The resurgence of Geno Smith’s career has been nothing short of unbelievable. The nine-year veteran hasn’t been a consistent starter since his second NFL season. After spending the next four seasons as a backup in multiple spots, he landed with the Seattle Seahawks as Russell Wilson’s backup.
Not many get a second chance the way Smith has. And even fewer do succeed when afforded another opportunity. Smith has quietly sharpened his steel over the past six years, and the Seahawks are reaping the rewards of his hard work.
With the game tied at 13, Smith led Seattle on a five-play, 75-yard drive culminating in a 33-yard TD for Tyler Lockett. It was this week’s NFL turning point, so let’s take a look at his perfect drive play-by-play.
Week 8 NFL Turning Point: Geno Smith Proving His Place
Smith currently ranks fourth in QBR, fifth in DVOA, and first in CPOE. And he’s not living life around the line of scrimmage, either. His aDOT is 8.3 yards, good for 12th in the NFL of the 35 QBs with at least 128 plays.
His touchdown pass to Lockett was just one example of his brilliance so far in 2022. But we’ll get to that later. But credit is also due to Shane Waldron, who called one helluva drive.
Play 1: Hitch to D.K. Metcalf Versus Cover 3
Aside from the shotgun, tight split, and motion to four strong, this reminds me of “the glory days” of high school. A defense running Cover 3 and an offense running a five-yard hitch.
It appears Waldron had felt out Wink Martindale’s defense enough to feel confident he’d get the look he wanted here. The backside hitch is the first read here, and the motion to a 4×1 distribution forced the slot defender into the box. D.K. Metcalf’s speed and the cornerback’s deep third responsibility made this an easy pitch and catch.
Play 2: The Running Play That Wasn’t
The above play is an under center, 13 personnel, wide zone call. But sticking with the run seems counter-intuitive when you have an Olympic sprinter on your football team, a loaded box, and a cornerback sitting seven yards off the ball.
Smith agrees, and it’s why he throws the swing to Goodwin, who makes an excellent play to pick up six yards.
Play 3: Split Zone Play Action
In the cat-and-mouse game of offensive vs. defensive play-calling, it’s always nice to see when an offensive call perfectly picks on the defensive call. If the cornerback doesn’t half-heartedly blitz and instead acts as a laser-guided missile at Smith’s outside hip, maybe we’re singing a different tune about this game. But he didn’t, so here we are.
Metcalf’s motion here might have triggered the corner blitz in this case. The run action freezes both linebackers and momentarily gets them moving in the wrong direction. Using Lockett from his alignment even a bit wide of a traditional wing as a “sniffer.”
The cornerback blitz vacates the flat, and Lockett slips right by the bewildered defender on his way to a 12-yard gain to move the sticks.
Play 4: Picking on Jason Pinnock
It looks like the Giants are playing “Stump” on the strong side of the formation and “Cone” on the backside. But by the fourth play of this series, it’s clear that Seattle is confident attacking Pinnock.
The interesting part of this rep is both outside cornerbacks are so quick to open their hips wide. This allows Metcalf a completely free release, and the depth of his route sets Pinnock up perfectly.
Any deeper, and Pinnock probably gets into a trail position on Metcalf and can then undercut this out route. It’s an interesting decision to play this from depth instead of from press.
We haven’t talked about Smith much because there hasn’t been much degree of difficulty in the first three throws or reads, but the fourth play changes that. This was a nice leverage read from Smith here and some nice anticipation. He’s delivering this pass as Metcalf is coming out of his break.
Play 5: The Bomb
Tyler Lockett had an uncharacteristic fumble and drop in this game earlier, but he got a hug on the sideline from Pete Carroll after this play. The Giants sit back in Cover 3 here, and Adoree Jackson gets his hand caught in the cookie jar.
Lockett hit Jackson with the double move, and Jackson bit hard on the stop route that wasn’t. Jackson drove and peeked into Smith in the backfield, and that was all she wrote. Smith gave the defense a bit of a pump fake and the rest, as they say, is history.
Smith does a nice job not lofting this one more because, on the pump, the center field safety was already driving to the vertical route. Smith drives this one into the makeshift honey hole, giving the Seahawks a seven-point lead that they would not surrender.
