Geno Smith did not beat the Detroit Lions. The Seattle Seahawks did. I know this.

In fact, Detriot’s offense actually outscored Seattle’s in this one, and had it not been for rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen’s pick six play on Jared Goff, Seattle might very well have walked out with another game in the loss column instead adding to the win one. If someone labeled that the play of the game, I wouldn’t argue against it.

One might even suggest that had DeeJay Dallas not secured the ball on Nick Bellore’s botched attempt to secure on onside kick at the end, Seattle could/would have lost this game, as well. Dallas honestly had one of the most vital plays of this nutziod shootout.

But all this said, make no mistake about it, Geno Smith had an outstanding game. He hit 23 of 30 passes for 320 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs while running for 49 yards on seven carries and a score. These are the sort of numbers that can earn you an Offensive Player Of The Week title.

He was super efficient again, and was in total control of mostly everything Shane Waldron wanted to run, yet again. This feels like a theme brewing with him.

In fact, if Geno Smith goes into the Super Dome against the Saints, and put up similar efficiency numbers as he has had over the past couple weeks, I think a lot of people are going to have to consider walking back a lot of what they have said about him on the airwaves, and written about him online. In fact, I would say that they are perfectly welcome to start walking it back now.

Through four games, Geno Smith is appearing a lot more capable of a starting NFL quarterback that most were probably thinking he was. There can be little debate in that now.

In four games, he has out played Russell Wilson. Pretty much all stats are backing that up, and supposedly Russell Wilson is on a better team with better weapons.

The irony of Geno Smith’s stellar performance this Sunday is that the guy who might beat him out for Offensive Player Of The Week is actually on the same team. Rashaad Penny ran roughshod on the Detroit defense with 17 carries for 151 yards and two scores, and he saved his best runs for when needed most on critical third down plays that lead to big scampering scores, and a first down at the end of the game that finally iced it for Seattle.

Geno Smith, Rashaad Penny, and DK Metcalf all had a day for this offense. DK and Penny are guys that you should expect to have big days given their talents, but this makes me circle back to Geno.

I’m happy for Geno Smith. In fact, I’m overjoyed. I’m so filled with joy over this, that I hope through the remaining course of this season, Geno gets to enjoy more games like this one than not, and the Seattle Seahawks are playing meaningful football in December and January. It would be great for him, and it would be outstanding for the development of this team.

If Seattle is going to have a top ten pick in next year’s draft, let that pick be the one that comes from Denver. I’m serious about this.

I don’t want to watch this team suck for a top pick. I don’t feel that is how to build a contender. I think you build a contender with the talent already on the roster coming together as the season goes on, and they develop into star level talents.

I want to see Tariq Woolen, Boye Mafe, Abe Lucas, Charles Cross, Ken Walker, and Coby Bryant become blue chip talents that other teams missed out on just like Kam, Sherman, KJ and others were way back when. That is how I want to see my Seattle Seahawks built up again.

So, you know what? Screw this suck for a quarterback thing. Screw it in the pants!

If Geno Smith balls the F out like this throughout the season, good. G-O-O-D!

The idea of Geno Smith turning his career around in Seattle, and them winning because of that is a big reason why I am a long time, diehard, Seattle Seahawks fan. I think this region is hard wired to root for guys like him, and let’s examine that.

In all of the pinnacle points of Seahawk post season ascension, from 1983 on to recent times, they have always risen as an underdog with an underdog at quarterback. Dave Krieg was an undrafted free agent, Jon Kitna was an undrafted free agent, Matt Hasselbeck was a developmental sixth round pick traded meagerly for, and Russell Wilson was a third rounder. These are the only quarterbacks who have ever guided Seattle into playoff games and beyond. A Geno Smith success story in Seattle would fit in well within this group.

Of course, there are a lot of games left to be played, and Geno has to stay healthy, and continue playing well, and I understand it if there are still doubts.. yada, yada, yada..

I would also say that, through these four games now, there is enough encouraging signs from Geno in this Shane Waldron offense to think his high level of play can continue.

Now, as I look at the schedule and see at the Saints, hosting the Cardinals, at the Chargers, and hosting the Giants, with the way this offense is coming on with him, none of these matches seem nearly as daunting as once appeared. If Seattle can sort out its defense more over the next week or so, that’s all the better.

Sorting out the defense feels like the bigger “if” right now, though, to be honest. While there were some positive signs out of this unit at Detroit, this was still a group of defenders who gave up way too many yards and points, even against a what appears to be a talented Detroit offense on the road.

For as fun and timely as the Woolen pick six was, he’s still raw and he’s learning how to cover NFL receivers (so is Coby Bryant). Carroll seems very intent on riding and dying with his rookie corners, though. So the hope is that, they continue to learn quickly on the job.

If I am to say something positive on about this defensive performance, I would say that it was hit and miss, and pretty uneven all together. That would be the polite thing to say about it.

I thought Boye Mafe made some strong plays on the edge against the run, and that was good to watch, but the one busted run that they gave up for a big long touchdown was against a wide alignment where the DTs were split outside of the guards and the ends were wide outside the tackles. That alignment screamed for a draw run to be called inside, and defenders behind the line of scrimmage all seemed to be napping when Jamaal Williams bolted through the gapping hole like a ball shot out of a cannon.

I have faith, ultimately, in Clint Hurtt as a DC, but I will be happy to not see them go “wide nine” like that for a while. They’ve shown that look a lot through these games and have paid prices. Time to maybe set it aside for something else.

That something else could come against the Saints who are probably going to try to pound it more instead of chucking it around like Detroit did in this one. This will be a good week to continue honing in on the run fits and tackling, and maybe a few more tweaks to the scheme.

As bad as the defense looked at many moments against these Detroit Lions, I sense a turn. I think we are going to start seeing them play better, and possibly pretty soon.

It was nice to finally see Sidney Jones playing at corner, along with Ryan Neal more at safety. I like these two veteran players. I keep feeling like Seattle has players on this side of the ball who are decent, and they just need to better sort it out with them. Getting Jones and Neal on the field was a nice start.

I’m here for it. I’m ready for a good defensive showing against the Saints. Let’s do it.

Go Hawks!