Real fans don't accuse others of not being real fans
Seaside Streams: Seahawks face QB dilemma, the Moons, and more: Seaside Joe 1713
If people ask me what I have against Geno Smith, I’m going to say “literally nothing”. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it because I believe it is important for this message to be clear, especially in the age we live in: My boss is YOU.
I do not work for the Seattle Seahawks, which seems to be a fact lost on people who maybe write for some of those publications that they let into the press conferences because what I’m seeing a lot of lately is more of a defense of Geno than an objective report on Geno.
I do not work for Geno Smith, or his agent Chafie Fields. I do think that quid pro quo between “the Scheftys” (catch all term I’m making up to encompass all attentions seekers) and agents is doing a lot more to impact player narratives than anyone has ever revealed before, even if that’s not the issue at hand here with the Seahawks.
I do not work for Pete Carroll or John Schneider and I don’t care what anyone associated with the team thinks of Seaside Joe. That’s what allows me to objectively report what I observe about the team without worrying, “Will this person unfollow me on Twitter if I write this?” or “Will the team revoke access if I say this?”
My observations can—and at times will be—wrong, but at least you know that they are my real thoughts. I would rather have 53 players on the Seahawks who hate me than thousands of fans who see me as being fake to protect a reputation or a relationship.
What does Seaside Joe have against Geno Smith? Not a thing. What reason could a fan possibly have to not want the quarterback of the team they follow to be great? That would make all of our Sundays easier, right? Nothing should ever be personal between a writer and the subject that they cover, and that’s as true for a negative relationship as it would be a positive one, in which a journalist might now worry about the ‘friendship’ they have with a person being tarnished because it their job to sometimes say, “They have not played well.”
That’s a JOB in which the boss is the people who read and pay for your content, not the subjects who live within it.
I would rather you disagree with my opinions on the Seahawks—and some of you certainly do—than question if they are real. That is what allows this newsletter to be CONSISTENT with reports throughout the year rather than riding a wave of following what it seems people want to read or hear that day.
Three weeks ago, Top Billin’, who I have shared plenty of times on Seaside Streams and in this newsletter, was bashing fans who questioned if Geno Smith should be the starter.
Two weeks ago, he was dunking on the “haters” for ever questioning Geno.
After the Ravens loss, he was passive aggressively “joking” that he wanted the Seahawks to bench Geno just so that he could stop having to address the issue. If you do have to “make a defense” of a player every week, that does take the burden of proof off of the people who say that Seattle doesn’t have their quarterback of the future on the roster.
(Sidenote: Top Billin’s “Eat at Geno’s” moniker has only ever sounded to me like a nickname you would give a quarterback who had a lot of turnovers; that’s such a clear setup for the Ravens to come out of a game saying, “We had a great time eating at Geno’s today.”)
Top Billin’ is a very talented YouTuber and I don’t say that just to try and get him back on my side. Trust me, if he did read this, he would not be a Seasider for much longer, which I wouldn’t blame him for. But I wouldn’t share his clips here if I didn’t think they were worth watching. Seahawks fans are genuinely fortunate to have as many entertaining content creators as we do have.
So what’s the problem then?
Because when a game ends and Geno Smith doesn’t play well, instead of reporting what went wrong for the quarterback, post-game analysis this season has been deadset on pushing the blame somewhere else and pretending like there never has been a bad game before the latest one.
The most common phrase I’ve heard this week about Geno? “He was so good until these last couple of games”. Is that so? So we all really liked how the Seahawks offense played in Week 1 against the Rams? Week 4 against the Giants? Week 6 against the Bengals? I’ve said many times that Geno has looked the same to me throughout his entire tenure as Seattle’s quarterback, even as the fill-in option in 2021. He has more turnovers recently only because bad luck was bound to catch up with good luck. Of the five-highest turnover-worthy play rates, two QBs have been benched, one already is a backup, and Jordan Love probably should be benched but the Packers don’t have anyone else:
And Geno’s rate is much worse than Ryan Tannehill’s, a quarterback who was benched this week.
Geno’s 6.10 net yards per attempt is tied with Jimmy Garoppolo’s mark, a quarterback who was benched last week. Geno’s interception rate is higher than Desmond Ridder’s, another QB was benched last week. Geno’s completion percentage of 65.2%, a stat that people didn’t have an issue mentioning everyday in 2022 when he was leading the NFL in it, ranks below Daniel Jones, Sam Howell, Tyson Bagent, Derek Carr, Garoppolo, and Ridder.
