Two years ago, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith helped knock the Jets out of the playoffs.
On Sunday, Smith will face the Jets at MetLife Stadium for the first time since leaving the franchise following the 2016 season.
“I’ve always had a tremendous amount of love and respect for this organization,” Smith said Wednesday during his weekly press briefing. “Obviously the team that drafted me gave me a chance from the start.
“A lot of great people there, some people I was there with, a lot of those people are now gone. So as far as revenge goes, that’s not on my mind. Like I said, man, there’s a lot of great people in this city that I still talk to and still love and support and so this is the biggest game of the year because it is the next match. But obviously, because I was recruited there, it will be a story that is being constructed.
Smith’s tenure with the Jets can be described as a total disaster. The Jets selected Smith with their second-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.
In 30 games for Gang Green, Smith passed for 5,962 yards, 28 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. The Jets were 12-18 in games started by Smith.
Smith’s last start for the Jets came in the 2014 season finale victory over the Dolphins. In that game, he recorded a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 after completing 20 of 25 passes for 358 yards and three touchdowns.
But Smith’s tenure with the Jets will be remembered for its dramatic ending. He played only one game in 2015 after IK Enemkpali broke his jaw during a preseason locker room feud, leading to Ryan Fitzpatrick becoming the Jets’ starting quarterback .
Smith never regained his starting job and left the Jets to become the backup quarterback for the Giants and Chargers before signing with the Seahawks in 2019 to be Russell Wilson’s backup.
Since leaving Meadowlands in 2018, Smith has become a very different quarterback. When Wilson was traded to the Broncos in 2022, Smith became the Seahawks’ starter, leading them to the playoffs after the team finished 9-8. Smith was also named Comeback Player of the Year by the Associated Press and the Pro Football Writers of America and was named to his first Pro Bowl team after passing for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Last season, Smith was named to his second Pro Bowl after totaling 3,624 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
But this year, Smith has struggled with turnovers, which hurt the Seahawks in critical moments. In 11 games, Smith, 34, has totaled 3,035 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
“I don’t know what to say about him, he’s got great mobility,” Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said of Smith. “He kills people with his feet sometimes, he has the ability to extend plays, he’s way more athletic than you think when he’s moving, and he makes things happen off the platform.
“He can make every throw and he takes advantage of his arm strength, whether it’s double swings to [DK] Metcalf, or it’s the cuts from the rest of their guys, they’re doing a lot of really cool stuff that takes advantage of his skill set, so he’s going to be a big challenge for us, and he’s really starting to flourish in that varsity environment. offense, where they’re going fast, and they’re at the line of scrimmage and he’s able to really run the show.
Although Smith said all the right things about the Jets during his press conference this week, his redemption story can come full circle if he and the Seahawks (6-5) can defeat the Jets (3-8) and continue to send them further. a dark abyss.
Gang Green will enter Sunday’s game having lost seven of their last eight games. During this period, Jets owner Woody Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas. Ulbrich also demoted offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett from play-calling duties, but the losses continued to pile up.
Because of this, there has also been speculation about the team’s future, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, after a disappointing season that began with Super Bowl aspirations. Rodgers has suffered from injuries, a decline in accuracy and mobility. With a new coaching staff and general manager coming in next season, they could move in a different direction at the quarterback position.
In 11 games, Rodgers has totaled 2,442 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. This week, Rodgers, 40, was absent from the Jets’ injury report for the first time in nearly two months after suffering ankle, knee and hamstring injuries since the Week 4 loss to the Broncos.
With the Jets on the verge of missing the playoffs for the 14th straight season, the final six games could greatly determine Rodgers’ future. On “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday, Rodgers said that if he decided to play football in 2025, his first choice would be to stay with the Jets.
“I mean, every game is important,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I’m going to enjoy it, obviously the future is unknown for a lot of us, but yeah, I’m very proud of this game. When I get on the pitch, when I’m training, I’ll be excited to be there -down with the guys and finish strong.
“When you win, everything feels better, so if we win this one, things will feel better, and get the next one, things will feel better, but that’s the hardest part at this point in the season where things have gone a long way in the last few weeks. It comes down to motivating the guys, you can inspire them, Brick. [Ulbrich] We can put out a great quote, or give us a great message, or we can have a great discussion Saturday night, but at the end of the day it comes down to guys being motivated individually and then just wanting to play for something more bigger than them. »
