Seahawks Playoffs: What Would It Mean to Geno Smith Historic Season?
RENTON, Wash. - Back in August, few people outside of the locker room and team facility believed the Seahawks would be contending for a playoff spot in 2022. Without Russell Wilson or Bobby Wagner, the franchise would be in for a brutal rebuilding season and likely vying for the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft instead.
But while Seattle will have a top-five draft pick in April, it won't be because the team lost the majority of its games as anticipated. Instead, while Wilson has floundered in Denver amid a horrific 4-12 season to hand his former team a high draft choice, a resurgent Geno Smith silenced critics by guiding the organization into a win and (hopefully) get in situation with a pivotal Week 18 rematch against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field on tap on Sunday.
Though the veteran quarterback reiterated numerous times prior to Thursday's practice that the Seahawks missed some opportunities along the way and that a playoff berth doesn't necessarily define their season, he's excited his team still has a shot to advance to the postseason in the final week. It's all he or his teammates could have asked for after few gave them a fighter's chance five months ago.
“I don’t think that measures it, but that’s the goal. It’s got to be your goal," Smith said . "Coming into the season, all the teams were saying, ‘We have a shot at the Super Bowl.’ For us to be in January now and having to play a meaningful game on Sunday with the shot at the playoffs, that’s the goal. You can talk about all of the accolades you want, but it comes down to what we do as a team to determine our success. It really just comes down to this one game, giving ourselves a shot. Then, we go on from there.”
At the center of Seattle's surprise contention thriving under center, Smith has gone from battling Drew Lock to earn the starting job in the wake of Wilson's departure this offseason to becoming a first-time Pro Bowler in his 10th NFL season. He joined former Raiders star Rich Gannon as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to achieve such a feat.
That accomplishment happened in large part due to Smith's remarkable efficiency orchestrating Shane Waldron's offense. After struggling in his first opportunity as a starter with the Jets early in his career and bouncing around with three franchises as a backup over a five year span, he has vastly exceeded all reasonable expectations, leading the NFL with a stellar 70.2 percent completion rate, ranking fifth overall in passer rating (102.9), and ranking fourth in touchdown passes (29).
Last weekend in a 23-6 win over the Jets, Smith enacted a bit of revenge against the team that originally drafted him by surpassing 4,000 passing yards for the season, earning himself $1 million in incentives. He currently ranks seventh in the league with 4,069 passing yards, more than Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, and Wilson.
Away from traditional statistics, Smith has also been a standout amongst his peers. Per NFL Next Gen stats, his 4.7 percent completion rate above expectation ranks first among qualified quarterbacks. He also ranks third in Big Time Throws (33) according to Pro Football Focus, further illustrating the difficulty of the passes he has been consistently completing all season.
In addition, while Smith may not be considered a dual threat signal caller by any means, he has come through in the clutch as a runner on several occasions this season as well. His 315 rushing yards ranks eighth among quarterbacks and he also sits in the top 10 for quarterback runs of 10 or more yards (13).
Heading into the final week of the season with much at stake and plenty of pressure on his shoulders, Smith has a chance to achieve several milestones on Sunday. With 151 passing yards, he will pass Wilson for the most in a single season in franchise history. One touchdown pass against the Rams would also put him in exclusive company with Wilson and Dave Krieg as only the third quarterback in team history to throw 30 in a season.
Smith can also etch his name in the NFL history books, as his completion rate staying north of 70 percent would give him the best mark in team history and make him the 13th quarterback all-time to achieve the mark in a full season.
“Honestly, I heard about it. It’s a 17-game season," Smith said when asked about breaking records this weekend. "I don’t know if you should count some of that stuff. If guys did it in 16 games, I’ve got an extra game. Some of that stuff to me, the numbers will be what it is. To me, I look at it a little differently. I’m not really focused on that as you know. I just want to go out there and play a really solid game and go out there and get a win, so that we can give ourselves a shot.”
Not wanting to push the cart ahead of the horse, Smith isn't looking ahead to a possible playoff run, understanding the Seahawks have to do their job defeating the Rams first and then receive a late Christmas gift from the Lions in the form of a road upset over the Packers at Lambeau Field.
But if Seattle can advance to the wild card round, Smith remains confident they "can compete against anybody" as long as they stick to their formula of taking care of the football, sustaining drives with a balanced offense, and creating turnovers on defense. Though he won't say it, simply leading his team to the wild card round in the first place would be the perfect cherry on top for his historically significant revival season and further help his cause seeking a massive multi-year contract in free agency.
For now, however, he isn't going to concern himself with either of those potential developments. His focus remains solely on the Seahawks winning the only game they are guaranteed at this point against a motivated Rams squad and from there, they can dedicate their attention to cheering on the Lions to vault them into the playoffs.
“Obviously, we have to take care of our business first and after that, it comes down to that Detroit-Packers game. We can’t control that. All we’ve got is what we can do and that’s going out there and winning this game on Sunday and becoming the biggest Detroit fans in the world after that.”
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