Vision Board: Seahawks-Giants

Giants are Geno Smith's real "revenge" game and more: 10/5/2024

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By the way, I’ve received some positive updates from Seasider Chuck Turtleman and the devastation that he and his family are recovering from due to the hurricane that hit his town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, but he also says the area is years away from getting back to normal again and that utilities like power, internet, and cell service are spotty, at best. So leave a message in the comments for him if you’d like to and we’ll pass it along, and I also have mailing information for him and his family, as there were some comments in this week’s articles about being able to do that.

Last week’s vision board for the Lions included: A Rayshawn Jenkins interception, hold the Lions under 103 rushing yards, and keep Aidan Hutchinson from sacking Geno Smith during the entire game. We were one out of three.

I did not get a chance to post any Seaside Streams articles this week, so I will incorporate some of those YouTube videos that I didn’t use into today’s vision board as a guidepost for which Seahawks should excel against the Giants.

Let’s show the world why Jaxon Smith-Njigba was picked so high in the draft

You know that I’ve been high on Jaxon Smith-Njigba since the Seahawks drafted him, and also that I don’t like players just because they’re picked by the Seahawks, so whether I turn out to be right or wrong I’ve been genuine in my belief that JSN is going to be an all-time Seattle Seahawk. If you give your heart to every single player who happens (by no control of our own) to join the team, well it doesn’t take a long trip down memory lane before realizing you must get your heart broken a lot.

But Jaxon Smith-Njigba? Kenneth Walker? Byron Murphy? These were players I think Seahawks fans have had every right to get their hopes up for based on their draft resumes and that’s not to take anything away from anyone I didn’t mention (including Charles Cross, who has paid off fans but I could understand some having some hesitation based on an absence of run blocking opportunities in college), it’s just my personal opinion that Smith-Njigba is someone who has always had the goods. So why stop now?

It’s been sort of a JSN week here at Seaside Joe and the comp I can’t seem to get out of my head is Keenan Allen.

Maybe they aren’t the same type of receivers to a tee, but I have a sense that JSN will produce at a similar rate (100 catches, 1,100 yards, 6 TD seems to be in JSN’s wheelhouse this year) and be that safety outlet for Geno Smith that ends up getting him the most targets on the team. And in a way, if you’re getting the highest target share on your offense, you are the number one receiver.

We’ve seen JSN make great plays. We’ve seen JSN set career-highs in catches (12) and yards (117) in Week 2. But at some point I believe we are going to get a truly “wow” special game from Smith-Njigba, so why not now?

Universal Remote: Jaxon Smith-Njigba sets career highs, as in multiple

Last summer, I went through JSN’s high school accomplishments (in Texas, of all states), prior to what he did at Ohio State, and based on those first two levels it would be a surprise if he didn’t set some franchise records, if not NFL marks. Consider that JSN is 22nd all-time in receiving yards at Ohio State, one of the five most prominent programs in the country, even though he essentially only played on season there. He’s not the best receiver to play at Ohio State, but by setting the single-season records for catches and yards, he proved without a doubt that he would have CRUSHED those school career marks if he had been fully healthy and not sharing the field with Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.

And I mean crushed.

There is a side to Smith-Njigba that hasn’t been unlocked yet and whether that happens this season, next season, or in the case of Keenan Allen not until his fifth season (let’s hope that’s not the case), I believe it’s going to happen. It’s sort of like Kendrick Lamar, a rapper who was at the very top of hip hop for over a decade before he released “Not Like Us”, the biggest hit of his career and the reason he’s playing halftime of the Super Bowl.

We could watch a Pro Bowl JSN for a long time and then one day we’ll wake up and he caught 170 passes in a season. It could happen. I’m putting this one out there that for at least one game against the Giants, we see that side of JSN.

Geno’s real revenge game

Look, the Jets parted ways with Geno Smith because he sucked. They didn’t even release him, his contract simply expired. The only “revenge” between the two would be the Jets feeling Geno owed them, I guess for not giving that guy the money he wanted and having to start Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015 after the infamous locker room fight, which Fitzpatrick never gave back?

But the Giants…Geno Smith does have a legitimate bone to pick with the Giants.

Flashback to 2017, Ben McAdoo wanted to bench Eli Manning for Geno but the franchise wouldn’t let him do it and then fired McAdoo. The entire “Geno Seattle Story” could have been the “Geno New York Story” but owner John Mara doesn’t believe in Geno Smith and just as people laughed off the idea of the Seahawks replacing Russell Wilson with Geno, so too did the Giants dismiss Geno. Except that they actually did dismiss him and now they’ve suffered through (how can this number be real?) SIX YEARS of Daniel Jones.

