Geno is THE GUY (this year)

[Welshers2]

Every week there has been a huge influx of posts that Geno sucks and he should be benched. The only issue with this is who do you replace him with? He may not be the QB of the future after this year, but I'm unsure what people are expecting the Hawks to do during the season. He gives them the best chance to win, period.

Who do you want them to put in? Lock? Rypien? Be careful what you wish for. The fact is, Geno gives them the best chance to win right now. The coaching staff sees this every day. If you go look at Lock or Rypien's play in games they have started for other teams, it is not on par to the football Geno is playing right now.

The fact is, in my opinion, he's being overly criticized. Geno has struggles at times, but he's nowhere near as bad as he's being made out to be.

Let's look at THE FACTS:

In 9 games this season, Geno has had four opportunities at game winning drives. He's succeeded 3/4 times, that's 75% (and really he did it twice against the Commanders).

The main narrative on this forum is that Geno is simply not clutch and this just isn't true. He led winning drives against the Commanders and Lions and Browns. He failed to lead a winning drive against the Bengals.

If you're going to criticize, at least let your criticism be based in fact. I saw posters claiming Geno has never had a single winning drive.

Geno threw for 2 TDs, no picks, and 370 yards this week.

People say Geno gets away with mistakes and that's why his stats are OK:

Did you know he's ranked as the #14th of 32 QB sin the league in PFF, a system that takes this into account and grades every play individually. He has a 74.2 rating. Maybe not great, but do you really call this horrible? He's a top half QB.

People are forgetting he's been playing with a makeshift line all year. That's hard. It's obviously effecting him. Don't make Geno out to be a scaepgoat he's not when the team is 6-3. Plenty of stats have him ranked as a top half QB in this league. Maybe not enough to win the Super Bowl, but certainly better than any of the alternatives.

Careful what you wish for.

 

[sutz]

 

[Welshers2]

View attachment 61822

Just stating facts Sutz! If you read this board Geno is the worst QB in the NFL! He hasn't been great but he has been serviceable this year, and really good in the clutch. I don't see how anyone could demand Drew Lock over him!

 

[sutz]

Just contemplating all the shit that's gonna fly in this thread.

 

[WarHawks]

Must. Not. Comment.

 

[Seahawker]

I'd take Geno over Trent Dilfer... lol.

 

[oldhawkfan]

Every week there has been a huge influx of posts that Geno sucks and he should be benched. The only issue with this is who do you replace him with? He may not be the QB of the future after this year, but I'm unsure what people are expecting the Hawks to do during the season. He gives them the best chance to win, period.

Who do you want them to put in? Lock? Rypien? Be careful what you wish for. The fact is, Geno gives them the best chance to win right now. The coaching staff sees this every day. If you go look at Lock or Rypien's play in games they have started for other teams, it is not on par to the football Geno is playing right now.

The fact is, in my opinion, he's being overly criticized. Geno has struggles at times, but he's nowhere near as bad as he's being made out to be.

Let's look at THE FACTS:

In 9 games this season, Geno has had four opportunities at game winning drives. He's succeeded 3/4 times, that's 75% (and really he did it twice against the Commanders).

The main narrative on this forum is that Geno is simply not clutch and this just isn't true. He led winning drives against the Commanders and Browns. He failed to lead a winning drive against the Bengals.

If you're going to criticize, at least let your criticism be based in fact. I saw posters claiming Geno has never had a single winning drive.

Geno threw for 2 TDs, no picks, and 370 yards this week.

People say Geno gets away with mistakes and that's why his stats are OK:

Did you know he's ranked as the #14th of 32 QB sin the league in PFF, a system that takes this into account and grades every play individually. He has a 74.2 rating. Maybe not great, but do you really call this horrible? He's a top half QB.

People are forgetting he's been playing with a makeshift line all year. That's hard. It's obviously effecting him. Don't make Geno out to be a scaepgoat he's not when the team is 6-3. Plenty of stats have him ranked as a top half QB in this league. Maybe not enough to win the Super Bowl, but certainly better than any of the alternatives.

Careful what you wish for.

