After winning the starting job in August, Smith went on to not just start every game, but play every offensive snap, the only quarterback in the NFL to do so in 2022. And in helping the Seahawks to a 9-8 record and a return to the postseason, Smith led the NFL in completion percentage with a 69.8 percent mark that also set a franchise record. He also set franchise records for completions (399), attempts (572) and passing yards (4,282), and he became one of only three quarterbacks in team history, along with Wilson and Dave Krieg, to throw 30 or more touchdown passes in a season. Smith’s 30 touchdown passes were the fourth most in the league, while his 100.9 passer rating ranked fifth, and along the way he also earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 4 and NFC Offensive Player of the Month honors in October.
“He’s for real,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after Seattle’s playoff loss in Santa Clara. “Geno is the real deal. He can do all of the things that a terrific quarterback does. His movement was probably more of a surprise that he was so efficient with his movement—he could always throw it. His ability to stay poised and calm throughout the season, throughout the year—with all of the hype and the buildup, he could have gone south five different times, and he never did. He never wavered. His leadership really stood out. His voice in the locker room, his voice with our players, he said the right stuff all year, right up to today. It’s a great story. It’s a great story for a lot of players, in other sports, wherever you want to go, if you keep hanging in there and you believe in yourself, and you don’t let the messaging outside of you affect who you are and what you are, you’ll find your best. I think Geno has found his best, and he’s ready to come back and go again. I thought he had just an unbelievably great season for us.”
And while Smith was deservedly honored for his impressive 2022 season with a Pro Bowl selection and multiple Comeback Player of the Year Awards, including the AP award handed out Thursday, he is far from being satisfied with what he did in his first season as a starter in nearly a decade.
“Everything for me has got to get better,” Smith said after Seattle’s Wild Card loss to the 49ers. “I’m not at all satisfied… I feel like we could have kept going, so for me, I’ve got to be better. I’m going to take this one personally.”
The level of accountability Smith showed after that game was consistent with how he…
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