Geno Smith not only saved the day, but possibly his job as well.
The offense looked shaky early on for the Seattle Seahawks against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, but there was still fight left in the quarterback. With less than four minutes remaining, Smith threw a game-winning touchdown in the final minute to tight end Colby Parkinson.
It showed head coach Pete Carroll where Smith’s head has been after giving up the starting job to Drew Lock last week.
“You’ve got to be around him to appreciate the competitive mentality that he has,” Carroll said, via the Seahawks website. “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. And that belief it transfers, translates to other guys, they feel him. So 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 said that winning drive was one he had been wanting to throw all season.
“We’ve been practicing it, man,” Smith said after the, 20-17, win “I feel like we’ve been practicing it every day, you know — since the start of training camp, and the situation just hasn’t come yet. But, at the right time, the perfect time, coach called it and we knew exactly what we were going to do.”
Smith’s ability to end on the highly-practiced play didn’t negate from how he utilized that offense all game, however.
“I thought Geno used everybody so well today, and to go to Colby at the end, it’s something we’ve been looking forward to doing, working on,” Carroll said. “Everybody was watching him, and everybody knew it was going to him. And he came through with a great play, it was a great throw and also a great catch to win it right there. It gives us the kind of flexibility that we can really move the ball, but it doesn’t happen unless the big guys protect like they did, and they did a great job.”
About Jessica Kleinschmidt
Jess is a baseball fan with Reno, Nev. roots residing in the Bay Area. She is the host of "Short and to the Point" and is also a broadcaster with the Oakland A's Radio Network. She previously worked for MLB.com and NBC Sports Bay Area.