Seahawks fans are not pleased with hearing of Geno Smith's start on Friday
Seaside Joe 1268, 8/25/22: Did Pete Carroll let it slip that Marquise Goodwin has made the team?
The Seattle Seahawks will start Geno Smith at quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys on Friday, with Drew Lock playing most (if not all) of the snaps after that. I would be surprised to not see Jacob Eason playing the fourth quarter because so little can be learned from Lock making throws and decisions against the Cowboys’ practice squad hopefuls, but Lock did finish out the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pete Carroll knows he wants to see “a lot” of him.
There’s really not much more that Seaside Joe wants to write about the quarterback competition. That’s just a fair lead intro paragraph to a Thursday newsletter, moments after Carroll met with the media and reiterated the same talking points because reporters keep asking him the same questions.
Geno will start. Lock will come in next. So many are taking this week’s comments and choice to start Geno as the “final nail” for Lock (I believe this is the fifth or sixth “final nail” for Lock) even though that flies in the face of logic. Pete could just say it’s over. He consistently appears desperate for that to not be the case.
Geno and the offense have combined their efforts to play poorly through two preseason first halves. Remarkably there are Seahawks fans who have the exact opposite take on Geno’s efforts in 2021 and the 2022 preseason, seeing the lack of points as “not Geno’s fault” and that’s fine, one thing I’ve learned is that you can’t really convince people to change their minds at a certain point.
However, I’ve also learned that Twitter distorts reality and while it seems like there are many shades to Seattle’s quarterback competition, the replies to tweets about Pete’s comments on Geno are very one-sided: Seahawks fans DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT.
Pete told the media again on Thursday that Geno will start and that he’s been “in the lead to start” the entire time. The reactions to Gregg Bell’s tweet on the matter were universal in their distaste for hearing there will be more Geno.
Gregg followed up with another tweet about Geno being “number-one guy the whole time. He’s held onto it” and the responses were even harsher, to say the least.
That does not tell me that most Seahawks fans are rooting for Drew Lock. It tells me that Seahawks fans were expecting Pete “Always Compete” Carroll to give every quarterback a chance to start and right now they don’t feel like that’s been the case. I am still quite confident that it is the case and that unless Lock has been super disappointing behind closed doors, the Seahawks want to see him outplay Geno Smith (as he did against Pittsburgh) on Friday.
And sure enough, while there’s been a lot of noise made over “reps with the 1s in practice,” Pete Carroll says that really doesn’t matter and the two quarterbacks have been splitting those reps all week.
It’s obvious how rare it is for Seahawks fans to be in the position of a quarterback competition based on the attention given to “reps with the 1s” in a practice setting. How many quarterbacks have had good-to-great seasons after spending all of training camp and preaseason as a backup?
40? 60? 25,000? I know the number is high. That, I know.
I’ve also been accused of having some personal bias against Geno Smith. That’s a manipulation tactic, it’s disingenuous, and it’s someone else’s way of driving the conversation in any other direction besides the facts I’ve laid out.
Earlier this summer I wrote that Geno Smith would be a very cool story and I’d be interested to see how that plays out. There are no personal feelings involved here. The evidence points to Lock making more sense than Geno and I presented the evidence. I have no personal stake in it. If the evidence was stronger that Lock would be a GOOD quarterback, I would make a strong case for Lock to start based on being good.
I haven’t done that either.
One of these two quarterbacks will start against the Broncos in Week 1. There’s a non-zero chance that the other quarterback will start against the 49ers in Week 2. Let’s not lose our minds over either.
Pete Carroll said a handful of other interesting things on Thursday. Before I lay out those talking points, please consider subscribing for the FREE daily Seahawks newsletter or upgrading for premium bonus content, of which more is coming today.
Dee Eskridge will make his debut on Friday
The Seahawks haven’t sounded overly impressed with any of their receivers other than the two obvious ones.
Pete Carroll gave words of praise for Marquise Goodwin, potentially even hinting that Goodwin’s going to be on the 53, but an Eskridge breakout would have a monumental impact on the offense. Now and in the future.
Rashaad Penny has COVID, is out Friday
Not that he would have played, but Penny will sit this one out. The Seahawks are hopeful to have Penny, Ken Walker III by Week 1. I think Penny’s all but assured of that, while Walker likely doesn’t return until later in September.
Pete is confident that Travis Homer can be more than just a third-down back. The team signed running back Ronnie Rivers on Wednesday as a camp body who could get some carries on Friday because of a lack of options.
Sidney Jones IV out, Artie Burns is back
The wild card at cornerback on the final 53-man roster is John Reid. Seattle’s in a tight spot because their veterans all keep getting hurt, their rookies are so untested, and even Mike Jackson could start against the Broncos. Artie Burns is probable to be a starter in Week 1 given his familiarity with the defense, but I think this may be the hardest position to predict for Week 1, even more so than quarterback.
L.J. Collier is a game-time decision, maybe soon to be cut
Bob Condotta is writing about L.J. Collier like he’s in his final days with the Seahawks and that Myles Adams has taken that job from him. Which no Seahawks fans will be upset about.
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Wait--what if Geno gets cut for the 53-man roster, Lock starts vs his former team and then...
JIMMY G starts against the Niners!!! It could be the revenge tour of all revenge tours lol.
The player I am most excited to see is Eskridge. If he breaks out and KWIII is as good as advertised, add in a second round receiver (maybe first round?) in the 2023 draft and man-alive we’d be working with something there! Drafting the QB goes without saying...except I just said it 😁