Those who wanted the Seahawks to replace Geno Smith: A word, please

Geno Smith is playing far above most expectations

I imagine that gaudy 77.3 percent completion rate gives it away, but if not, Player B is Geno Smith. Player A is Mayfield, C is Garoppolo, and D is Wilson. All stats are from pro-football-reference.com. One reason I included the air yards before the catch is that it helps to show who’s being helped by receivers who routinely turn short passes into big gains. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Jimmy G.

I know what you’re thinking, 12s. Sure, the passer rating is great (third in the league). Yeah, that QBR is okay, too (fifth in the NFL). But hey, look at that dismal YAC! You’re right, that 3.7-yard average is bad. Here’s the funny thing about that: the Hawks have been dismal in that department for years. Last season, their 5.4 YAC ranked 12th, but in 2020, they ranked 24th. The Hawks ranked 23rd and 25th in 2019 and 2018. Somehow, I don’t think Geno Smith had anything to do with those stats.

Let’s check a few more fun stats, shall we? I won’t be coy here; by now you should realize Geno Smith is going to look pretty good here, too. We’ll look at the percentages of passes dropped, passes deemed on target, total pressures on the QB, and average yards gained per scramble.

Player           Drop%      OnTrgt%       Press%         Scrmbl Avg

Baker               6.3            61.3           17.9             6.0

Geno                0.8            82.9           21.8           11.8

Jimmy              5.2            44.2           14.5             3.0

Russell            8.7            77.0            29.1            6.5