Geno Smith has played for and against the Giants in New York.
He’s faced the Jets twice at Lumen Field in Seattle.
But when the veteran quarterback takes the field against Gang Green on Sunday afternoon, it’ll be the first time he does so at MetLife Stadium since leaving the organization following the 2016 season.
The Jets selected Smith in the second round of the 2013 Draft out of West Virginia, and he was quickly thrust into the spotlight as the QB1 when Mark Sanchez suffered a shoulder injury during the team’s third preseason game against the Giants.
He began his career on a high note but was relatively inconsistent from there, as he threw a combined 34 interceptions over the next two seasons, before ultimately losing his starting job due to a benching and numerous different injuries.
After being let go by the Jets, Smith had a pair of stints as a backup with the Giants and Chargers, before he received another opportunity and transformed himself into a two-time Pro Bowler with the Seahawks.
While some may be looking at this as a potential revenge game for the gunslinger, he insists he holds no ill-will against the Jets.
“I’ve always had tremendous love and respect for the organization,” he said this week. “Obviously, it’s the team that drafted me and gave me a chance right out of the gate. There’s a lot of great people there, some that I was there with, but a lot of those people are now gone.
“So the whole revenge thing isn’t on my mind. There’s a lot of great people in that city that I still talk to, I still love and still support me. So it’s the biggest game of the year because it’s the next game, but obviously because I was drafted there it’s going to be a narrative.”
Smith and the Seahawks come into town enjoying a strong season under first-year OC Ryan Grubb.
The 34-year-old is averaging a league-best 275.9 passing yards per game, and he’s stepped up huge to help the team pickup back-to-back divisional wins, pushing them into a first-place tie in the NFC West with the Arizona Cardinals.
Jets interim HC Jeff Ulbrich knows keeping Smith in check on Sunday will be a tall task for this defense.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Geno,” he said. “He’s really starting to thrive in this college-esque offense they’ve been running. They do a lot of really cool stuff that takes advantage of his skillset, so I think it’s going to be a great challenge for our defense.”
