What Geno Smith says, how he says it often as important as what he does for Seahawks

For Geno Smith, his words often speak as loudly as his actions.

In Detroit, they have to be way louder.

“A really fun atmosphere. Detroit, they have a great crowd,” the veteran quarterback said Thursday, four days before his first-place Seahawks (3-0) take their biggest test yet this season: At the Lions (2-1) inside rockin’ Ford Field Monday night.

Smith has led Seattle to two wild wins at Detroit in each of the last two seasons; 48-45 in 2022 in his fourth start replacing traded Russell Wilson as the Seahawks’ starter; and 37-31 in overtime last season.

“It gets pretty loud, especially when you get down there around the end zone the fans are right on you. You can kind of feel like them right on you,” Smith said.

“I love it. It tests your will. It tests your communication. Super loud. I feel like I’m screaming in the huddle just to get the play out. And then, at the line of scrimmage, voice inflection, just to be sure guys can hear me.”

Oh, they hear their 33-year-old QB and leader.

As much as his passing, how Smith leads has been the talk of the Seahawks’ eighth 3-0 start in the team’s 48-year history and first since 2020.

His coach and teammates credit Smith’s messaging for him leading NFL quarterbacks in fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives (five) last season. He’s had another one this month, in week two.

“Again, he’s poised,” first-year coach Mike Macdonald said last weekend.

That was following the team’s 24-3 win over Miami that for the offense was a slog. Smith blamed himself for that.

“He just bring everybody along with him,” Macdonald said.

Through the first three games of Smith’s third season as the Seahawks’ quarterback, his teammates have noticed his positive messaging. In the huddle. On the sideline between drives. In practices. In meetings all week.

The opening game Sept. 8 against Denver couldn’t have started uglier for Smith and the offense. He got sacked on the first play. He threw an interception on the second play. The offensive line gave up two safeties. The running game went nowhere.

All in the first half. The Seahawks trailed the underdog Broncos, at home.

Yet Smith’s messages remained upbeat on the sidelines, in the locker room at halftime, in the huddle.

“Just stay poised, stay calm,” the QB kept telling his teammates during the Denver game. “If we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, if we don’t beat ourselves, we’ll get rolling.”

They scored 17 unanswered points after halftime to win.

“I’m so proud of Geno, man. Really brought the offense together,” 10th-year veteran left guard Laken Tomlinson said in the locker room following the Denver game. “Brought us together on the sidelines and gave us a message and kept motivating guys. And in that second half we were rolling. man. We were rolling.”

Week two at New England, the Seahawks controlled much of the game until the fourth quarter. That’s when the Patriots rallied into the lead.

Yet Smith’s remained the same, positive influence.

“He’s been incredible,” Macdonald said that day “He’s been the guy that he’s been since we got here in February.

“There’s some points where we communicate one way or another, and he’s right there in lock-step.

Smith completed 33 passes against the Patriots, the most of his 12-year career, in 44 throws. He almost single-handedly led the Seahawks to a tie at the end of regulation, then the win in overtime.

“He is such a leader,” defensive end Leonard Williams said in Foxborough, Massachusetts, following the game. “(He) really takes control of the offense and leads the team in great way.”

DK Metcalf caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Smith in that win. After the game he didn’t know what all the fuss was about Smith’s leadership and positive messaging.

“He’s been pretty much the same in my opinion,” Metcalf said.

“Even in adverse times we all lean on each other. And nobody ever points a finger. It’s always onto the next play and what can we do better.”

Last weekend, Smith threw an interception while pressured in his own end zone in the first quarter. That gave Miami its only points. He threw another interception batted by Dolphins lineman Calais Campbell into a teammate’s arms in the second half.

The 37-year-old Macdonald went to tell Smith during the game to “hang in there.”

That was a waste of Smith’s and the NFL’s youngest coach’s time.

“I didn’t need to tell him anything,” Macdonald said last Sunday. “He was right on it, staying positive.

“On we went.

“We’re going to go as Geno goes.”

That’s to Detroit two games ahead of everyone else in the NFC West.

When Geno Smith talks...

Tyler Lockett has had two quarterbacks in his 10 seasons with the Seahawks.

Wilson was relentlessly, constantly chatty and positive.

Smith is not the same way.

“I think he does a great job knowing when to talk and when not to talk,” Lockettt said of Smith, “because sometimes, you know, you don’t want to overly talk, to where people are like, ‘Oh, we heard this before.’

“I think he’s been doing a tremendous job, just being a leader of this team.”

Lockett turns 32 Saturday. He says Smith has a smooth way of motivating teammates who aren’t playing or acting as the QB believes they must for the Seahawks to win.

It’s not by yelling.

“Sometimes you can still get your point across and still be positive, right?” Lockett said. “Like, you don’t have to say, ‘Hey, man, we suck out here! What’s going on?!’

“You can bring everybody together and still talk to everybody in a way that we understand we need to focus on our assignment.”

Smith says he reads when to say what, and how, to his teammates.

“I’m the elder spokesman on the team now,” the 12th-year veteran said, “and I just try to be there for the guys. I think about being like the thermometer in the huddle. You know, if it’s getting too hot in there, cooling down. And it is too cool, and I need to bring that energy that we need to the huddle (I do that).

“So, just always trying to encourage my guys...’Just do the little things.’ Not get caught up in the emotion, so much, of the game.”

Geno Smith’s roots

Smith was born in Miami. He was raised mostly by his mother Tracey Sellers and grandmother Joann Smith. They instilled in him the virtue and value of philanthropy.

When Smith was at Miramar High School, his grandmother founded the Parenting with a Purpose Life Center in Miami Lakes. The nonprofit organization offers free pregnancy tests, lifestyle counseling, educational training, community referral services and other resources to predominantly single, younger parents. His mother is also active with Extended Hands, a second Miami Lakes social-services organization. It began in 2010 for low-resourced communities in Dade County.

Smith starred at West Virginia. The New York Jets drafted him in the second round in 2013. He started immediately as a rookie.

It was ugly.

He led the league with 21 interceptions that first season. The Jets finished 8-8. The next year he threw as many interceptions (13) as touchdowns, against completing under 60% of his passes. New York with coach Rex Ryan went 4-12.

He lost his job in his third year, after Jets reserve linebacker IK Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw with a sucker punch in the locker room.

Leonard Williams was a prized rookie on the 2015 Jets team. He watched Smith lose his starting job — for the next seven years around the league.

“It is super exciting for me to see this in him as well,” said Williams, who joined the Seahawks last fall in a trade from the Giants. “I got drafted to the Jets my rookie year and Geno was there and a whole bunch of stuff happened.

“He has matured so much since I have last seen him.”

The News Tribune asked Smith Thursday if his positive leadership grew out of his rough years with the Jets to start his career.

“I think it’s been like that my entire life,” he said. “I just don’t see the benefit in yelling at a guy or cursing them out or making him feel some type of way, when our jobs are hard as it is.

“It’s not easy. Guys aren’t out there making mistakes on purpose. Those things happen. The more you can positively encourage a guy, I think the better off you are.”

He doesn’t see it as being positive through the negatives in his career.

“I didn’t have any down moments in my career.,” Smith said.

“I’ve been blessed to be in this position for 12 years now. A lot of the people would love to be in my shoes. So from that perspective, I think it helped me not have down moments.

“Any time I do throw an interception or have a bad play, I just think about, ‘Hey, man, you’re you, so be you.’

“Simple.”