Connor Williams retired from the Seahawks this week. There was a lot of conjecture that he was leaving over his on-field performance. Williams made no secret that he was disappointed in himself, but Geno Smith just proved - again - that the former center was not the entire problem on all those missed snaps.
Connor Williams took a lot of heat this season for some bad snaps that sailed over Geno Smith's hands. Rightly so, too. He single-handedly wrecked the Hawks' chances against the Bills. One snap sailed at least a yard above Geno Smith's hands as he leaped to get the errant snap. Then later Williams was shoved off the line and stepped on Smith's foot, killing another drive.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, Geno Smith caused just as much wreckage in Week 9 as Williams did in Week 8. Smith missed open receivers and threw two inexplicably bad picks in the red zone. He had another pick too, but that wasn't entirely on him. There was also another missed snap. But that time, it wasn't on Williams.
The Seattle Seahawks need Geno Smith to focus on every snap
That blown exchange against the Rams was on Geno Smith. Replays clearly showed Smith looking to his left as the ball was snapped. Part of the issue, at least to my mind, is that the Hawks consistently let the play clock run down to the last second. Several times a game, Williams was forced to snap the ball to avoid delay of game penalties.
Surprise, surprise. Williams has retired, Olu Oluwatimi is the starting center, and we saw another bad snap today. We've seen more snaps under center - thank goodness for small favors. Yet we still got a bad exchange. Olu's snap was a little bit to Smith's left, but it was still shoulder-high. All Smith needed to do was move his hands about six inches to his left. Yet, he muffed the exchange.
Smith dialed it up later in the game, but for the Hawks to win today and throughout the season, he cannot continue to make those mistakes. I know, it might be unfair to ask him to play flawless ball when virtually no one else on this team is. The reality is that he has to if the Hawks are going to turn this season around.