Seahawks Week 3 MVP: Geno Smith continues to do his job

The Seahawks didn’t come away with a win vs the Falcons, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t see some strong performances. Geno Smith did more than enough for the Hawks to win.

I think it’s clear by now to even the most diehard 12s that this is going to be a tough year for our Seahawks. That was to be expected, considering Seattle moved on from two first-ballot Hall of Famers.

Add that the Hawks are starting a minimum of three rookies every game, and the expectations should be relatively low.

Now, that doesn’t mean for one moment that the Seahawks don’t have high expectations for themselves. I mean, if they went into any game assuming they’d lose, they wouldn’t be in the NFL. That applies to the rookies as well as the veteran players. I’d say no one on the team has higher expectations for himself than Geno Smith. And so far, he’s more than living up to those.

Geno Smith did all he could for a Seahawks win

The Hawks made a lot of mistakes in the loss to the Falcons. And I mean, a lot of mistakes. They’re still not running the ball effectively. Through three games, Rashaad Penny only has 32 carries. He’s proven to be a workhorse at this point in his career and should be averaging at least 16 yards per carry. Instead, that’s his season high.

The rest of the Hawks backfield has had very little chance to contribute, either. Ken Walker has had just seven carries, despite being healthy for the last two games. DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer have combined for seven rushing attempts so far this season.

The entire team has only run the ball 56 times in three games. For a team that wants to establish the run to open up the passing game, less than 19 carries per game aren’t exactly helping your quarterback.

Penny played well in his limited opportunities. Tyler Lockett was targeted 11 times and came away with nine catches, so he did his job as well. But no one came through for the Seahawks like the man who said “I ain’t called back”, Geno Smith. Yes, he threw a pick at the end of the game that sealed the win for the Falcons. He was also five-for-five on that final drive until then. He was only picked off because the Hawks faced fourth-and-18 after a hold by Damien Lewis wiped out a 13-yard catch by Penny.

Yes, Smith took a couple of sacks too, including on the Hawks penultimate play. Considering that the Falcons blitzed 12 times, he did very well. In fact, he was only pressured six times on 44 attempts. As recorded by the fine folks at pro-football-reference.com, the Hawks signal caller only made two bad throws for the entire game. The Seahawks had a great chance to win this game. More than anyone else, that was due to the play of Geno Smith.