Blaming Geno Smith for Seahawks' bad start to Week 1 is missing the point

Were the Seattle Seahawks offense's issues at the beginning of Week 1 the fault of quarterback Geno Smith or the offensive line? One appears obvious. The other gets a lot of blame because he is the quarterback.

To some, there is little Geno Smith can do right. They will always believe he is a bad quarterback even though very little proof is offered for his being a poor player. "Geno is bad" seems to be their prevalent thought without giving any evidence as to why.

Last year, Smith led the league in game-winning drives as well as fourth quarter comebacks. The year before, he led the NFL in completion percentage and the NFC in touchdown passes. Still, some will say he makes far too many mistakes even though his interception rate over the last two seasons is lower than every other NFC West quarterback except the San Francisco 49ers' Brock Purdy.

Geno Smith is not to blame for the Seahawks slow start to Week 1

In Week 1, Smith went seven for nine on passes of 10-plus yards for 110 yards and a touchdown. Overall, he ran for a touchdown and threw for another. He got better as the game wore on.

The reason for this is that the failure of the offense at the beginning of the 26-20 Week 1 victory over the Denver Broncos was due to the offensive line being atrocious. On the first play, Smith was sacked. On the second play, he threw an interception because he was hit low and could not move his feet to throw the ball away.

Most of Smith's passing yards came in the second half when the O-line was more efficient. The quarterback had more time, the play-calling was a bit more balanced and that did not let the Broncos peel their ears back and chase Smith, and the offense scored 17 points.

There is no - nor should there be a - quarterback controversy for the Seahawks. Geno Smith is a good quarterback and he has proven that over the last two years. Is he the best QB in the league? No. There is only one Patrick Mahomes. Smith is capable of leading the team to the playoffs, though, and he did that in 2022.

He simply needs more time to throw the ball and have a better-balanced offense. If the way the Seahawks played in the second half against the Broncos is how the offense will play for most of the rest of the year, the offense will look good. So will Geno Smith.

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