It's really easy to point fingers at Geno Smith right now. The Seattle Seahawks and every other NFL team usually preforms based on how the quarterback preforms. The key word is, usually. It's not that simple to just point at a QB and say that he is the entire problem with a team's performance.
Before I dive too deeply into this narrative, I have to mention the fact that Geno Smith and the Seahawks are sitting at 5-3 on the season right now. We aren't talking about a 3-5 team, we aren't talking about a team that has no hope.
Are the Seahawks true Super Bowl contenders right now? No, they truly are not. But that does not mean there is nothing to play for.
Remember how good it felt last year to be a team that everyone counted out, then finding a way to finish the season 2-0 and end up with a 9-8 record? Oh yeah, and make the playoffs. That felt REALLY good.
You know what else was good about that? All the young players from our stellar 2022 NFL Draft were able to get a feel of what the NFL Playoffs is like. We still have a chance to make our way to the playoffs this year and show the 2023 draft class what the playoffs feels like too.
Let's not forget we are the 5th youngest team in football. There is a lot of good that goes into being able to get playoff experience under your belt. The Seattle Seahawks want to be able to do that again this year.
Now back to the QB conversation. Today was a day on X (formerly Twitter), that had everyone talking about one thing and one things only:
Should the Seahawks bench Geno Smith and go with Drew Lock at quarterback.
I am not going to sit here and say "YES, bench him..." But I will say that I understand why many people might feel that way.
After further thought and evaluation... I understand why a lot of Seahawks fans wanted to see Drew Lock in there.
— Sami ON Tap (@SamiOnTap) November 5, 2023
Im not saying I agree with benching Geno Smith or changing QBs...
It wouldn't have hurt to throw Lock in there when we were down 30-3.
Why not see what he has? pic.twitter.com/7wdyW608Vm
I am not going to sit here and say "YES, bench him..." But I will say that I understand why many people might feel that way. I also understand one important thing... It would not have hurt to give Drew Lock a chance once we were down 30-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Would that have resulted in anything? I don't know. I also don't think it would. It would've been ONE quarter and it would have shown us nearly nothing unless he went down field and scored two touchdowns and shocked the Ravens defense. I do not believe that would have happened.
I am not saying I think Geno Smith is the long term solution for the Seahawks, he probably knows that, and the organization knows that. But there are some issues that are not in his power.
Remember, there are 32 teams in the NFL and the Seahawks after Week 8 were still at 24th in pass blocking grades on PFF.com with a 57.7 gradeand I am pretty sure they will be even lower after the Week 9 grades drop. Right now at 78.7 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are sitting at first in the NFL, and yet many people think Baker Mayfield could've worked in our system... He would be running for his life.
Last year was not much better, but it was better, they sat at 20th in the NFL in pass blocking grades when the season was over. An overall grade of 64.2. The Philadelphia Eagles were at number 1 with an 84.9 grade to put that in perspective.
We are almost at 10 grade points below where we were last year. That's how bad the offensive line has been. It's been really bad. Yes, a lot of that is injury, but Geno Smith can't control that.
Let's not mistake Geno Smith's performances with the overall teams performances. They are all things to take into factor.
Overall, I am not sure how much better Drew Lock will be with no protection and no time. I do not think it's that simple to just put a different QB in a expect better results.
Let's fix the team and stop blaming only Geno Smith.