3 major observations from Geno Smith's performance vs. Commanders in Week 10

The Seattle Seahawks moved to 6-3 in 2023 with a 29-26 victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 10. Geno Smith had his most efficient game in weeks. While Smith and the offense still need to be a lot more consistent, at least Week 10 is a sign of hope for future games.

Seattle must have a win in Week 11 as well when they travel to Los Angeles to play a 3-6 Rams team. No offense to the Rams as they did beat the Seahawks in Week 1, but they pose one of the less scary opponents Seattle has left on their schedule. Plus, Seattle might want revenge against the team that beat them so badly earlier in the season.

To make the playoffs, Seattle needs a lot more games from Geno Smith like he produced against the Commanders. If he is efficient, he gives Seattle a chance against the 49ers, Cowboys, and Eagles. If he starts turning the ball over a bunch again, Seattle could miss the playoffs completely. These are some thoughts on Geno Smith's game against the Commanders, though.

Geno Smith's early frustrations

While statistically the Seahawks were dominating, on the scoreboard they were not. Until very late in the first half, Seattle was always playing from behind. The issue was that once against Seattle was struggling to convert promising drives into touchdowns. By the time halftime began, Seattle had scored one touchdown in their last nine quarters. That's not winning football.

Not all of that issue was Geno Smith's fault, of course, but a big part of it was. He is the quarterback, after all, so unless he has a running back who is fumbling all the time or receivers who can't catch, the quarterback is going to take the blame. But Smith didn't play poorly in the first half; His offense simply couldn't score touchdowns.

A lot of this can be credited to what Washington was doing defensively as they seemed to dial up well-designed blitzes to put pressure on Smith once the Seahawks were deep in Washington territory. The Commanders didn't get home on Smith often, but the pressure affected what Seattle wanted to do. Still, after starting the game completing most of his throws, Smith went into a funk for much of the second quarter until midway through the third quarter where he couldn't complete many passes at all.