12 Plays Which Show Seahawks QB Geno Smith Is Primed To Prove Doubters Wrong
Geno Smith may not have passed for a preseason touchdown, yet the tape shows Smith is ready to ball out at quarterback for the 2022 Seahawks:
Geno Smith’s preseason ended in 0 passing touchdowns over 3 games and 67 snaps. On the surface, that’s a troubling stat given the 31-year-old Smith is now the Seahawks’ 2022 starting quarterback. Delve deeper, though, and Smith’s preseason tape was full of quality quarterbacking.
“He could have had an extraordinary preseason,” head coach Pete Carroll said of Smith, the Thursday before Seattle’s regular season debut.
“You know, if you go back a lot of balls got dropped in his preseason. You know, he could have been 10 for 10, could have been 6 for 6 in the last one, you know? And, I don’t know, like 14 for 18 in the second game. You know? So he was on it, all the way throughout.”
The Seahawks barely played their upper string receivers and Smith was let down by patchy execution that will not exist in the regular season.
Armed with the All-22 and all-important context, hope—even optimism—exists. Here are 12 plays (and there were more) that show Smith can be an asset at quarterback for the Seahawks, rather than a liability.
You can return to this article as a comfort blanket if times are tough, talking heads are brutal, and the season does indeed turn shaky. Or—think positively—you can revisit this article as a crowning piece when Geno goes and proves his doubters wrong. It’s Geno time.
On Run
A lot of talk out of Seahawks training camp was that Drew Lock was a more mobile option at QB. Lock certainly felt more toolsy. Nevertheless, Smith managed to show a lot more mobility and improvisation skills than expected. This ability to throw on the run blends perfectly with the kind of movement and action concepts that Shane Waldron wants to lean on.
The former 2013 2nd round pick started the preseason hot, flashing on the second play of exhibition football, a 2nd and 3.
After shifting over his receiver and getting a zone coverage indicator, Smith quickly saw his primary stick combination well covered by the Steelers’ cover 2 defense.
Smith moved on to his backside route over the middle from Noah Fant, but this strange pattern was double covered.
Breaking the pocket to buy time, Smith glanced at his honey hole shot before firing to the improvised Fant for the first down and more.
On this play, Smith delivered an impressive throw on the move versus the Steelers’ 3-deep, 3-under fire zone.
The 2nd and 6 situation basically became a high-low conflict on the deep 1/3 cornerback. With the corner choosing to attack downhill on the out route, Smith knew the space in behind for Fant’s corner pattern was open.
Rolling right, Smith placed the football perfectly for Fant, behind the corner, outside the deep middle 1/3 safety, and away from the trailing seam-curl-flat defender. Unfortunately for Smith, Fant forgot to get his two feet in-bounds despite ample opportunity.
Beating Cover 2/Middle Field Open Zone
Smith’s ability against the now-trendy middle field open coverage concepts was particularly encouraging. He has clearly benefitted from practicing against Seattle’s two-high predominant defense.
In Dallas we got to see Geno with Tyler Lockett. And it sure was nice!
After a pre-snap shift, Smith probably thought he was getting man coverage on this play.
The Cowboys are a big nickel travel team though, so it was smart of Smith to work the pre-snap cadence to undress any potential disguise. Indeed, Smith’s patience at the line was rewarded with a hint of Dallas’ actual rotation into cover 2 zone.
Smith looked first to his shot in the honey hole to the boundary, but the cloud corner on that side did well to stay over the top with hands on the pattern. Moreover, the half safety had less room to run to break on this play.
Smith therefore switched his attention to his over the middle route at the bottom of his drop. This had three Dallas defenders—curl, middle run thru, and curl—converged on it.
So Smith moved up in the pocket, capitalizing on his tackle protection, before working back around to Tyler Lockett’s nestled corner route—a stop corner or “swirl” design. This was an impressive full-field read, striking right into the hole of the cover 2 defense.
Versus Chicago, we saw a vertical shot into the honey hole of cover 2 for an explosive pass.
Smith’s cadence once more tipped the defense’s rotation into two-high.
Smith quickly checked the backside safety was staying high before glancing to his #3 receiver’s special route, which was matched downfield by the middle run thru player.
The quarterback moved on to his seam route of his slot receiver, yet this was tightly packed by the curl defender and the half safety.
Observing all of this, Smith knew he could get the ball into his outside vertical route. He glanced to his backside to ensure the half safety stayed tight before beautifully lofting the pass to Penny Hart outside the half safety and behind the cloud cornerback.
Defenses do not expect quarterbacks to be able to make this throw to the field; Smith made it for a 2nd and 13 boom.
Another gorgeous Smith throw arrived versus cover 2, this time on a 1st and 10 in Pittsburgh.
Smith saw the defense rotated into the middle field open zone defense and the slot defender look to wall Cade Johnson away from the inside space, carrying to the half safety.
Most preseason veteran quarterbacks would see this deal, with the defense dropping deep, and check it down to their back over the middle in conservative fashion. Yet Smith was not scared to push the ball down the field when the opportunity existed.
Rather than stare Johnson’s bent seam route down, Smith kept his eyes peering at the half safety—using his outside vertical route too—before striking at the ideal moment, hitting Johnson for the big gain beneath the safety. The Seahawks got themselves down into the redzone and Smith ended up running it in himself to cap off the 2-minute drill with a touchdown.
Beating Middle Field Closed Match
Smith’s command of the Seahawks’ offense was made even clearer on his processing versus middle field closed, matching coverages. He was impressive even when defenses tried to get trickier…