Seattle Seahawks Media Conference

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Seattle, Washington, USA

Geno Smith

Postgame Press Conference


Seahawks 23, Jets 6

Q. Nice seeing Ken go 60 yards first play.

GENO SMITH: That was awesome. Yeah, I think that was right what we needed, just a spark early on to get us started. We talked about starting fast, and no one is faster than Ken with the ball in his hands, and so we started fast and got things going early.

Q. What does it mean to you to beat the team that drafted you?

GENO SMITH: Honestly, it doesn't mean anything, outside of the fact that we gave ourselves another chance to go to the playoffs. I'm actually grateful for being drafted to the NFL by the Jets, and although things weren't perfect there, there were some good times. There are some people still there I hold dear to my heart. I have a lot of good relationships in New York.

It was just another game for me. Good seeing some old friends and some people that we play with.

Q. ...the first play, and then you throw the touchdown the third play. What did that alone change for and the offense the rest of the day?

GENO SMITH: Yeah, it gave us a lot of momentum. It started us off. Started with the O-line. We talk about getting back it the run game, staying balanced. If he look at our game today, we played a complete football game. We played balanced football, passing, running the ball, defense playing well. Special teams playing well.

That's our formula. That's what Coach Carroll talks about, you know, just complete team ball. I think that's what we got back to today, and we just got to carry that on moving forward.

Q. And that works only when you're in the lead really, right?

GENO SMITH: Yeah, I mean, if you're in the lead, but you can being behind. The other team can be playing well as well and guys on our side can still be doing good. Obviously when you have a lead it's much easier to play like that.

But even if, I think the evolution of, like said before, our young team a understanding these are the moments where even if you're down or things don't start out well, you can still jump right back into the game and still play complete team ball and get a win.

Q. What does it mean to have you guys last week of the season, playoffs are still there, kind of given everything that transpired in the off-season and the expectations?

GENO SMITH: Yeah, I think that's exactly what you want. As a team that's what you want, the chance to be in the big dance. Right now for us it's pretty much playoff football. We got one game and you got to win to get in. Once the playoffs come around, you got to win to keep advancing.

So it's good that we get to feel this right now. Good that these guys get to experience these things now, myself included.

I think it's going to be very, very vital for us going forward.

Q. Tyler Mabry first catch as a touchdown. What was that moment like?

GENO SMITH: That was awesome. I remember Tyler asking me early in the season, what kept you going? We were in the sauna and I was talking to him about you got to keep working. You never know. You never know. Boom, here it is, right. Gets the shot, scores a touchdown first catch.

He's a guy who has worked his butt off and stayed in it. He's the consummate professional, great teammate, and just happy to see him get that done today.

Q. The little flip to DeeJay just a spur-of-the-moment thing, or what did you see there?

GENO SMITH: Just playing ball. Just playing ball. Was up and out of the pocket and he popped and just natural instincts. It was pretty cool looking back at it, but it was just playing ball at the time.

Q. No picks for you. How do you think you played overall in terms of taking care of the ball?

GENO SMITH: Yeah, I think that's our formula. We talk about that. Coach Carroll talks about that, all about the ball. We got turnovers on defense and then we took care of the football. There were some instances where things got a little dicey, but for the most part we took care of it. Didn't give them a chance to have a short field.

We got a great punter. We played the field position game all day. Our kicker, another great kicker, kept us in the lead and kept making those field goals to continue to push the game further.

So when you talk about playing complete team ball, taking care of the football, it starts with that, and then everything else revolves around it.

Q. Speaking of complete team ball, what's it like when Tyler and DK aren't really the top receivers and your tight ends are contributing? What does that say about the offense right now?

GENO SMITH: We have a bunch of guys that can make plays. It kind of sucks for DK and Tyler because we want to always get them the ball, but I think it's a great sign of respect that they don't get one-on-ones. They don't get one-on-ones in the game.

That let's you know what the opponent thinks of them. So I think they got to look at it that way. We never want to force the ball. If they're going to double him, that means someone else is going to be open. That's what you saw today.

Q. Was that basically the issue with getting the ball to DK today?

GENO SMITH: I think that's every week. We've seen that every week. That's just how good he is and how good Tyler is. Last week they doubled him almost every single play. This week is the same thing. He can expect that pretty much his entire career because of how great he is.

And so there are other ways to get him the ball. We got to find those ways and make sure he stays involved. Ultimately it's about winning. He knows that. And I appreciate having a teammate like him that is selfless and understands we got to do whatever it takes to win.

Q. What's it like going into the final week knowing you need help from another team to make the playoffs?

GENO SMITH: Yeah, it's not what we want. Earlier in the season or midway through the season we were right in position to really control our own destiny, and obviously we hit a rough patch. It's not what we want, but we still got a shot.

So what we can control is winning next week, another tough opponent, but all we can do is control what we can control and look at the situation at hand. Right now we just got one game to see what we can do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
128122-1-1041 2023-01-02 01:32:00 GMT

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