Packer Central

Seahawks QB Geno Smith Injured, Sam Howell Takes Over Against Packers

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith suffered a knee injury during the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) sacks Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) sacks Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has been knocked out of Sunday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

On first-and-10 from just outside the red zone, Smith had pressure from the outside by Brenton Cox and up the middle by Edgerrin Cooper. Smith went airborne to unload the ball and Cooper launched himself head-long at Smith. Cooper took down Smith, who got one or both feet trapped underneath him.

Smith wanted a penalty before sitting on the turf to get attention from trainers.

Smith limped off the field and into the blue medical tent and, ultimately, walked to the locker room after the series.

He is questionable to return with a knee injury. He did return to the sideline.

Sam Howell, a fifth-round draft pick by the Commanders in 2022, replaced Smith.

Howell is an experienced backup. Last year, he started all 17 games for the Commanders and threw an NFL-high 612 passes. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns and a league-worst 21 interceptions.

Smith entered the game ranked 17th in passer rating because he’s 23rd in yards per attempt and 19th in interception percentage.

However, in helping the Seahawks go 4-0 after the bye, he was 14th with a 95.3 passer rating but third in completion percentage (73.4). While he had thrown 12 interceptions this season, he tossed only two since the bye and none the last two weeks before throwing one late in the first half.

“It’s been kind of a remarkable turnaround for him in terms of just where he started,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s not always where you start, but where you finish. And it tells me a lot about the person in terms of his resiliency and ability to fight through some adversity.

“He’s a dangerous quarterback. Obviously, he’s one of the top passers in the league right now and he can beat you with his legs, as well, if you give him the opportunity. We all saw the end of that San Francisco game at San Francisco earlier this year where he made a couple plays with his legs.”

Smith had the Seahawks atop the NFC West at the start of the night. He was second in passing yards and fifth in completion percentage.

“I’ve gone against him before,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “He does a good job of looking off. That’s something I noticed that’s pretty big. I think he has some turnovers this year but he’s a really good quarterback.

“He knows how to improvise plays. He knows how to win. I think that’s the best attribute when you have a quarterback is getting a quarterback that can will your team to a win, no matter if it’s a pretty one or an ugly one. He can get the job done and regardless of the things they’ve done. And even in his career, he’s been through a lot of things and he’s still be able to overcome a lot and he’s playing well.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.