Rob Staton: I was wrong about Geno Smith

[CallMeADawg]

Staton had no choice but to back off his original claims on Pete/Wilson/Geno and change his stance. That's because receipts are out there for all to see, and the #1 Offensive DVOA in the NFL through 5 games made him finally address that. He's in turn switched gears to attack Pete on the defense now, even though he had already written the Seahawks off as a rebuilding team that will finish bottom 5 in the league. Pete Carroll is an easy target, it's easy to hate on Pete Carroll. Before the Superbowl run, Pete was a target then, lots of people were asking for his head. Some of you remember this. Staton is now a "hot take" guy that posts content for clicks and youtube superchats. "Certain forum posters" seem to take all their talking points from Staton, and basically copy/paste Staton's arguments. It's hilarious to see.

Bingo!!

 

[knownone]

I never understood this. He's a positivity guy, which I understand annoys some folks. But the hate for him, I dunno, I never got it.

Pete's age and personality tend to give off the perception that he doesn't care and is stuck in the past. It was never a fair criticism, and people like Rob took it to the extreme.

 

[Ozzy]

I dont think people being critical of some stuff equals hate. It's ok to think Pete is an all time great coach but maybe has struggled drafting the past few years or to question why the defense is struggling for multiple years now. Again it feels like everything in todays political climate has to be binary now for some reason. Hating Pete despite his success isn't any more goofy or ridiculous than acting like he can't make a mistake because he's Pete Carroll. Also ironically the same people demanding this about Pete have zero issues trashing Wilson when I can say the same thing. Seattle football was bad before he got here and isn't all that great at the moment when he left. It's ok to have some nuance.

 

[CallMeADawg]

I dont think people being critical of some stuff equals hate. It's ok to think Pete is an all time great coach but maybe has struggled drafting the past few years or to question why the defense is struggling for multiple years now. Again it feels like everything in todays political climate has to be binary now for some reason. Hating Pete despite his success isn't any more goofy or ridiculous than acting like he can't make a mistake because he's Pete Carroll. Also ironically the same people demanding this about Pete have zero issues trashing Wilson when I can say the same thing. Seattle football was bad before he got here and isn't all that great at the moment when he left. It's ok to have some nuance.

Cool, but this thread is about Geno Smith.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

The Rob hate is a little unfair. He is actually has a very good track record with the Seahawks and other prospects and how they've done. Look at the miss rate at the NFL. Hell look at Pete/Johns miss rate....I think its a little unfair to say Rob sucks because he hasn't guessed or gotten everything right. I can name a few examples where he was away ahead of the concensus. Lucas for example he was extremely high on and thought he should be a first rounder and so far he appears to be right as lucas has been a stud.

Listen to rob if you want but he really does not understand how the Hawks work. He doesnt understand a great many things but if you like him than you certianly know where to find him.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

Yeah I really don't think Pete thought Geno would be a top 5 QB and find that almost impossible to believe. I think Pete thought Geno could very well be good and run the offense in a year where he knew they were probably rebuilding. Pete always does Pete talk but if they truly thought Geno was this good then trading away Russ wouldn't have been so hard as reports are he was dead against it until the very end and finally caved.

Pete probably had more faith in Geno than I did or most fans but he didn't see this coming and that he was always as good as Allen, Mahomes, Prime Russ etc.

I'd also add its still very early. Geno could fall off a cliff here soon and it shouldn't shock anyone. I really hope he continues his play and I'm becoming a believer more and more each week. It will be interesting to see what happens when teams adjust to him and how he reacts to that.

You dont think Carroll expected Geno to be a great QB? Based off of what? the fact that you didnt expect Geno to be great? What i heard from Carroll was that he did expect Geno to be great and go carry this team. He has said several times that he is not surprised at Geno,s play. So either you take the man at his word or you don't.

 

[OrangeGravy]

Naw, just posting a delicious crow feast being consumed by an influential guy whose word many take as gospel (for some reason).

I certainly didn't predict an MVP level start, regardless of Austin's rhetorical questions implying so

I don't get it either with that guy. He was definitely one of the major contributors to the Pete wasting Russell's career echo chamber. His 'followers' are very culty. I don't trust anyone who's really watched Russell play the QB position over the last 5 years and come to the conclusion that throwing more was the solution.