And here’s more motivation for Geno:

Since both QBs since contract extensions in 2023, Daniel Jones has earned $46 million (Giants are 2-8 with him since then, so $23 million per win) and Geno Smith has earned $27.5 million (he makes $25 million per year).

Universal Studios: Geno Smith gets back into the positive TD:INT ratio

I don’t need to go too crazy here because if the Seahawks play their brand of football, Geno won’t throw half as many passes as he did in Week 4 against the Lions. I mean, who in the year 2024 would think that passing attempts is a good stat for a quarterback?

Geno’s been asked to do too much in Seattle’s road games this season (100 attempts in two games, resulting in two touchdowns, one interception, six sacks, it’s too much to put on any quarterback and usually means the team isn’t running the ball well or playing good defense) but the Seahawks are at home this week and per Saturday morning’s non-negotiables, they need to re-solidify that playing in Lumen Field is a nightmare for away teams.

Still, if we can get 25 passing attempts, 200 passing yards, 1-2 touchdowns, and no interceptions from Geno Smith, that’s the recipe for a 14+ point win. Or if it’s not the recipe, it’s the scent from the kitchen that something good was cooking.

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By the way, here were the results to the poll I posted after Monday’s game:

Thoughts?

Time for the defense to get angry

This is not an easy video to watch if you dislike re-living past traumas, but it was definitely footage that the Seahawks defense had to watch over and over again in meetings this week because Seattle really did play so poorly against Jared Goff’s Lions. We know that the defense was depleted, and that matters tremendously, and we know that the Lions are probably one of the five most-talented offenses in the NFL.

Gruden said something else this week, “You pay your backups for a reason”.

Let’s not forget that even if Myles Adams and Trevis Gipson are backups, they're still in the NFL. They still make about $1 million per year, if not more. It’s still almost impossible to be good enough to make the NFL. It seems like the biggest issue the Seahawks had on defense against the Lions was communication and so therefore it does make sense why Detroit was able to expose those missed assignments and blown coverages.

That’s why all of these veteran players coming back, they need to be angry and they need to take that anger out on Daniel Jones and Giants head coach Brian Daboll. And offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, someone we haven’t talked about yet this week but you probably remember that before Mike Macdonald was interviewed, he was my early favorite to be Seattle’s next head coach just based on a couple context clues. The Seahawks met with Kafka, they must have had a lot of intel on the Giants offense from that, so how can they be the ones to exploit this week?

Universal Language: Seahawks hold Giants under 200 yards, returning vets show up with an agenda to leave a mark

The Seahawks held the Broncos to 231 yards and the Dolphins to 205 yards, both at home. This one’s at home too, how about getting under the 200-yard mark this time? Seattle held Denver and Miami to 13 first downs each, can they get that to 10 first downs, if not single digits?

The returning players who missed the Lions games (if not more) should lead the charge this week:

Uchenna Nwosu isn’t on the injury report anymore, but Mike Macdonald still wasn’t sure if he’d play this weekend. Byron Murphy is out. Boye Mafe and Julian Love were the two questionable players on the final injury report, but Love told the media he expects to play. It’s not as clear with Mafe, but the mood seemed positive. Let’s say Nwosu, Murphy, and Mafe sit this one out, giving Seattle their best chance to have all three players on Thursday anyway.

(But don’t overlook Sunday for Thursday.)

That puts Love in the spotlight. That puts Jerome Baker in the spotlight. That puts Leonard Wiliams in the spotlight. Those are the three names I’ll circle as players to end up “HOT” after Week 5’s game against the Giants.

Jay’s Says

Hero of the week is... defensive end Leonard Williams who joined the Seahawks last year (news to me!) and will be facing his former team, the New Yawk Giants, on Sunday. I work with a woman who seems to keep a Rolodex of excuses as to why she can't come into the office. Maybe she ate some bad sushi the night before or her cousin got arrested and needs to be bailed out of jail. Regardless, she's consistent because come Monday morning like clockwork, we're going to hear about something crazy that "happened" to her. For Leonard Williams, I'm sure he's also familiar with his former co-worker’s tricks…and with knowledge comes power. 

Zero of the week is... NY Giants defensive end Brian Burns. I only know one Mr. Burns and he is bad bad news....