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Pete Carroll is known for his relentless positivity. His infectious energy and seemingly constant affirmations are some of what has made him a national championship and Super Bowl-winning head coach at the college and pro levels. So, when he openly talked about Geno Smith and his lack of consistency this season, it “surprised” former Seattle Seahawks linebacker KJ Wright.
KJ Wright Translates Pete Carroll’s QB Comments
Retired Seahawks star KJ Wright joined Brock Huard and Mike Salk for their weekly chat on Seattle Sports radio this week and the hosts played the former linebacker Pete Carroll’s quotes about Geno Smith following the team’s dramatic 29-26 win over the Washington Commanders in Week 10.
“He was a little more consistent last year,” Carroll said. “I think we saw a little more consistency game-to-game.”
The coach went on to say Smith played “magnificent football” down the stretch in Week 10 and praised his cool, calm demeanor in a close game. Still, Wright — who played for Carroll from 2011 to 2020 — found the fact that Carroll started on a somewhat negative note interesting.
“That is one billion percent true,” Wright said of Carroll’s inconsistency assessment of Smith. “Coming from Coach Carroll? I was a little surprised hearing it from Coach Carroll. He usually stays present. Usually stays in the moment.”
After playing for Carroll for a decade, Wright knows what his former head coach was trying to do.
“What the idea here there is [Carroll saying], ‘I want to see the old Geno. I want to see a consistent Geno. I want to see no turnovers Geno,’” Wright translated. “Obviously, the last previous games he hasn’t been the Geno we’ve all been accustomed to seeing, so he just wanted to him to be more consistent, and I do believe when he does say that, he’s talking about the turnovers.”
Those turnovers are a little worse this season, but the team and its QB are in a similar spot as they were last season. The biggest difference between 2022 and 2023 is Smith not hitting on all cylinders like he did last year.
‘Consistency’ Isn’t Really Geno Smith’s Main Problem in 2023
Heading into Week 11 last season — which was the Seahawks bye week — Seattle was 6-4 on the season. This team is 6-3 with their bye in the books. As for Smith, the turnovers and his completion percentage are worse right now.
In 2022, Smith had 11 interceptions all season and just 4 through 10 weeks. He has 7 picks in 2023 through nine games. He also completed a league-leading 69.8% of his passes during his first season as the Seahawks starter but is only connecting on 65.3% of his throws this year.
Smith’s PFF grades for last season were 79.8 overall, 76.1 passing, and 82.8 rushing. This season, they are 75.3 overall, 75.0 passing, and 58.7 rushing. That last number is interesting.
In 2022, Smith scrambled 33 times for 306 yards. Through nine games this season, the Seahawks QB has just 11 scrambles for 71 yards, putting him on pace for 21 for 131 yards. That’s 175 of lost yardage and keeping defenses honest this season.
Digging even deeper into the numbers, Smith was actually more “inconsistent” last season in terms of highs and lows, per his PFF grades.
Smith has three games PFF graded in the 50s this season, and the rest are all in the 70s, meaning he was pretty good in those games and not great — but also not horrendous — in the 50s games. In 2022, Smith had three games graded in the 90s, one in the 80s, two in the 70s, eight in the 60s, and four in the 50s, including two games in the low 50s that were worse than anything he’s done this season.
While Carroll might label Smith’s lesser play this season as a problem with consistency, what it really involves is not hitting the heights he did last year, especially in the first half of the season last year.
The good news is Smith did play one of his best games of the year in Week 10, leading a game-winning drive to beat the Commanders and throwing for a career-high 369 yards. This could be a sign Smith is on the rise, and his best ball is still ahead of him in 2023 and early 2024.
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