Dave Boling: As legend of Geno Smith grows, it’s up to his Seahawks teammates to do their part

Of course we make too much of every outcome. Over-reaction is baked into the system.

The NFL schedules games so that you generally have seven days to stew in your gloom or take helium hits off your celebrational balloons. No league was ever made great by expecting fans to limit themselves to rational response on an incremental basis.

So the 39-32 loss to the New Orleans Saints doesn’t do irreversible damage to the Seattle Seahawks’ 2022 season, and the sky would brighten noticeably next week with a win at home over the Arizona Cardinals.

As the league is constructed, being flawed, inconsistent and inferior at any number of the game’s finer points is not in the least disqualifying. With so many teams having sunken to the league’s flabby midsection, being able to hang around .500 for most of the season is an accepted business model.

So whatever expectations the Seahawks held for the season remain viable, even if unexpected.

But here’s what rendered this loss, which dropped the Hawks to 2-3, such a specifically painful experience: The Seahawks had offered actual hope and displayed legitimate moments of competitive football excitement.

For almost the entire game, the Hawks looked like an average team that was going to be able to dispatch a bad Saints team (1-3 coming in) without its starting quarterback and several top receivers. In addition, the Saints were was worst in the league in turnovers and penalties.

Throughout, we watched as the growing Legend of Geno Smith added chapters. The surprising veteran quarterback threw three more beautiful touchdowns and commanded the offense brilliantly, firing two scores to Tyler Lockett and another to D.K. Metcalf.

Smith played well enough for the Seahawks to win this game. And except for a late sack when receivers were blanketed by coverage, Smith once again did more than his share.

Rookies Ken Walker III and Tariq Woolen provided glimpses of promising futures nearing full arrival. Woolen made his third interception of the season and also recovered a fumble, while Walker gave the Hawks a 32-31 lead with a thrilling 69-yard score with less than seven minutes remaining.

Silly us. It seemed all they had to do was come up with a few defensive plays and then run out the clock.

On the backbreaking play, New Orleans’ dual-threat backup quarterback Taysom Hill ran a keeper off left tackle as Seattle’s standout safety Quandre Diggs appeared ready to slam the door on Hill. But Diggs flailed ineffectively and Hill raced 60 yards for the difference-maker. For much of the day the Seahawks looked confused by Hill’s role. But this play was not a function of trickery.

Hill was there. Diggs was there. Diggs has to tackle him. He’s paid extravagantly to tackle that man – a tackle that would have helped preserve the lead, boosted the Hawks to 3-2 and to the top of the division standings.

Nope. Hill won an individual battle that encapsulated the full day of Seahawk shortcomings.

Countless other mistakes contributed, none more quizzical than that of punter Michael Dickson, who decided to run the ball rather than kick facing fourth-and-9 deep in their own territory. He was tackled well short and fumbled away the ball, as well, giving New Orleans possession on Seattle’s 13-yard line.

For as often as we hear coaches lament how hard it is to win games in the NFL, how in the world would anyone ever allow Dickson to harbor the illusion that he was free to show off his moves while occupying that position of the field? Stunning blunder.

The way the game went, it’s unlikely the Seattle defense would have stopped the Saints even if Dickson had punted it away, but he certainly made the road shorter.

This game may get lost among the drama of a dozen more contests before we start looking toward next spring’s draft, when things may really start to change. But it nonetheless seemed like a squandered opportunity in a season when easy pickings are expected to be rare.

At such a cost, too: Running back Rashaad Penny, who had been enjoying the long-deferred healthy season the Hawks had promised for years, was lost with a broken leg.

In addition to the flashy rookies, Lockett and Al Woods also had strong performances amid the gaffes.

It seemed easiest to relate to the pain of Smith, though, who proved time and again he could lift his team to a win. But he headed home with the rest of struggling roster, trying to remember how to go about winning games in an unforgiving league.

Of course, all of this is subject to change with a convincing win next week.