4 winners and losers from Seattle Seahawks meltdown versus Ravens Week 9

Loser No. 2 - Quarterback Geno Smith

OK, so speaking of Smith, what the heck is wrong with him? A quarterback in their second full year as a starter in a system should be at least as good as he was in the first year, right? Ideally, and normally, the quarterback would be even better as they would know the system better and have experienced timing down with the receivers. But Geno Smith is simply awful lately and is worse than last season and getting worse as the 2023 season plays on.

Through eight games, Smith has thrown for 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions and has a quarterback rating of just 86.4. Among qualifying quarterbacks, that is 20th in the league (seriously, a third of the league is getting even worse quarterback play overall - Matthew Stafford has a QBR of 82.0, for example). But in the last four games, Smith has only one game with a quarterback rating higher than 78.0.

In his last six games, he has 6 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions plus 3 fumbles. The fumble in Week 9 was not his fault. He dropped back to pass, didn't get a clip block from running back Zach Charbonnet, Smith drew his arm back to pass and an edge rusher coming around the back of Smith hit the ball out. The same exact kind of play happened to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the first half. But the interception Smith threw was awful as he well overthrew Tyler Lockett and the ball was easily picked.

Geno Smith always admits to his mistakes. That's great in terms of taking accountability. But in terms of being a highly-paid professional quarterback expected to lead his young and talented roster to a playoff spot and being dangerous once in the postseason, Smith doesn't seem capable. Seattle will need to replace him sooner than later.