Seahawks see Geno Smith leave with injury in prime-time loss to Packers
SEATTLE – A night that began with as much excitement as any in recent Seahawks history ended in as much disappointment as any this season.
Not only were the Seahawks left reeling by a Green Bay team that imposed its physical will from the opening play of an eventual 30-13 win, but they were also left with uncertainty about the fate of quarterback Geno Smith.
Smith left the game with a knee injury when he was hit by Green Bay linebacker Edgerrin Cooper with 7:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Coach Mike Macdonald said after the game that Smith appeared to escape any significant damage, but that more tests will be conducted over the next 24 hours or so to determine the exact nature of the injury.
“Right now, structurally, looks like it’s OK,” Macdonald said.
Macdonald noted that Smith is “probably the toughest player I’ve ever been around, and it was severe enough for him not to come back in the game. We’ll do all the tests tomorrow and kind of figure it out as we go.”
After being examined in the blue medical tent on the sidelines, then taken into the locker room, Smith returned to the sidelines and put his helmet on and wanted to re-enter the game.
“He wanted to and then he was about to go back one of those drives,’’ Macdonald said. “He just couldn’t do it.’’
Smith watched the rest of the game from the sidelines with his right knee wrapped as Sam Howell finished out.
Howell led one 45-yard TD drive capped by a 24-yard run by Zach Charbonnet that cut the lead to 23-13 early in the fourth quarter.
But otherwise Howell was ineffective, sacked four times, throwing an interception when the outcome was still in some doubt following the Charbonet TD, and completing just 5 of 14 passes for 24 yards.
It was the first real action for Howell, who was acquired in a trade last March to be the backup after Drew Lock reached an agreement with the Giants.
“Wasn’t good enough to win,’’ Macdonald said of how Howell played. “I know he’s disappointed. Just didn’t feel like we were getting the ball out on time and then it wasn’t complemented with our pass protection. We gave up a bunch of sacks and they did a good job too.’’
Howell started all 17 games for Washington last season and was acquired with the hope that he could give Seattle good QB play if needed in an emergency.
But Howell acknowledged that didn’t really happen Sunday.
“I think at the end of the day I’ve got to be better,’’ he said. “This is my job is to be ready to go in there and play well and help this team win and I didn’t do that today. So I’ve just got to be better.’’
The only other quarterback on the Seahawks’ roster is second-year player Jaren Hall, who is on the practice squad. Hall, who played at BYU, was a fifth-round pick of the Vikings in 2023 at 164 overall and started two games for Minnesota last year due to injury, completing 11 of 20 passes for 168 yards and an interception.
The Seahawks were already behind 20-3 when Smith was injured, having been dominated from the start by a Green Bay team that improved to 10-4 and again stamped itself as a serious Super Bowl contender.
The Seahawks came in riding a four-game winning streak and hoping to show that was no fluke.
Instead, the Packers scored the first four times they had the ball on drives of 63, 80, 51 and 83 en route to dropping the Seahawks to 8-6 and into a tie in the NFC West with the Rams.
Because the Rams beat the Seahawks at Lumen Field on Oct. 27, L.A. is technically in first place, which means that if the season ended today, the Seahawks would be out of the playoffs.
The Seahawks fell to a stupefying 3-5 at home this season in being outgained 369-208. Their previous season low in yards was in a loss to Buffalo on Oct. 27.
Smith was injured when Green Bay linebacker Edgerrin Cooper dived at his feet as tried to throw the ball away under pressure with 7:12 remaining.
Smith’s feet got tangled as he fell to the ground and he immediately grabbed at his lower right leg. As he rose, Smith reacted in immediate frustration, gesturing to Cooper.
Smith stopped and bent down as trainers raced onto the field. After being examined, he limped to the sideline, slamming his helmet to the turf. After shaking his leg a little bit appearing to try to test it, he headed into the blue medical tent.
After a few minutes, Smith walked into the locker room. As he did, teammate Tyler Lockett ran to his side to accompany him.
