To be fair, we here at 12th Man Rising have defended Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith's play for quite some time. No, he is not perfect, but he has mostly been better than many national pundits have given him credit for. In the Seahawks' last two games, though? Smith has made atrocious mistakes with throws.
In Week 9, he made two costly mistakes in the red zone that likely ultimately cost Seattle the game. The quarterback has not been the reason in most games for Seattle to lose five of their last six games. That fifth loss, however? That was probably going to be on Smith.
If Seattle loses to the 49ers in Week 11, the loss might be Smith's fault too. Seattle started the second half with the ball deep in their own territory when Smith dropped back, felt pressure, rolled to his left, and tried to hit wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a first down by greatly overthrowing JSN into the waiting arms of a 49ers defender.
Geno Smith throws a terrible interception for the Seahawks in the second half versus the 49ers
Luckily, the 49ers were only able to get a field goal after the turnover to get to 10-6, but the damage was probably done. Seattle's defense was playing well enough to win the game for the second straight game. The offense was struggling a bit, but some of this was because the team failed to run Kenneth Walker III enough. Another failure was Smith holding on to the ball too long.
He tried not to do that on the poor pass to JSN, but Smith has not learned he can't force passes. Instead of throwing the ball away, he has turned into Russell Wilson and takes too many sacks or makes bad decisions on where to throw the ball.
Smith has turned into the kind of quarterback many Seahawks fans criticized. He is making too many mistakes and proving he should not be Seattle's long-term quarterback. Maybe Sam Howell deserves a chance to take over as quarterback, though that might not work either. The Seahawks simply need a new quarterback in 2025 in order to build for the future.
Even if Seattle took the lead, Smith basically gave the 49ers three points and that could help make the difference in a tight game. Still, at least Seattle was in a better position than they have been against the 49ers entering the fourth quarter in quite some time.
Update: Thankfully, we were wrong. Seattle and Smith came back to defeat the 49ers.