Geno’s ‘enormous impact’ felt as Seahawks rally

Brady Henderson, ESPNDec 24, 2023, 07:42 PM ET
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Geno Smith went through a range of emotions last Monday night, first angry over Pete Carroll’s decision to not start him because of his injured groin and then elated when Drew Lock led a game-winning touchdown drive to beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

Smith’s eventful week ended with a game-winning touchdown drive of his own Sunday — and a place in NFL history because of it.

Down 17-13 to the Tennessee Titans with three minutes, 21 seconds left, Smith took the Seahawks 75 yards on 14 plays. He capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson with a minute left to put Seattle ahead 20-17 for good.

“I feel like Drew did a great job last week and we had a chance to match it this week,” Smith said. “As I’m going out there, I’m not thinking about anything else besides the situation … and how we can get in the end zone. I thought [offensive coordinator Shane Waldron] did a great job. I thought protection held up great. Obviously receivers did a great job of getting open and Colby made a heck of a catch to seal the deal right there.”

Parkinson’s score marked the third lead change of the fourth quarter, following a Smith touchdown pass to DK Metcalf that put Seattle up 13-10 and then a Derrick Henry TD run. The two go-ahead touchdown passes give Smith six this season in the fourth quarter or overtime. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s tied for most in a season in NFL history. Four others have thrown that many, most recently Justin Herbert in 2021 and Kirk Cousins in 2020.

Smith also has three go-ahead touchdown passes in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime this season, which is tied for the most in NFL history, per Elias.

“You’ve got to be around him to appreciate the competitive mentality that he has,” coach Pete Carroll said. “He’s in such a good place. He believes so strongly that it’s going to happen and it’s going to get done and his guys are going to come through for him. That belief, it translates to other guys and they feel him. They go through and do what they’re supposed to do and it comes out well. He’s having an enormous impact on these guys just because his mentality is so strong and so consistent.”

Smith was playing for the first time since Nov. 30, when he had perhaps his best game of the season with three touchdown passes in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys. But his hopes of continuing that momentum the following week were derailed when he injured his groin in practice seven days later, causing him to miss the next two games. Smith worked out before the Eagles game and felt he was healthy enough to play, which is why he vehemently protested Carroll’s decision to not start him.

Smith looked as though he might have had some rust to shake off in the first half Sunday, going 10-of-16 for 69 yards and barely missing would-be touchdown throws to Parkinson and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, both in the corner of the end zone. The Seahawks trailed 10-3.

Then Smith caught fire in the second half, going 15-of-20 for 158 yards and his touchdowns to Metcalf and Parkinson. He finished 25-of-36 for 227 yards, with three sacks and no turnovers.

“Those passes were like an inch from being a touchdown,” he said of his first-half misses, “so you’ve got to kind of live with those at times. I wish I had thrown it sooner … I wish I had thrown a little more flat ball to Jaxon. I thought I did a pretty good job to Colby. He got one foot in, wasn’t able to get that second one down. But overall we’ve got to learn from those things and I think we corrected those in the second half.”

Carroll said Friday that Smith appeared to be all the way back from his groin injury, and the coach reiterated that thought postgame Sunday.

“There’s no doubt,” Carroll said. “He got whacked a couple times today but he made it through it.”

Smith’s previous go-ahead touchdown passes in the fourth quarter or overtime this season came in wins over the Detroit Lions in Week 2 (two), Cleveland Browns in Week 8 and Washington Commanders in Week 10.

On Sunday, he went 7-of-10 for 57 yards on the game-winning drive.

“In those situations, they’re nice because you get four downs, you know that going down the field you have four downs, incompletions are all right, on to the next play,” Lock said. “I thought he did an awesome job of doing that tonight, even after a couple incompletions, next play. Next play mentality the whole drive. Keep chipping, chipping, chipping, chipping. Got it done.”

Smith’s final touchdown pass came on a play the Seahawks have had installed the entire season but had yet to run until Waldron called it. The 6-foot-7 Parkinson got a favorable matchup, one-on-one against 5-11 cornerback Tre Avery.

“That’s cool because we’ve been working on it for a long time,” Carroll said. “To make that play down there and to have a good matchup and Geno threw a great ball. He ripped it to him. It’s been looking good in practice, so I love that we went to that right there because that was probably the last thing they thought was going to happen, that we would throw to him in that situation. They won’t think that anymore.”

Said Parkinson: “This was the first time that we called it and I didn’t want it to be the last time, so I had to come down with the ball.”

With Seattle improving to 8-7 and the Minnesota Vikings falling to 7-8 with a loss to Detroit, the Seahawks moved back into the NFC’s No. 7 seed and now control their own playoff destiny. If they win their final two games — vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday and at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 18 — they’ll be assured of a wild-card berth.

“That’s a good thing,” Carroll said. “That’s a good thing. This week, that’s all it is.”