The most critical play of the Seahawks’ 21-16 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday was Geno Smith’s fumble that occurred with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter. The Seahawks were down 14-3 and getting desperate, but had just gotten a huge momentum shift courtesy of Cody Barton’s birthday interception of Tom Brady – his first in nearly 400 pass attempts. Smith led Seattle to Tampa’s nine-yard line and dropped back to pass… or did he?
On film it looked like Smith was preparing to pass, then saw ghost pressure and decided to tuck and run. Smith got hit and lost a fumble, killing the best drive Seattle had up to that point.
🎥 Quelle erreur de Geno Smith dans la RedZone ! @DevinWhite__40 force un fumble du QB de Seattle, et Tampa Bay récupère dans son camp ! #GoBucs
💻 @lequipe Live #lequipeNFL
📲 NFL GamePass pic.twitter.com/CM7QoVdFIR— NFL France (@NFLFrance) November 13, 2022
Smith rallied and threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it interesting, but that red zone gaffe was too much to overcome.
Afterwards, Smith sort-of owned up to his mistake and admitted that can’t happen. However, he claimed the play in question was a QB draw.
Geno Smith took complete ownership of his lost fumble in the third quarter, telling reporters in Munich: "I can't have that. I can't have that happen. I hurt the team."
Said it was a designed QB draw.
"If I don't turn the ball over in the red zone, it's a different game."
— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) November 13, 2022
Based on the way the offensive linemen moved after the snap, it sure seems like they were expecting a pass play.
Later on when coach Pete Carroll was asked about the fumble, he said it was a designed pass.
Know Geno Smith said that was a called QB draw on which he fumbled. Asked Carroll, coach said it was a called pass play.
Play happened right in front of me.
All Seahawks o-linemen stayed on the line of scrimmage, were not drive run blocking. All weird, on the game’s key play.— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 13, 2022
So, either there was some kind of major miscommunication involved between Smith and Shane Waldron, or Smith was just covering his backside by claiming it was a called run.
Either way, it’s not a good look for an offense that had its worst performance of the season since getting clobbered by the 49ers back in Week 2.
