Football is the most-complicated team sport there is, but one thing you can always rely on is that the starting quarterback will get too much credit when they're winning and too much blame when they lose. For an example of the first you can see what kind of figures Brock Purdy is about to make on his new deal with the San Francisco 49ers. For the second, you'll find no better choice than Geno Smith these last three years with the Seattle Seahawks.
Even though Smith has consistently had one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL and Seattle's defense was straight up bad for two of those three years, you'll still find an awful lot of Seahawks fans who blame Smith for missing out on the playoffs.
The best cure for ignorance is information, and head coach Mike Macdonald knows that Smith is pretty far down on the list of reasons why his team went home early this year. Here's what he told Pro Football Talk about that take.
Mike Macdonald defends Geno Smith
"Not a good take" is being far too kind, of course. To name just a few reasons that rank ahead of Geno'sturnovers, if Seattle's run defense hadn't cratered from Weeks 4-8 the Seahawks would have made the playoffs. If they hadn't collectively fallen asleep against the Giants they'd be in the playoffs. If Abe Lucas plays all 17 games they probably make the playoffs. If Ryan Grubb integrates even a modesly successful run game they definitely make the playoffs. If their offensive line was even a top-25 unit they'd probably have made the playoffs.
All of that didn't work out, though. It's fair to point to Smith throwing too many interceptions, but with enough context you can see why he was trying to do too much. In a game of inches, the Seahawks are just a few big men away from returning to the postseason. How far they go is another matter, but with what should be an elite defense there's reason to believe they could go far - provided they give Smith more support.
