For Pete's Sake: 5 critical observations from Seattle Seahawks Week 6 loss

Geno Smith did not play well - and that's putting it kindly

Which brings me to Geno Smith. I am a big fan of Geno, so I am constantly amazed by the cry for Drew Lock to take over. I'm glad Lock is our backup, but he has in no way shown that he's better than Smith. He was two for six in relief of Smith in Week 4. Two of those six passes were bad throws, and of his 63 yards passing, a whopping 11 yards were the result of his passes. The remaining 52 yards were courtesy of Mr. Noah Fant. Again, I'm not knocking Drew Lock, but the clamor for his elevation above Geno Smith is absurd.

Now all that being said, Geno played his worst game of the season today. As Lee Vowell wrote, Smith gave the Seahawks ample reason to take a deep look at next year's draft class. On the surface, his stats look okay. 27-41 for 294 yards is a good day. I mean, it's a damn sight better than the 112 or 110 he threw for against the Rams or Giants. Unfortunately, he also threw two interceptions. Remember those plays I said we'd get back to? Yeah, we're getting all caught up here. There isn't exactly a good time to throw a pick, but some are worse than others. A desperation Hail Mary bomb at the end of a game that gets picked off, well, that isn't great, but what else are you going to do? No, Smith's INTs in this game were far worse.

The first was the one target that Smith-Njigba didn't catch. JSN was double-covered, and Smith threw the ball late and to the inside of JSN's route. It was the easiest pick ever for Bengals defensive back Mike Hilton. Even worse, that pick was made at about the Bengals three-yard line with the Seahawks driving to take the lead back, trailing 14-10. Smith's second pick wasn't quite as egregious, but the end result was just as disastrous for Seattle.

Trailing 14-13, Smith set up at his own 36-yard line. He clearly expected DK Metcalf to cut his route across the field. You can just as clearly see that Metcalf expected the ball to come to the outside. The end result was another easy pick for the Bengals at their own 42. That led to their only field goal of the game, and the decisive four-point lead they would never surrender. Did Metcalf run the wrong route, or did Smith run the wrong play? Regardless, Smith called the play and threw the pass. That might not be fair to Geno, but he took the blame for the loss after the game, and rightly so.