Pete Carroll is a genius. The Seattle Seahawks and Pete Caroll continue to prove that the failures of recent years were Russell Wilson’s fault as they beat the high-flying Giants 27-13.
The Seahawks are absolutely rolling as they are having a blast playing with house money. Nobody thought they would even reach 5 wins by January, let alone winning the first 5/8 games of the season while playing the NFC West division. Losing Russell Wilson was supposed to doom this franchise into years of misery as a long, lengthy rebuild was thought to be needed after the destruction of the Legion of Boom and trade of their franchise QB.
But obviously, Pete Carroll and these Seattle Seahawks players didn’t believe any of that nonsense as they are not only in 1st place in the NFC West and sitting on 5 wins, but they also are ahead of the Denver Broncos (the team Russell Wilson was traded to) in the standings.
And a huge reason why the Seahawks are playing so well is due to the fact that Geno Smith has been transformed as a QB.
Gone are the days of the immature, aggressive, naïve Jets QB that would get into fights with his teammates (and get his jaw broken in the process) as now the 32-year-old veteran QB has grown and learned from his mistakes and has become the leader of the young Seattle locker room. Plus, he’s also playing great football.
After a relatively slow start, Smith cooked the Giants defense in the 4th quarter as he led the team down the field twice to score two touchdowns to seal the game. The one Smith directly scored, which made it a 20-13 game, was probably the best throw of the entire game by both teams as he threw a perfect seam pass right down the right sideline and into the endzone for Tyler Lockett, who made up for a huge drop earlier on in the game with that reception.
As for the second TD, after a turnover by the Giants return man Richie James, Smith was calm and cool in the pocket and handed off the ball to Kenneth Walker III for a 15-yard TD run to seal the game and make it a 27-13 game.
Speaking of breakout stars, Walker III is quickly becoming one of the better running backs in football as he had yet another good game with 18 CAR for 51 yards and that rushing touchdown. Along with Smith, Kenneth Walker has been a huge part of the success the Seattle offense has had in the post-Russell Wilson era.
This was just a great win for the Seahawks that has kept them chugging along in the NFC playoff picture and the NFC West division title race.
As for the Giants, this was just one of those days. Saquon Barkley had one of his worst games in a while as he had 20 rushing attempts for 53 yards (only 2.6 yards/car) and 1 TD, while Daniel Jones reverted back into the inaccurate passer he’s been for most of his career as he finished 17/31, 176, and 0 TDs.
If anything, this game just reassured most Ginats fans that Jones is not the QB of the future, even though he might be one of the toughest QBs in the league. Unfortunately, Jones isn’t good enough throwing the ball to justify a $150-200M+ contract like most starting/franchise QBs get.
At 6-2, the Giants should still make the playoffs for the first time since 2016 as long as they continue a .575-650% trend the rest of the way, but it’s going to be difficult as the NFC East is on fire this season with the undefeated Eagles (7-0), the high-powered Cowboys (6-2), and the persistent Commanders (4-4) all winning today.
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