You’re not wrong. Chuck Knox used to say, “you play the hand you’re dealt”. Geno is the hand we’ve been dealt for 2023.

Regarding the offensive line, many of us were saying before the season began that this team could be good if the line stays healthy. I don’t feel like looking it all up but there have been a lot of guys in and out at vital positions on the line. Really hoping the return of Abe Lucas helps solidify things.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Everyone's blaming Waldron too, but not making any accommodation for how that might affect Geno.

 

[Welshers2]

Regarding the offensive line, many of us were saying before the season began that this team could be good if the line stays healthy. I don’t feel like looking it all up but there have been a lot of guys in and out at vital positions on the line. Really hoping the return of Abe Lucas helps solidify things.

Exactly. Even pat mahomes looked bad under a makeshift line.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Just stating facts Sutz! If you read this board Geno is the worst QB in the NFL! He hasn't been great but he has been serviceable this year, and really good in the clutch. I don't see how anyone could demand Drew Lock over him!

Not the worst, not even close.

But many of us fans are doing with Geno what all fan bases do with a new QB, wrestle with the production/salary ratio.

Geno has a backloaded contract that yes, works just fine this year but his cap hits for the next two years are 31M and 37M. So when he goes through long stretches of games looking lost, confused with his WR routes, bad throws, picks, fumbles, etc?

Then yeah man, this is a QB that we have to decide whether he's worth moving forward with at triple and quadruple the cap hit.

 

[Welshers2]

Not the worst, not even close.

But many of us fans are doing with Geno what all fan bases do with a new QB, wrestle with the production/salary ratio.

Geno has a backloaded contract that yes, works just fine this year but his cap hits for the next two years are 31M and 37M. So when he goes through long stretches of games looking lost, confused with his WR routes, bad throws, picks, fumbles, etc?

Then yeah man, this is a QB that we have to decide whether he's worth moving forward with at triple and quadruple the cap hit.

That's fair I agree with that but lots of people are screaming he sucks and needs to be benched. I just don't think that's a reasonable take right now. Say he sucks all you want but drew lock is not the answer. Very rarely do you see fans calling for the qb of a 6-3 team to be benched

 

[ccla]

I do not blame Genò, he is who he is. I do not even know if it is his fault or if perhaps they are trying to fit a square peg into a round whole. As for who I blame this is not the thread for that.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

That's fair I agree with that but lots of people are screaming he sucks and needs to be benched. I just don't think that's a reasonable take right now. Say he sucks all you want but drew lock is not the answer. Very rarely do you see fans calling for the qb of a 6-3 team to be benched

I'm not screaming for Lock, he's a pick machine and far more inaccurate than even bad Geno.

But I am trying to figure out if Geno's our QB moving forward with a VERY young and talented team on the rise. He's certainly not making that decision easy with his wildly inconsistent play.

 

[Ozzy]

I'll bite. I've been extremely critical of Geno. Geno will confirm whatever you want him to because he does so many things well and so many things badly. So if you want to find an answer that backs up your position of him sucking or him being really, really good you probably can. I think ultimately Geno can make any throw and is really, really talented as we saw late yesterday and at different times over the past couple of years. He also has some major blind spots that probably aren't fixable. This year he seems to miss a ton of reads, gets locked in to one guy and leave a lot of the field. He also is very turnover prone and that's factoring in the insane luck of leading the league in turnover worthy throws that aren't picked. Why are we having so many communication issues when DK, Lockett and Geno have been in the system now for 3 years? To be fair to Geno he's also the guy who lead a game winning drive for the 3rd time this year.

For me that's what makes him so frustrating. He's obviously capable of being really good but he just makes so many mistakes that seem avoidable. Regardless of how critical I've been I root for him as hard as I root for anyone else and want him to succeed.

 

[Ozzy]

I'm not screaming for Lock, he's a pick machine and far more inaccurate than even bad Geno.

But I am trying to figure out if Geno's our QB moving forward with a VERY young and talented team on the rise. He's certainly not making that decision easy with his wildly inconsistent play.

