pair of touchdown passes to receiver Tyler Lockett, including the walkoff scoring toss in overtime, Smith posted a sterling 78.8 percent completion rate connecting on 32 out of 41 pass attempts for 328 yards and eight yards per attempt. He also utilized his legs effectively when needed, rushing three times for 20 yards.
Rebounding from a rough opener against the Rams, Smith came out firing on all cylinders in front of a raucous sellout Ford Field crowd, completing all five of his pass attempts for 58 yards as the Seahawks marched 75 yards on 12 plays to take an early 7-0 lead. Though his team trailed 14-7 at half, he completed 16 out of 20 passes for 159 yards in the first two quarters, posting a 99.8 passer rating.
"Geno (Smith) had a spectacular day," coach Pete Carroll said after the game. "It’s the one crazy sack, but other than that, he had a spectacular day and leads us down the field in OT to win the game with some great throwing."
Aside from an inexcusable 17-yard sack taken late in the fourth quarter mentioned by Carroll, Smith played even better in the second half and extra period for Seattle. In complete command and unfazed by the deafening noise, he led his team on three scoring drives of 60 or more yards, including a nine-play, 65-yard drive early in the fourth quarter that culminated with his first touchdown pass to Lockett to retake a 24-21 lead.
For the fifth time since the start of the 2022 season, Geno Smith threw for more than 300 yards while completing better than 70 percent of his pass attempts as the Seahawks defeated the Lions in overtim
With the game on the line, Smith went for the jugular after the Seahawks won the coin toss to receive the ball first in overtime. Distributing the football to four different receivers, he completed six out of seven passes for 69 yards on the game-winning drive, capping off the drive by escaping a quick pressure from Aidan Hutchinson to find his trusty safety valve in Lockett, who did the rest by reaching the ball inside the goal line for the touchdown.
"Very confident that we could go out there and get it done," Smith said of his mindset entering overtime. "We had been moving the ball all game. Shane [Waldron] was calling a great game. He had been in rhythm. We somewhat found a rhythm somewhere in the second quarter and kind of got rolling and I just felt like we knew the ball was in our hands. We knew the opportunity was there for us to go win it and that’s what you want as an offense and I’m just so proud of the guys and the way we got it done.”
Helping orchestrate three touchdown drives in the second half and overtime, Smith eclipsed 300 passing yards and completed north of 70 percent of his pass attempts for the fifth time since the start of the 2022 season, which is tied with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the most such games during that span.
With the FedEx Air Player of the Week nomination, Smith has been picked as a nominee for the weekly award four times since the start of last season. In the three instances where he was a finalist in 2022, he was voted as a runner up and never won the award.