“Wow, what do you have against Geno Smith!” Literally nothing.
This is an objective report on a serious situation (what could be more serious in football today than an offense’s ability to pass the ball without turning it over?) and these are the numbers that some fans want to hear when things are going well, but “inconsequential” when they don’t.
I do, however, have something against how some fans react to other fans voicing anything that runs contrary to the idea that Geno Smith can’t be critiqued because “that’s my quarterback”.
I have NEVER seen someone who questions if the Seahawks have the right starting quarterback lash back at a fan who disagrees by saying, “Well, if you think Geno should start, then you don’t know ball and are not a real fan.”
I see that argument made ALL THE TIME by fans who can’t stand reading or hearing someone say that they’re not as keen-o on Geno. And yes, I will call you fans…we can co-exist.
While watching Geno Smith’s press conference this week, I read a lot of comments like these ones:
I see the same energy on Twitter, including from some people who I think are supposed to side with and work for the fans, not the team or players:
Do you believe that it’s good for a writer to say that some fans must be ignorant if they have a differing opinion? As far as I can tell, it’s not the team that is paying for subscriptions to their website. It’s the fans.
So from Seaside Joe to Seahawks fans, I’m not on any side with Geno Smith except your side. And your side requires that we be honest about the players and the performance of the team regardless of the critique being positive or negative. I don’t intend to needlessly repeat myself on this topic, because I know it can feel repetitive after a while, but I did so for a couple of reasons: a) the more bad games stack up, the more frequent I see fans attack other fans, b) new stats and information to consider every week, c) success at quarterback is still a vital ingredient to success as a team.
That continues this week at home against the Washington Moons, a win that Seattle has to have, and a game that will divide Seahawks fans even more if it turns out to be a loss. Huge game this Sunday, so let’s dive into a few Seaside Streams, although there will be fewer than last week because of how lopsided Week 9 was against the Ravens.
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Context of Geno2Geno interception
Not a full video, but good context, I think. I noticed one of the top comments was that Geno probably should have checked into a run into this pass and there will be more commentary below on this decision by Geno.
Michael Bumpus Breakdown
Dave Wyman on stopping the run
K.J. Wright on supporting Geno Smith
This is where I think K.J. Wright needs to get out of “locker room leader” brain and into “podcast host” brain. He said after the game that no matter how Geno Smith plays, fans need to support him, tell him he’s great, cheer even if the offense is bad, and don’t write articles like this one.
Except that if there’s any truth to this idea that fans are partially responsible for a QB’s performance, why hasn’t being super supportive helped the Seahawks score more times in the red zone? Did any QB in the NFL get more love than Geno Smith going into the season? He’s the big positive uplifting story! The overwhelming majority of public reactions and national narratives after a bad game is already what K.J. seems to want, so I fail to see the connection that questioning the quarterback is only hurting him more.
Mark Sanchez on Geno
An example of what I wrote earlier about people saying this is only a few recent bad plays by Geno Smith. Sanchez and Geno were teammates on the Jets and the former is well versed on the experience of being a criticized NFL quarterback.
Streaming with the Enemy
If you’re interested in learning more about Moons quarterback Sam Howell, here’s the latest from The QB School. I think it’s very inconsistent with Howell but when he’s on, he can be really good.
Interestingly, Howell has been MUCH better on the road than at home this season. Something to consider for Week 10 in Seattle.
Why do I call them Moons?
For some of the recent subscribers who don’t know the story: There isn’t really a story to it. I just think, as well do, that they chose a terrible team name when they made the change. Football Team was better than Commanders. I call them Moons because I actually think that a team should be called the Moons; the NBA has Suns, why shouldn’t there be a Moons? I love the Moon! We all love the Moon! There’s also a strong D.C. connection to the Moon, so that was a missed opportunity, in my opinion.
Since nobody knows what to call them anyway, I go with Moons.
Favorite new YouTube analyst: Kyle Sloter
Kyle Sloter was a journeyman NFL practice squad/backup QB for a few years and he now has a YouTube channel. I would love to give him support because the tape has been interesting to watch from his perspective. It’s hard to be a great NFL quarterback, but I know that people can have all the knowledge of what QBs should be doing without necessarily being able to do it themselves.
