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Turnover Trend: Are Geno Smith's Constant Mistakes Worrying Seattle Seahawks?

After a breakout year in which he won awards, earned a big contract and led the Seattle Seahawks to the playoffs, Geno Smith is suddenly a turnover machine.
Turnover Trend: Are Geno Smith's Constant Mistakes Worrying Seattle Seahawks?
Turnover Trend: Are Geno Smith's Constant Mistakes Worrying Seattle Seahawks?

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On a Monday morning in which the sun - we think - still rose in the East, the Seattle Seahawks aren't that bad and the Baltimore Ravens can't be that good.

But after one of his worst performances in a season suddenly polluted by turnovers, what are Seahawks fans to make of quarterback Geno Smith?

"I don't think this is about Geno at all," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after the humiliating 37-3 defeat. "I think this is about our football team did not answer the bell here. We couldn't get it done. We came in here to slug it out and they did a better job than we did, all of us. When they're rushing the passer, that's not Geno. This is not a one-guy deal."

Like his teammates, Smith was bad Sunday on the East Coast. He completed only 13 of 28 passes for 157 yards against the Ravens' No. 1 defense. He also lost a fumble during a sack and threw another interception, his sixth in the past four games.

Over the last month Smith has eight turnovers. He had only 15 all of last season, when he made the Pro Bowl and was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year.

"Yeah, I am concerned about that," Carroll said of Smith's turnover trend. "I'm concerned. The one on the fumble, that's a pass-rush deal. The interception, he threw it up and the guy that's been making the interceptions made another one. But that's not the direction for us to be going in. Up until this game, it took us to first place, whatever the heck we've been doing. And we didn't play like a first-place team today. With those kinds of turnovers, it's really hard to win."

The 34-point loss is the second-worst for the Seahawks since Carroll arrived in 2010. It could have been worse: The Ravens mercifully kneeled from Seattle's 4-yard line in the final minute.

Said Smith of his Sunday performance, "Not good enough. It sucks. We were looking forward to this matchup and I just feel like we didn't play our best football."



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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

Richie Whitt has been a sports media fixture in Dallas-Fort Worth since graduating from UT-Arlington in 1986. His career is highlighted by successful stints in print (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), TV (NBC5) and radio (105.3 The Fan). During his almost 40-year tenure, he's blabbed and blogged on events ranging from Super Bowls to NBA Finals to World Series to Stanley Cups to Olympics to Wimbledons to World Cups. Whitt has been covering the NFL since 1989, and in 1993 authored The 'Boys Are Back, a book chronicling the Dallas Cowboys' run to Super Bowl XXVII.

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