National Football League

Seahawks QB Geno Smith plays big late to beat Titans, keeping playoff hopes alive

Published Dec. 24, 2023 6:20 p.m. ET

Last week, Drew Lock led the Seattle Seahawks to an improbable win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

This week, it was Geno Smith's turn for late-game heroics.

Back in the lineup after missing two weeks with a groin injury, Smith marched Seattle 75 yards on 14 plays at the end of the game for the winning score — a 5-yard touchdown to tight end Colby Parkinson with 57 seconds left for a 20-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

The win, along with the Minnesota Vikings (7-8) losing to the Detroit Lions, allowed 8-7 Seattle to grab the No. 7 seed in the NFC. Seattle has games against Pittsburgh at home and at Arizona remaining.

Win those two games and the Seahawks will head to the postseason for a second straight year.

The game-winning drive was Smith's 14 of this pro career and fourth this season, as he rebounded from sluggish first half in which he completed 10 of 16 passes for just 69 yards. Overall, he was 25-of-36 passing for 227 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 104.7 passer rating.

As he has done all season, Smith was effective throwing on the perimeter. According to Next Gen Stats, he targeted receivers outside the numbers on 58.3% of his attempts, his second-highest rate in a game this season. He completed 14 of 21 attempts for 117 yards and two touchdowns on throws outside the numbers.

"Every single day we go over two-minute [drills], a bunch of different situations and scenarios," Smith said when asked about his late-game effort. "And it helps. When you get out there on the field, you're used to it. You know what to do. Guys are calm. They know their assignments and it doesn't matter who the quarterback is."

Although Tennessee had been mathematically eliminated from the postseason entering Sunday's contest, the Titans played with more urgency than Seattle early on. They ran trick plays, quarterback Ryan Tannehill — back in the lineup because rookie QB Will Levis has a high ankle sprain — used his legs to add another dimension on offense and Tennessee's defense held Seattle to just 93 total yards in the first half.

The Seahawks also struggled to stop the run again. Seattle has allowed at least 135 rushing yards in five consecutive games and gave up 162 rushing yards to the Titans.

But the Seahawks held the Titans to 49 rushing yards in the second half and sacked Tannehill seven times during the game, including two on the final drive to keep the Titans out of the end zone.

"I thought we played way better in the second half," head coach Pete Carroll said about his defense. "We improved with our fits, and we tackled better in the second half. We stopped a lot of runs. In the first half, we were overtrying a little bit. We took some shots and we didn't execute as well as we had to."

Seattle took its first lead with a little over 12 minutes remaining, making the score 13-10 on a one-hand grab by DK Metcalf in the back of the end zone. The play initially was called incomplete, but Carroll threw the challenge flag, and the call was reserved for a score.

The play capped a 96-yard scoring drive for the Seahawks, their longest of the year.

However, the Titans made it 17-13 on the ensuing drive, capped by a 2-yard run for a touchdown by Derrick Henry. The play was set up by a personal foul called on Seattle cornerback Artie Burns for punching a Tennessee player after the play was over near the goal line.

"That's just wrong," Carroll said about the penalty. "We can't play like that."

The Seahawks also had a person foul penalty on returner DeeJay Dallas that backed them up at their own 8-yard line. Seattle leads the NFL in penalties, and with a razor-thin margin of error, Carroll understands his team needs to do better in avoiding yellow flags.

However, the Seahawks overcame the penalties and porous run defense with Smith's efficient performance and solid pass-blocking by the offensive line at the end of the game.

After losing four in a row during their toughest stretch this season, the Seahawks are now on a two-game winning streak and in control of their playoff destiny.

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Linebacker Bobby Wagner said that humbling stretch of games should serve the Seahawks well as they try to finish out the season the right way.

"I think the biggest thing we learned is when you play good teams like that, you can't shoot yourself in the foot," Wagner said. "You can't have penalties, mistakes and things of that nature because other teams will capitalize on that. So hopefully we take that into the remainder of the season."

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.