Seattle Seahawks Embarrassing Performance vs. Baltimore Ravens Puts Geno Smith, Offense On Hot Seat

Falling flat against a top-tier opponent in more ways than one, Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks continued to struggle with turnovers and inefficiency in key situations, creating significant questions about the team's viability as a contender.

BALTIMORE, Mary. - Facing the music moments after the Seattle Seahawks got ran off the field in a 37-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, a somber Geno Smith didn't waste words when asked to assess his performance.

"Not good enough," Smith responded, quickly shifting his attention away from the reporter to the next question.

Smith's response served as a microcosm for a forgettable performance from the veteran quarterback and the rest of Seattle's offense, which might as well have stayed on the tarmac after landing on Friday. From the opening snap, without any semblance of a run game to take some of the burden off his shoulders, he barely had enough time to breathe against a vicious Baltimore pass rush, taking four sacks and watching three passes get batted down at the line of scrimmage.

In the rare instances where Smith did have time to throw or made himself time maneuvering the pocket, he lacked his usual sharp accuracy getting the football to his receivers. On several occasions, including short-hopping a potential touchdown to DK Metcalf in the second quarter, he missed on passes he normally would have converted with ease.

Ultimately, Smith completed less than 50 percent of his passes for the first time in two seasons as a starter for the Seahawks, throwing for 157 yards and posting an ugly 49.3 passer rating. With most of those yards coming in garbage time, he also continued a troubling trend, throwing his seventh interception in four games and losing a key fumble on a strip sack late in the second quarter that led to a Justin Tucker field goal.

Following a game where nothing went right for his team on either side of the ball, coach Pete Carroll came to Smith's defense, saying the quarterback stands out as the least of Seattle's multitude of offensive issues coming out of an unexpected blowout and the struggles were a group effort.

"I don't think this is about Geno at all," Carroll commented. "I think this is about our football team. They did not answer the bell, couldn't get it done. We came in here to slug it out and they did a better job than we did. When they're rushing the passer, that's not on Geno. This is not a one guy deal."

Backing up Carroll's words, as has been the case in a few other games this season, Smith indeed found himself under constant duress from the get go. The Ravens entered Sunday's contest ranked first in sacks for a reason and they took a Seahawks offensive line with their sixth different starting combination to the woodshed, aggressively hunting the quarterback from all angles.

In some cases early on, including on Seattle's second drive when Smith was able to spin out of a sack and turn the play into a five-yard gain on a scramble, the quarterback escaped to turn something into nothing. But as the pressures mounted and the game started to get away midway in the second quarter, without a run game to lean on, he looked frazzled in the pocket and his accuracy waned.

Uncharacteristically inaccurate and under frequent pressure, Geno Smith endured the worst start of his two seasons as a starter for the Seahawks in a lopsided loss to the Ravens / © Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports

With the Ravens able to send their rushers after him in droves with their ears pinned back, Smith often didn't stand a chance, often facing second and third and long situations that played right into the home team's strengths coming after him. It's no wonder that the Seahawks converted on just one out of 12 third down opportunities, an abysmal eight percent rate, including the unfortunate strip sack fumble that resulted in Tucker's field goal before half.

"You can’t play offense like that and expect anything. It’s as hard as it gets," Carroll said of Seattle's lingering third down woes.

As Carroll correctly pointed out, while Smith could have unloaded the ball quicker in that situation, Seattle needed 21 yards to move the chains on third down and pass protection simply didn't hold up. If anything, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron could have been advised to waive the white flag with a run play and punt.

However, Smith's play has been anything but stellar for the better part of a month and his inability to protect the football has become a legitimate problem for the Seahawks. Dating back to Week 6 at Cincinnati, the 33-year old signal caller has thrown seven interceptions and lost a fumble, averaging two turnovers per game. Two of those picks came in the red zone, costing the team at least six points.

On Sunday, in what has become a far too frequent occurrence, Smith overthrew Tyler Lockett on a deep ball down the left sideline in the second quarter. With the receiver acknowledging a communication-related issue on the play and slowing down at the end of his route in frustration, the pass ended up functioning like a glorified punt as safety Geno Stone came down with an easy interception.

“Bad pass. It was on me," Smith said.

“I just think it was miscommunication on both of our parts," Lockett added. "My part, I could have done better, but it was just miscommunication.”

Luckily for Smith and Lockett, the Ravens didn't turn that turnover into points with Boye Mafe strip-sacking Lamar Jackson and recovering the fumble moments later, which could have made a one-sided rout look even worse.

Still, as has been the case numerous times in recent weeks, Smith made an ill-advised throw trying to do too much without his typical accuracy and ultimately got burned. Always prioritizing ball control, it's not a trend Carroll is pleased about and a clear area that must be addressed for the Seahawks to get their stagnant offense untracked.

"I'm concerned about that," Carroll remarked. "The fumble, that's a pass rush deal. The interception, he [Geno Smith] threw it up and the guy who has been making all the interceptions made another one. But that's not the direction for us to be going. Up to this point, it took us to first place, whatever the heck we've been doing. We didn't play like a first place team today. With those kind of turnovers, it's really hard to win."

Any way you slice it, as Smith said, both he and the Seahawks weren't good enough. They were atrocious on third down, they moved the chains only six times compared to the Ravens 29 first downs, and they made their way to the red zone a grand total of one time while possessing the football under 20 minutes. If it were just for one game, especially against a really good opponent, it'd be easy to turn the page, hit the reset button, and turn attention to next week.

But quite frankly, those words have been echoed by Smith, Carroll, and other players too many times in the first half of the season, only for the persistent woes to be swept under the rug as the team has managed to win games despite many chronic issues not being fixed on offense. At this juncture, empty words of accountability have to be turned into tangible actions on the field.

After getting demolished in the Charm City, this butt-whooping needs to be a real wake up call for Smith and everyone around him to support a defense that got hung out to dry in Baltimore. They must be better. Much better.

As noted by Lockett, the good news is that Sunday wasn't a playoff game and the Seahawks still control their own destiny in the NFC West. There's time to still right the ship and play to their potential. But with a gauntlet featuring two games against the 49ers and a road game against the Cowboys coming in the near future, if major improvements don't come to fruition soon, a prime opportunity in a wide open conference could slip from Carroll and his team's grasp.

"This is a big deal. I’ve got to do a good job with them. Hopefully with the leadership that we have, I know we will get the right message out there. Then, we’ve got to act on it. It’s a very big challenge. We’ll see if we can pull it off.”