Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith played at less than 100 percent in his team’s Thanksgiving night loss to the San Francisco 49es, battling an elbow injury suffered in Week 11
Smith threw 18 out of 27 passes for 180 yards and an interception during the 31-13 blowout, all while nursing an injured elbow. A week has passed and the quarterback appears to be in much better physical condition.
“The difference was night and day,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on Tuesday, via the team’s official website. “He was out there running practice and putting on a show for us as he does every week, throwing the football all over the place. He did that exactly. He was full go the whole time, and that was not the case (last week). We don’t want to make a big deal about it, but it was pretty obvious it was a big difference.”
A week ago, Smith sat out practices nursing the injury on a short week. The Seahawks hope a full complement of rest and reps before this Thursday night tussle will be the difference this time.
Seattle urgently requires a robust performance from its offense to penetrate the strong Cowboys defense. The Seahawks offense has not scored a touchdown in 20 consecutive drives, the current longest streak in the NFL. This is the longest the team has gone without an offensive touchdown in a season since Weeks 5-8 in 2011, when Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst were the quarterbacks, according to NFL Research.
While a healthy Smith doesn’t ensure that an inconsistent offense will improve, it’s undoubtedly superior to the alternative.
Seattle continues its brutal stretch of games with Thursday’s showdown against Dallas. Then comes the rematch with the Niners and a battle with the top-seeded Eagles. Carroll’s crew must find a win or two to keep from floundering their playoff positioning before Christmas.