I think a lot of legit analysts in the league have always had issues with Russell from a technical standpoint and would admit as much behind closed doors, but the results were really hard to ignore for a stretch publicly.
The Geno thing is a bit odd. He's never really been terrible, even as a rookie. Turnover prone, yes, but he wasn't as bad as a lot of these guys that have come into the league highly touted in recent years. Nothing he's done warranted anything worse than a projected 'hold the fort until a new guy comes in' QB. Serviceable at worst. Nobody would've guessed this level of play, but only a couple guys carry that expectation

 

[keasley45]

I dont think people being critical of some stuff equals hate. It's ok to think Pete is an all time great coach but maybe has struggled drafting the past few years or to question why the defense is struggling for multiple years now. Again it feels like everything in todays political climate has to be binary now for some reason. Hating Pete despite his success isn't any more goofy or ridiculous than acting like he can't make a mistake because he's Pete Carroll. Also ironically the same people demanding this about Pete have zero issues trashing Wilson when I can say the same thing. Seattle football was bad before he got here and isn't all that great at the moment when he left. It's ok to have some nuance.

Great post.

 

[Ozzy]

You dont think Carroll expected Geno to be a great QB? Based off of what? the fact that you didnt expect Geno to be great? What i heard from Carroll was that he did expect Geno to be great and go carry this team. He has said several times that he is not surprised at Geno,s play. So either you take the man at his word or you don't.

So again now we’re using coach speak as something to say someone else is questioning his character lol.
I think it’s fairly obvious a guy who’s been in the league for ten years, you made sure to get a guy like Lock to compete with geno and you’ve been scouting the position hard by all accounts. Yeah I would bet money Pete didn’t see a top 3 QB from geno at this point in the season. Did he believe in him more than me? More than you? Sure possibly because that’s Pete and he knows he can bring out the best in players. But no one in the league thought geno was going to be this good at this point in the season, no one. And that’s ok, it’s a great story so instead of trying to crucify anyone who was skeptical of geno just enjoy it, I was wrong(at this point) and I couldn’t be happier about it.

 

[Ozzy]

Cool, but this thread is about Geno Smith.

That’s cool but multiple people brought up Pete and I responded to a specific comment about Pete. Topics tend to be fluid and can move around a little bit right?

 

[Ozzy]

Listen to rob if you want but he really does not understand how the Hawks work. He doesnt understand a great many things but if you like him than you certianly know where to find him.

I just think he’s hit on the Seahawks when nationally no one does. Pete and John are very unpredictable but he does know what they look for better than most. I think he does a good job at something that is impossible to do real well at. Who else is out there for draft stuff that you would recommend? I’d love to find other people with this sort of content

 

[HawkStrong]

I don't get it either with that guy. He was definitely one of the major contributors to the Pete wasting Russell's career echo chamber. His 'followers' are very culty. I don't trust anyone who's really watched Russell play the QB position over the last 5 years and come to the conclusion that throwing more was the solution.

I think a lot of legit analysts in the league have always had issues with Russell from a technical standpoint and would admit as much behind closed doors, but the results were really hard to ignore for a stretch publicly.

Rob is decent at what he does but he misses just as much as (if not more than) anyone else. His followers just ignore any contrary evidence, and honestly that's in part due to Rob himself. He doesn't like anyone calling out his shortcomings, and blocks/bans anyone who points them out with any consistency. He doesn't take opposing arguments well, which is not a sign of someone who is secure in their opinions.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Rob is decent at what he does but he misses just as much as (if not more than) anyone else. His followers just ignore any contrary evidence, and honestly that's in part due to Rob himself. He doesn't like anyone calling out his shortcomings, and blocks/bans anyone who points them out with any consistency. He doesn't take opposing arguments well, which is not a sign of someone who is secure in their opinions.

He doesn't have a great grasp of X's and O's like some of the younger group of Seattle film gurus (Matty, Griff, etc.) do, so it's hard to take a lot of his stuff seriously when he expands past the only topic he really should talk about, which is mock drafts and Seattle draft targets/tendencies based on simple pattern recognition.

Stuff like the TEF (Trench Explosion Formula IIRC) to describe Seattle's preferred metrics for OL under Cable.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Plus, as you said, he straight up blocks people who so much as disagree.... so he never really learns anything new.

Huh, makes sense he'd follow the Team 3 model of surrounding himself with admirers and yes men.

 

[12AngryHawks]

Rob is decent at what he does but he misses just as much as (if not more than) anyone else. His followers just ignore any contrary evidence, and honestly that's in part due to Rob himself. He doesn't like anyone calling out his shortcomings, and blocks/bans anyone who points them out with any consistency. He doesn't take opposing arguments well, which is not a sign of someone who is secure in their opinions.

