In order to truly appreciate what Geno Smith accomplished on Sunday, we must first not talk about him at all. The Los Angeles Rams ran out the worst collection of offensive “talent” in the NFL on Sunday. They were without either starting receiver, their starting QB, a number of offensive linemen, and were playing a RB who had to take leave from the team earlier this season because he was both bad and a malcontent. Even when this team had their starters, they had scored more than 20 points just twice all year. Despite all that, the Seahawks defense made them look almost prolific on the way to giving up 23 points and 171 yards rushing (by far, the Rams season high). As bad as last week’s performance was in giving up over 300 yards to one player, this week was far worse. At least Josh Jacobs is good at football.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks run offense has been as bad as their run defense, but started off this game with a slashing 30-yard burst by Kenneth Walker III. It looked like the good times might be back. They were not. Walker would manage 6 more yards on two more carries before exiting with an ankle injury. DeeJay Dallas came on and then got injured himself right before halftime. Tony Jones Jr. (yes, he is someone who plays for the this team) came on and got hit so hard his contact flew out of one eye, and he had to remove the other one as he had no spare, and played the rest of the game with vision bad enough that he legally would not have been allowed to drive a car.
The running backs also took turns allowing their quarterback to get hit on blitzes. Then the offensive line thought that seemed fun and did it a few times themselves, including one blindside hit that caused a fumble and nearly knocked Smith from the game. On that fumble, Tyler Lockett had a chance to recover but made a business decision to not dive after the ball as Bobby Wagner was in the vicinity.
You are Geno Smith. Your defense is playing so poorly that people without sight are turning away from the TV screen. Your running game is nonexistent. Your pass protection is as bad as it has been this season. You are getting blasted and are in real pain. You even are given an interception on a play where your running back caught the ball and hit the ground before surrendering it to the defender. What do you do?
You have what may be the best game of your career. You put all the beaten and bleeding teammates on your back and you drag them to victory against a very motivated Rams defense. You throw for a career high 367 yards and toss 3 touchdowns, including the last one with just over 30 seconds remaining in the game against a corner who believes he is the best in football.
To be fair, Smith piled up those numbers in partnership with Lockett (9 catches in 12 targets for 128 yards), DK Metcalf (8 catches in 8 targets for 127 yards), and Noah Fant (4 catches in 5 targets for 42 yards), and also had some great pass protection when he was not getting sacked.
Still, this game is one that all but the best quarterbacks would have lost. Step back, and you see Smith is on pace for 31 TDs, almost 4,500 yards, while completing over 72% of his passes.
No player in NFL history has ever had 30+ TDs, 4,000+ yards and completed over 72% of his passes. Drew Brees is the only player to have ever completed more than 72% of his passes with more than 30 TDs in a season.
Smith is not just having his best season and a career renaissance. He is having one of the best statistical seasons by a quarterback in the history of the sport.
This game tape is what Seattle should submit to any MVP voter. This is what MVPs do.
As brilliant as Smith was, there were a few other standouts worth mentioning. Tariq Woolen collected his NFL best 6th interception, which also set the Seahawks rookie record. Like so many of his picks, it looked easy. The best in the game often do that.
Woolen’s best plays may have been on two pass breakups that did not result in a pick. My favorite was on the last drive for the Rams, where Woolen broke on a pass from behind the receiver and jumped around the player to swat the ball down without making contact. It was teaching tape material.
His other pass breakup was nearly as pretty and was close to being another interception.
Woolen finished with more pass breakups (3) than in any other game this season, and is looking more refined as time passes. He will have some tough competition for defensive rookie of the year, but he deserves that award.
Metcalf had one of his best games. Rarely a high efficiency player, Metcalf caught all eight of his targets. He has never had a more efficient game with at least that volume of targets. He did it all while going after Jalen Ramsey verbally and physically. A number of the catches came against a different defender, but make no mistake, this was a brawl between those two. It was absolutely delectable for the game-winning score to come on a pass to Metcalf with Ramsey trailing and helpless.
There is such animosity between those two that I stuck around as the clock wound down and the teams came onto the field to see if they would get into a fight. They did not.
Lockett was his normal dependable self, and as much as I think it is fair to call him out for not going after the Smith fumble earlier, he deserves praise for putting his body on the line to lunge for a big first down on the final drive when facing a 3rd and 10.
Fant played a nice game and seems to be coming on and gaining more trust from Smith. He is now solidly the Seahawks third-most targeted receiver.
It may just be me, but I think Colby Parkinson merits more targets. He has good hands and shows a lot of burst.
I liked what I saw from Tre Brown in his first real action back. He was called for a pass interference that was a good call, but also illustrated the speed and break on the ball ability of Brown. That play demonstrated the difference in ability of Brown versus Michael Jackson. Jackson is a solid backup and occasional starter. Brown may ultimately prove to be a Pro Bowl level corner. That is the upside I see, and want to see far more of him the rest of the way.
Uchenna Nwosu had two more sacks and now has 9.0 on the season. Jordyn Brooks had his first sack of the year, and first since week four of last season. He was shot out of cannon and made every Seahawks fan wonder why he is not sent more often on blitzes.
Brooks is a bit of enigma. He piles up tackles, but almost none of them are at, or behind, the line of scrimmage. He entered this game with only one tackle for loss in 122 tackles. That is awful. The play of the line in front of him clearly is part of it, but if Brooks really wants to be an elite linebacker, it will be through more impact plays like that sack.
The special teams also deserves a shout given they had been such a menace earlier in the season and have quietly been excellent for weeks now.
The news out of Santa Clara is that they have lost their second quarterback for the season. What seemed absolutely a given that they were going to romp to the division title is now in question. Seattle plays the Panthers at home this Sunday. The 49ers play the Bucs. That will be the first game where a defense can prepare knowing about the QB situation. The Bucs defense is decent and their season is on the line each week. If the Bucs can somehow win that game, and the Seahawks do their job against the Panthers (no sure thing), the Thursday night game four days later where Seattle hosts San Francisco could end up deciding the division title.
That seems crazy to even talk about given how bad the Seahawks defense has been. It is also true. There have been so many unexpected twists and turns in this season. Maybe we are in for one more.