The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1 of the 2023 regular season. The offense was bad. The defense was horrible. And the special teams was just OK. We do know that the fault of Seattle losing does not completely fall on Geno Smith's back.
I am not saying Smith was excellent in Week 1, but he also had zero help. The defense couldn't get the Rams off the field on third down. Seattle's offensive play-calling was inconsistent.
But what can we take away from Geno Smith in Week 1? He was 16 of 26 for only 112 yards. Was that his fault completely? Here are some thoughts.
Geno Smith was not the problem with the Seahawks Week 1 loss
Was Geno Smith great in Week 1? No. But was he the reason that Seattle lost? Um, no. Absolutely not. For those people calling for Geno Smith to be replaced either 1) didn't see the game, 2) have a personal dislike of Geno Smith, or 3) don't know football. It's cool to be a fan, and if you are a Seahawks fan then great! But if you blame Geno Smith for the Week 1 loss then you are simply wrong.
There are many reasons Seattle lost to the Rams. Seattle's secondary was bad. The pass rush was non-existent. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron's play-calling was horrific. Tight end Noah Fant couldn't find a way to get open nor did he block well. Sure, Geno Smith did miss an open Jake Bobo over the middle on one play and he made an iffy decision on a 3rd and 4 to go deep down the sidelines, but did that cost Seattle the game? Nope.
It also didn't help that Smith lost both his starting tackles during the game. Any chance Seattle had of coming back in the fourth quarter was wiped away with Abe Lucas and Charles Cross leaving the game. The bigger issue for Smith was that his receivers simply couldn't get open which is odd. Did the Rams just know what Seattle's receivers were going to do or have our hopes far exceeded what DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are capable of?
Geno Smith could be better in Week 2
All that said in the first slide, Geno Smith could be better moving forward. As I said, he missed a wide open Jake Bobo over the middle on a flea-flicker that could have gone for at least 25 yards. The miss was made worse as kicker Jason Myers missed the field goal on the drive. Smith to Bobo could have been a touchdown, and that could have made the score 20-7. That could very well have changed the narrative of the game.
Or maybe not. Los Angeles outscored the Seahawks 23-0 in the second half and even if Seattle had scored another 10 points, they likely would have lost. Seattle's offense couldn't stay on the field and Seattle's defense couldn't get the Rams off the field. Los Angeles picked up 11 of 17 third downs and executed its only fourth down attempt and the last I looked Smith doesn't play defense. Maybe he should because he couldn't have done any worse than Seattle's defense did.
And Geno Smith did make that error of judgment on 3rd and 4 when he threw a low percentage pass to DK Metcalf that fell incomplete. Maybe there was no one open over the middle or on the other side of the field anyway, but if Smith thought that was his best option - or only option - that's really the only excuse for making that decision. Seattle needed to run the ball more anyway, but instead had to rely on these kinds of throws from Geno Smith to win the game.
The weird part was that the offense looked so out of sync. Same quarterback as 2022 and most of the same key players. Instead, Geno Smith appeared to be guiding his offense for the first time ever and it was ugly.
Should the Seahawks already think of replacing Geno Smith?
So, I ask this question and mean it to be somewhat loaded. Was Geno Smith the problem for Seattle in Week 1? No. Was he part of the problem? Maybe. But the who team was an issues, except for maybe Kenneth Walker III. If I had to guess, I would assume that the Seahawks choose to use Walker a lot more in Week 2 and beyond. I am still fairly unclear why they chose not to keep handing the ball to Walker.
But would replacing Geno Smith have made Week 1 better? Say Seattle had chosen a top-three quarterback in the 2023 NFL draft, would they be better now? Would the team be better in 2024? That's debatable and if there is any chance that the team isn't better next year with a younger quarterback then Smith still needs to be QB1.
And please, don't bring up any arguments for Drew Lock to overtake Smith as the starting quarterback. What proof does anyone have that Lock would have been better than Smith in Week 1? We have never seen Lock play a regular season game for the Seahawks. Meanwhile, in 2022, we saw Smith be pretty good for Seattle.
The bottom line is that general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll are definitely not thinking of replacing Geno Smith at this point. Fans tend to overreact to what happens in the first week of a season but coaches and front office personnel cannot afford to do so. Let's see how Geno Smith plays throughout the season and then Seattle can make the decision on whether to replace him or not.