Further proof of your statement. Read the last sentence of this guy's comment, and then read his reply. I was on his site the other day when I saw this, and found it kinda odd how defensive he got over a little comment that wasn't even directed at him. I guess I'm not the only one is kinda skeptical of this guy's opinion. The man-crush on Levis is strong with him.

 

[Mad Dog]

I’d definitely enjoy Statons site more if he would post hoc analyze his evaluations more. Gives legitimacy to all the work he does. If you are going make the claims he does about the players, go back and show how right you were. Otherwise accept your lumps. More mea culpas like this would be welcome.
And he should stop stuffing his comment sections with obsequious sycophants.

 

[JPPT1974]

Geno may not be nor ever could fill Russell Wilson's shoes there. But he is a good sport and that he is doing the best to win over fans and respect there. So far he lets his play do the talking for him.

 

[Nunya]

Yeah I really don't think Pete thought Geno would be a top 5 QB and find that almost impossible to believe. I think Pete thought Geno could very well be good and run the offense in a year where he knew they were probably rebuilding. Pete always does Pete talk but if they truly thought Geno was this good then trading away Russ wouldn't have been so hard as reports are he was dead against it until the very end and finally caved.

Pete probably had more faith in Geno than I did or most fans but he didn't see this coming and that he was always as good as Allen, Mahomes, Prime Russ etc.

I'd also add its still very early. Geno could fall off a cliff here soon and it shouldn't shock anyone. I really hope he continues his play and I'm becoming a believer more and more each week. It will be interesting to see what happens when teams adjust to him and how he reacts to that.

I never understood why people claim to know what the coaches are thinking or what they believe....especially when the coaches own words say differently. PC was very upfront during the pre-season that they were NOT rebuilding. Here is what PC said about Geno during the off-season:

“I’d like to get Geno hooked up and get him back in. He showed us a good deal of command of our offense when he played last year and he has a terrific understanding of it so he’s out in front of the other guys that are involved in the competition in that regard,” Carroll said. “By the time he got a couple games under his belt after sitting for three or four years, he functioned in the Jacksonville game as well as you can function and he had a beautiful game there. And that looked like the culmination of his return, kind of. And unfortunately we didn’t get to capitalize to see what the next step would be because Russ came back and played. But he popped the ball around, he was fast with the football and got it out and did some really cool things.”

and

“He takes great pride in his work and knowing the details,” Carroll said. “He’s really verbal and really articulate with the football stuff that he needs to know. He’s really sharp with the calls and checks. He’s a really good athlete and has a tremendous throwing arm, he can throw the ball a mile and can throw the ball hard on the move and going in both directions. He scrambles, we saw him the other night. He’s a tough competitor and has good touch too. He throws the ball impeccably well, he has great throwing mechanics, and can make all of the throws.”

PC never said he was against trading RW. All he said was that the team was not actively looking for a trade. The team had many options to prevent a trade if they were that set against it. It kind of implies the faith they had in Geno just by the fact that they allowed the trade to go through.

 

[Ozzy]

You may be right but multiple reports have said John had a couple trades lined up and Pete shot them down because he did not want to trade Russ and he wanted to salvage the relationship. That would make sense to me because while its been the norm to claim Russ held the team back or whatever but the fact is his first ten years in the league are in a very, very small minority for how good he was and the team as a whole. Makes sense that Pete would want to keep him and make it work.

But again I really don't know, your take seems reasonable too so it may very well be true.

 

[chrispy]

I never understood why people claim to know what the coaches are thinking or what they believe....especially when the coaches own words say differently. PC was very upfront during the pre-season that they were NOT rebuilding. Here is what PC said about Geno during the off-season:

“I’d like to get Geno hooked up and get him back in. He showed us a good deal of command of our offense when he played last year and he has a terrific understanding of it so he’s out in front of the other guys that are involved in the competition in that regard,” Carroll said. “By the time he got a couple games under his belt after sitting for three or four years, he functioned in the Jacksonville game as well as you can function and he had a beautiful game there. And that looked like the culmination of his return, kind of. And unfortunately we didn’t get to capitalize to see what the next step would be because Russ came back and played. But he popped the ball around, he was fast with the football and got it out and did some really cool things.”

"unfortunately... Russ came back and played."

Hah, that's telling....