In the midst of their bye week, the Seattle Seahawks find themselves searching for answers in all phases after dropping five of their past six games to plunge into last place in the NFC West.
With nine games down and eight left to play, veteran quarterback Geno Smith has been under fire from some fans amid Seattle's less-than-desirable start. But is that criticism fair?
Revisiting the first half of the season, how has Smith played in offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's offense so far? Midseason report card:
Areas of Strength: Continuing to excel as a deep ball passer, Smith currently ranks tied for first in Pro Football Focus' Big Time Throw metric on passes traveling 20-plus yards (13) and has thrown six touchdowns on those passes, tied for second most behind only Eagles starter Jalen Hurts. Compared to other signal callers, he stacks up favorably against his peers in most major passing categories, including ranking first in passing yardage, 10th in completion rate, and 12th in yards per attempt.
Despite being tied for the league lead in interceptions, Smith only ranks 17th in turnover worthy play percentage (2.3 percent), suggesting not all of his picks have been his fault and that a high volume of pass plays has had more to do with that number than anything else. Making his numbers all the more impressive, only four quarterbacks have been pressured at a higher rate (39.6 percent), and his offensive line has been the main culprit with him only being held responsible for four percent of those pressures, the second-lowest rate ahead of only Rams starter Matthew Stafford.
While he hasn't taken off to run as much as some quarterbacks and the vast majority of his yardage has been on scrambles and not designed run plays, Smith has been effective when tucking and running this season. He currently ranks 13th with 193 rushing yards and has averaged a healthy 5.4 yards per carry, an average bolstered by 10 carries of 10 or more yards, tied for the seventh-most by a quarterback this year.
Areas of Improvement: Though poor pass protection and botched snaps have played a part in Seattle's struggles in the red zone, Smith deserves his share of the blame for the team struggling to finish drives with touchdowns. According to Pro Football Reference, he currently ranks 26th among quarterbacks with at least 10 pass attempts inside the opposing 20-yard line with a 51.5 percent completion rate and he's been especially inaccurate inside the 10-yard line, completing just three out of 17 passes with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
When pressured, Smith has been hindered by sometimes questionable decision making and trying to do too much shouldering the load in a one-dimensional offense lacking a consistent run game. On 153 pressured drop backs, he has thrown a league-worst nine interceptions, three more than the next player (Kirk Cousins) on the list. With just five touchdown passes on those plays and under six yards per attempt, his 49.2 passer rating when pressured ranks 26th out of 27 qualified quarterbacks.
Midseason Grade: B+
Fans can bemoan some of the interceptions Smith has thrown, but based on a myriad of stats, no quarterback has been dealt a worse hand when it comes to shaky pass protection and constant pressure. Somehow, he ranks 16th in sack to pressure ratio despite being under persistent duress, and the fact he ranks in the top 10 in completion rate, yardage, and Big Time Throws in such an environment shows he deserves a hell of a lot more respect than he's been receiving with circumstances around him being far from ideal.
