You can watch the replay of the Los Angeles Rams’ pick-6 of Geno Smith many many times and still not figure out what Smith was looking at or who he might have been throwing to.
Smith has played well for the majority of his Seattle Seahawks career, but here and there will have a mistake that leaves everyone baffled. One of those mistakes came at a bad time Sunday, and it loomed large later when the Los Angeles Rams won 26-20 on a one-handed 39-yard catch by Demarcus Robinson.
Early in the fourth quarter with the Seahawks tied with the Rams 13-13, Smith was feeling some pressure from his right and just delivered a pass on a platter to Rams safety Kamren Kinchens. A surprised Kinchens grabbed it and ran 103 yards the other way for a touchdown and the Rams had the lead.
That’s just not a mistake a starting quarterback can make, and it was even worse in the fourth quarter of a tie game.
And then he had another. After the Rams had a punt blocked in their territory the Seahawks had a shot to at least tie the game. But Smith’s tight end got caught up at the line, Smith threw it prematurely and it was intercepted again by Kinchens at his own 7-yard line.
It’s bad enough to throw one interception that ugly by the goal line, but two is hard to believe.
Smith rallied the Seahawks to force overtime, hitting Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a game-tying score with less than a minute left. And he had the Seahawks in position to take a lead in overtime, but they were stuffed on a fourth-and-goal run, setting up the Rams’ game-winning drive.
But the mistakes were too much. Smith will think about those for a while after the loss.