Unfortunately for Seattle, this is analysis on how Lamar Jackson ruined their day instead of good news for the Seahawks. Still, it’s good to learn what went wrong on defense. Same here with O-Line Committee:
Caleb Williams = Overrated?
Speaking of Sloter, there’s a chance that Caleb Williams will be on the Arizona Cardinals or L.A. Rams next year, so it wouldn’t hurt to get some early scouting in. I thought this breakdown was fascinating, as Sloter highlights both what’s wrong with USC’s offense and how Williams isn’t doing himself any favors. This is the probable number one pick and it sounds to me that like Bryce Young, Williams might end up having a very bad rookie season. Which doesn’t rule out a Hall of Fame career or anything, I just question if maybe QBs coming out of college are not prepared to be starting in the NFL in most cases.
How Marlon Humphrey prepared for DK Metcalf
I think it’s vitally important for people to understand that part of Marlon Humphrey’s plan to stop DK Metcalf was, “If we both get ejected, that’s fine with me. I did my job.” Opposing teams think DK is a hot head and that they can throw him off with trash talk and extracurricular activities, which for the most part seems to be kind of true this season. Humphrey said that he was okay being ejected, as long as DK was ejected too. It never got testy, but Metcalf still only finished with one catch.
I really do not think that teams game plan all week on how to stop DK Metcalf, I think it’s more of an afterthought than it would be for a $24 million receiver.
Ladies and gentleman, L-dary D-valid:
Thanks for streaming. Tell a Seahawks fan about Seaside Joe today!
Maybe some people get caught up on the definition of words or take people too literally. But when someone says Geno Smith is "terrible" the first thing that comes to mind is all the terrible QBs I've seen play and Geno Smith may as well be Tom Brady compared to them. So then my mind instantly goes to. well maybe this person just doesn't watch that much football and is therefore comparing Geno Smith to a perfect QB (that doesn't exist)? Something like Tom Brady. Geno Smith is equally as bad compared to Brady as Clayton Tune is compared to Geno Smith. Something is either good or bad only in comparison to something else. Long way of saying it is offputting and confusing to me when someone says "Geno Smith is terrible"
Having said that it is not confusing to me when someone says "I do not believe that Geno is good enough to win a SB". That's an opinion and its all yours. For my money, if Geno Smith is QB on the Niners (assuming healthy) they would be the favorites to win.
But, even with saying I think Geno is good enough to win the SB does not mean that we are riding with Geno long term. Not at all. As Joe says every position should be looked to upgrade at all times.
I also like Joes point about Geno's contract. Its all kind of a moot point as Geno will be the starter unless we are out of playoff contention.
Lots more to say on the issue but lastly, this is a great community and I don't think anyone is a dummy and doesn't know or love Seahawks. You all are cool in my mind in agreement or disagreement.
Go Hawks.
I am pretty sure I don’t know ball bc there are people who do, and they talk about Cover 7 and Deep 2 and stuff like that (or whatever) that I don’t find intuitive. So I don’t know ball.
Which is why I criticize Geno for the multiple failures to punch it in against the Bengals in the red zone. To me it’s pretty simple: there are only two people who had the ball in their hands for every one of those plays: the center for some fraction of a second, and Geno. Who additionally has a $100m contract. He’s GOTTA be the most accountable for those atrocious results.
Same with the open receivers he didn’t see when tape shows he had the time to see them. Or staring down his target till even I who don’t know ball can tell what the route was and where Geno was going.
So I’m one of the ones who questions whether Geno can get it done, despite agreeing he’s exciting and clearly has the talent and the skills.
I just want three things from him, really (these are prob wrong and prob reflect I don’t know ball):
- convert something better than league-avg on 3rd downs
- convert something better than league-avg in the red zone
- be better than league avg on TD/int
That’s it. The good QB’s can do that even if the OC sends in the wrong play -- they see it, audible and get it done.
Same if they see a particular OL guy struggling and the other guys line up their Nick Bosa’s on him: audible away from that risk. Or a blitzing safety. They see it and adjust. The above average ones I mean
I think you Joe have consistently argued Geno is average, and that average may not be good enough for Seattle’s aspirations.
I don’t know if he’s even been average over the last 14-16 games (a rolling season), not because I know ball but because he hasn’t delivered on my very short list of “wish fors” from Seattle’s QB.