Smith jogged back to the sideline in the third quarter, and put on a helmet, giving at least some momentary hope that he might return. Smith retreated to the bench with a wrap on his right knee and did not return.
Howell led the Seahawks to one TD on a 45-yard march capped by a 24-yard Zach Charbonnet scoring run that followed a Josh Jacobs fumble and cut the lead to 23-13 early in the fourth quarter.
Howell could not move the Seahawks otherwise. And any last hope they had was extinguished when a Howell pass over the middle was picked off by none other than Cooper – who also had a sack and two tackles-for-loss – with 5:17 remaining.
The Packers turned that into a quick Jordan Love 22-yard TD pass to Romeo Doubs with 4:49 left.
Howell finished the night 5 of 14 for 24 yards and an interception while taking four of Green Bay’s seven sacks.
Even before Smith was injured this was a disastrous night for the Seahawks, who looked nothing at all like the playoff team they had appeared to be the previous three weeks.
The Packers, coming in with some extra rest as they last played a week ago Thursday, dominated the stats in every imaginable way in the first half, outgaining the Seahawks 235-115, also compiling 15 first downs to Seattle’s eight, and rushing for 92 yards on 18 carries (5.2 per attempt) to Seattle’s 30 on seven (4.3).
The Packers won the coin toss and decided to receive.
Maybe Packers coach Matt LaFleur knew something as that proved as decisive of a moment as any on the night.
The second play of the game set the tone. Love threw a short pass that running back Jacobs turned into a 13-yard gain, then took a hard hit to the back after he threw from the Seahawks’ Riq Woolen. Woolen was called for a personal foul, and the gain and penalty moved the ball to the Seattle 31.
The Packers needed seven plays from there to score on a 1-yard run by Jacobs on third-and-goal to take a 7-0 lead.
The Seahawks got one first down but then couldn’t move it, quickly punting the ball back to the Packers.
Green Bay again moved swiftly down the field, jump-started by a 21-yard pass from Love to Jacobs on the first play of the possession.
The TD came on a 13-slant pass to Doubs in which he pulled Woolen and Julian Love into the end zone. That made it 14-0 with 1:54 to play in the first quarter and capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive.
At that point the Packers had a 128-12 edge in yards and 10-1 in first downs, with Jacobs having gained 46 yards on the ground, and the Packers 66 overall.
The Seahawks used a 25-yard pass from Smith to Jaxon Smith-Njigba to get jump-started on its second drive.
The Seahawks couldn’t convert when they had second and barely a yard at the Green Bay 23 and were forced to settle for a 48-yard field goal by Jason Myers.
Green Bay drove for a field goal and a 17-3 lead.
With the game slipping away the Seahawks mounted a drive, with two penalties against Green Bay on third down helping Seattle move to the Packers 12.
On a third-and-nine, Smith tried to hit Noah Fant in the back of the end zone. But his throw as he backpedaled was picked off by Corey Ballentine, who had been covering Tyler Lockett but peeled off him to reach back and pick off the pass.
It was Smith’s first interception since the Nov. 24 win over Arizona. But it was his 13th of the season. And according to ESPN it was his fourth this year thrown into the end zone, tied with Cleveland’s Jameis Winston for the most in the NFL.
The Seahawks’ mistakes continued as two penalties helped the Packers move to the Seattle 3 with four seconds left in the half. That included an offsides by Leonard Williams that the Packers turned into a free play 26-yard gain on a pass, and a 34-yard defensive pass interference against Woolen.
The Packers, who had one time out remaining, lined up as if to go for it. Instead, they were merely trying to draw Seattle offsides and Brandon McManus kicked a 21-yard field goal as the half ended to make it 20-3 at halftime.
The second half somehow felt even worse with the sight of Smith on the sideline with his knee heavily wrapped and the prospect of a home game next Sunday against 11-2 Minnesota and trips to Chicago and L.A. to play the Rams remaining.