Our skill position players are borderline top 5 with DK, Lockett, JSN, Walker, Charbs, the tight end group. What is keeping us from being a top 5 unit then? Is it Waldron(I don't think so), is it the line? They were fine yesterday so to me its mostly on Geno. And when he's on we look like a high end offense.

Not sure why I attached to your comment but too late to remove it lol. Your point was a good one too.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Our skill position players are borderline top 5 with DK, Lockett, JSN, Walker, Charbs, the tight end group. What is keeping us from being a top 5 unit then? Is it Waldron(I don't think so), is it the line? They were fine yesterday so to me its mostly on Geno. And when he's on we look like a high end offense.

Not sure why I attached to your comment but too late to remove it lol. Your point was a good one too.

Any entire unit in a complex sport like football is comprised of the sum of all it's parts right?

So while it's hard for noobs like us who aren't deep diving game tape to definitively come up with the correct "blame" percentages for what's going on when the offense looks as bad as it looked the entire Ravens game, and the 1st half of yesterdays game.

But from my fan eyes, I see an extremely unconfident Geno afraid and confused far too often. He's patting the ball not getting it out on time, resulting in fumbles, sacks and poor decisions. He's missing receivers and looking pissed off at them. Hard to believe they're ALL running the wrong routes right? Especially vets he's now been playing with for two years, and some longer.

Is Waldron helping him as much as he can? No, I don't think he is.

So if I'm handing out the "bad percentages?" Geno's at least 50-60% of it, Waldron is 20-30% and the rest is the line and surrounding cast.

 

[Welshers2]

I'll bite. I've been extremely critical of Geno. Geno will confirm whatever you want him to because he does so many things well and so many things badly. So if you want to find an answer that backs up your position of him sucking or him being really, really good you probably can. I think ultimately Geno can make any throw and is really, really talented as we saw late yesterday and at different times over the past couple of years. He also has some major blind spots that probably aren't fixable. This year he seems to miss a ton of reads, gets locked in to one guy and leave a lot of the field. He also is very turnover prone and that's factoring in the insane luck of leading the league in turnover worthy throws that aren't picked. Why are we having so many communication issues when DK, Lockett and Geno have been in the system now for 3 years? To be fair to Geno he's also the guy who lead a game winning drive for the 3rd time this year.

For me that's what makes him so frustrating. He's obviously capable of being really good but he just makes so many mistakes that seem avoidable. Regardless of how critical I've been I root for him as hard as I root for anyone else and want him to succeed.

I think this is a fair and grounded take. At the same time there are lots of people calling for him to be benched. I just don't think this is the answer. I guess my point is he's better than our alternatives. No he hasn't been great, but he's been better than many are giving him credit for in my mind

 

[bileever]

I think Geno misses Dave Canales, the QB coach who left to be Tampa's offensive coordinator. By all accounts, he was a terrific coach and excellent motivator. We should have replaced him with someone who wasn't a first-time QB coach.

 

[scutterhawk]

I think that the critics of Geno Smith & his misfiring's are PURPOSELY being short sighted.
They are absolutely ignoring how hard it is for ANY Quarterback to play at their best with an all beat to hell & inconsistent Offen-Sieve line.
This is EXACTLY what Pete Carroll was talking about when he said "We Need To Help Him Out a Lot More"
It's pretty simple really, Geno IS a top ten Quarterback that's being held back by his Bottom ten O-Line.

 

[BASF]

Geno has made "bad throws" to Fant when Fant slowed on his route.

Geno has made "bad throws" to JSN when JSN slowed on his route.

Geno has made "bad throws" to DK when DK slowed on his route.

Geno has made "bad throws" to Bobo when Bobo slowed on his route.

Geno has made "bad throws" to Tyler when Tyler slowed on his route.

Some of them, the receivers outright stopped on their routes. Several of them have been intercepted. Several posters simply blame Geno without knowing where the play was supposed to go. Waldron's offense is predicated on the QB and the receivers seeing the same thing and taking advantage of what the defense is doing. When the QB and receivers are not on the same page, which has been evident all season, it is on the offensive coordinator and passing game coordinator to get them on the same page. Nine games in and not there yet is pretty damning for the coaching staff.