Seahawks QB Geno Smith an ‘unsung hero’ for team while backing up Drew Lock

SEATTLE – Despite the late-game heroics of Drew Lock in Monday night’s 20-17 season-saving win over the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made clear afterward that Geno Smith remains the team’s starting quarterback.

“Yes, Geno is our starter,” Carroll said.

Carroll said Tuesday during his weekly day-after-game radio show on Seattle Sports 710 that he expects Smith to resume his starting quarterbacking duties Sunday when the Seahawks play at Tennessee.

“Now he’s ready to go,” Carroll said. “He’ll have a full week of prep.”

Carroll reiterated that it was truly a game-time decision to go with Lock instead of Smith, who continues to deal with a groin injury that held him out of the previous week’s 28-16 loss at San Francisco. Smith suffered the injury in practice on the Thursday before the 49ers game.

Smith was listed as questionable for the Eagles game after practicing on a limited basis all week, and Carroll had said on Saturday the team wouldn’t know who would start until close to kickoff.

“Drew took most of the plays during the week,” Carroll said Monday night. “We really tried to save Geno as much as we could, not overexpose him because it’s been such a short span of time since the strain.”

Still, the team left open the idea that Smith could play, deciding to base the decision in part on how Smith performed in pregame workouts.

Smith went through a series of on-field agility drills as well as throwing some passes, which both Carroll and general manager John Schneider said was a better workout than they anticipated.

All of that happened before the team had to declare its inactive players 90 minutes before kickoff. Deciding that Smith was healthy enough to play if needed, the team left Smith on the active list along with Lock and recently signed practice squad player Sean Mannion.

That led some to assume in the moment that Smith would start. But instead, the team decided to stick with starting Lock and letting Smith rest for another week – dressing only to be used in an emergency – with the hope the extra time off will allow his injury to more fully heal.

“We went out tonight to see could he play if we needed him to play in the workout,” Carroll said after Monday’s game. “He looked really good in the workout. That was the one taxing workout that we put him through. We knew we could dress him. If we needed him, we could go to him, in hopes we wouldn’t have to, so we could buy him another week of healing. It was really too soon.”

Carroll called it “gut-wrenching” to tell Smith he wouldn’t be starting – Smith had started all 30 games since the trade of Russell Wilson to Denver before sitting out against the 49ers.

“It was a tough decision,” Carroll said. “It was as hard as can be on Geno. We got him all the way to the point, then say no. Dress, be there if we need you, we will go with the other player, see if we can make it to the next week.”

That the Seahawks got the win surely made it easier for all to decide the Seahawks had done the right thing.

“I mean, he might have done great,” Carroll said of Smith. “But at least we bought him another week. … And so I’m so excited for him to come back and play and finish the stretch and see what we can get done here. Whether you feel like it’s the right thing or not, I feel it, and all of us on this end of it feel like it worked out. So we’re very fortunate.”

It worked out because Lock drove the Seahawks 92 yards in 1 minute, 24 seconds and tossed the winning TD pass of 29 yards to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 28 seconds remaining.

It was the fourth time this season Seattle won a game by scoring either in the final 38 seconds or less or in overtime.

Lock said he didn’t know he was starting until the team told Smith that he wouldn’t be, saying he found out “a little bit before kickoff.”

“All week it’s knowing Geno is close,” Lock said. “Prepare like you’re the starter, prepare like you’re going to play. He’s going to do his workout and we’re going to tell you after that. That was just the mindset going into it. I mean, that’s my job. It’s what I signed up for, knowing and not knowing when I’m going to have to step out there on the field.”

Seattle made an aggressive move to re-sign Lock in March to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million to again serve as the backup to Smith. It wasn’t the easiest move for Lock to accept coming to camp as the backup – he’d competed with Smith for the starting job in 2022.

But indicative of the relationship Lock said he has with Smith, he said one of the first things he did when he re-signed was to text Smith and tell him, “Hey, we are going to run this thing back again. Let’s do it.”

Monday night, Lock again reflected on their relationship and said Smith could not have been more supportive the past two games.

“That’s like an unsung hero in these last two weeks,” Lock said. “The encouragement he’s given me, the pep talks here and there, helping in the film room. It was cool when roles flipped, I was going to have to be the starter, he was doing the same thing for me as I was trying to do for him. That’s just an unselfish dude in there. I appreciate him more than words can describe.”

Lock said Smith’s encouragement included pulling him aside before the last drive and telling him, “ ‘You’re the best player on this field. You’re going to lead us down this field right now, go get it done,’ things like that. It’s really cool.” But with Smith on track to resume his role as starter, Lock says he’ll happily resume his job as backup.

“It was just a full-circle moment I think for the both of us,” Lock said after the game. “Like I’ve said many times (when) I’m up here (talking to media), I never want to be put in that position where I’m looking to the sideline and seeing him. He’s the starter for this team. That was what we had planned going into last season, we had planned going into this season. I’m supposed to be there for him. I’m supposed to be helping him out. Unfortunate situation for him. Like I said, for him to reverse those roles, be my biggest supporter out there, it’s really cool. Really cool stuff.”