Even though he’s been a starter in this league for almost three seasons now, it seems a lot of analysts just don’t know what to make of Geno Smith. While his game has flaws, Smith has thrived in some areas all along – especially accuracy, downfield aggressiveness and coming through in the clutch. However, despite having led the Seattle Seahawks on more game-winning drives than any other quarterback since 2022, a lot of folks still see him as a middling-at-best starter who the franchise will ditch at their first real opportunity.
The latest disrespect for number seven comes from the folks at the 33rd Team, whose most-recent quarterback power rankings somehow have Atlanta Falcons veteran Kirk Cousins ranked 15th, one spot higher than Smith. Here’s what they had to say for themselves about Geno going into Week 15.
33rd Team on ranking Geno Smith 16
“Seattle’s offense hasn’t come into a coherent package yet, but there are still plays that stand out. Geno Smith completed 80 percent of his passes against the Cardinals, but his average completion was just three yards beyond the line of scrimmage. But he also didn’t take a sack, continuing his streak of avoiding pressure.”
In addition to the accuracy Smith has cut down on his interception problem the last few weeks – only throwing two picks over his last four starts and none the last two weeks. Geno’s pick problem has been the most legitimate criticism of his game all year, but it’s finally dissipating now that we’ve reached the final month of the season.
Meanwhile, Cousins’ game is falling apart at exactly the wrong time. During that same stretch of four weeks Cousins has thrown a eight interceptions to go with a grand total of zero passing touchdowns. Whether he’s playing hurt or just going through a rut, Cousins’ performance has been so poor that there are calls for the Falcons to bench him and see what they have in rookie Michael Penix Jr. at QB.
Atlanta doesn’t seem inclined to do that, so for now they’ll keep trotting out Cousins, allowing him to spoil what should have been an easy run to the NFL playoffs in a relatievely week NFC South division.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks are in the driver’s seat in the NFC West – but based on the way the schedule is playing out it looks like they’re going to have to beat the LA Rams in Week 18 to secure their spot in the postseason.
In any case, Smith at a bare minimum should be ranked higher than Cousins, who’s arguably playing worse ball than any other starter in the NFL right now.
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