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Brady Henderson, ESPN
RENTON, Wash. — Geno Smith says his arm is OK and his confidence in the Seattle Seahawks‘ offense is intact after another ineffective performance in their 31-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night.
In their fourth straight loss to their NFC West rival, the Seahawks managed just 220 yards, went 3-of-11 on third down and failed to score an offensive touchdown. They’ve gone seven straight quarters without one and have just three over their past four games.
“I still believe in our coaches,” Smith said. “I still believe in our players. I think it’s been a tough stretch for us, but I believe that things will turn around. I think what we have to do is continue to work hard, if not work harder. There is no excuse for it. There is no words that I can say that will make it better, but what needs to be done is we need to work harder. We need to find a way. We’ve got a lot of talent. We’ve got a lot of good players on this offense and we’ve got the right coaches. So we’ve got to believe.”
In response to a question about whether he’d change anything with the game plan in retrospect, Smith backed offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who has come under fire during Seattle’s recent scoring lull.
“I feel like Shane always does a great job and I’ve got his back 110 percent,” Smith said. “He knows that. I feel like it comes down to us executing better as players. No matter what the play is called, it comes down to the players making it come to life. So Shane’s called some great games for us and he’s going to continue to do that. I just think overall we’ve got to stay confident, we’ve got to keep believing in what we’re doing, keep believing and trusting our process and Shane’s going to continue to call great plays and we’ve just got to execute for him.”
Smith was playing four days after suffering a triceps contusion on his throwing arm in Seattle’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams, which left him with a large knot on his elbow. The Seahawks held him out of practice Monday and limited him Tuesday before he practiced in full Wednesday, though they appeared to scale back his pregame throwing routine Thursday night.
Smith said his arm wasn’t impacted Thursday night by the contusion.
“No,” he said. “Not at all.”
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll praised Smith for playing on the quick turnaround and also said his arm wasn’t an issue.
“That had nothing to do with it,” Carroll said.
Smith completed 18 of 27 passes for 180 yards and an interception. He was nearly picked on an errant throw on Seattle’s opening possession. Two of his incompletions were drops by DK Metcalf. Another came on a throw into the end zone to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who appeared to be held by cornerback Ambry Thomas. Smith ran over to the official after the play to plead his case.
Smith was also sacked six times.
“I haven’t seen the film yet, but it wasn’t good enough to get a win,” he said of his performance. “It wasn’t good enough to score any points, so definitely not up to my standard.”
The Seahawks trailed 24-10 late in the third quarter at the time of Smith’s incompletion to Smith-Njigba in the end zone. They had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown that would have made it a one-score game.
Smith made it clear postgame that he believed it was a missed call.
“I’m not one to get on the refs, I know they have a tough job,” he said. “I don’t know if they did or did not see it, but from my vantage point I could clearly see him getting held, and it affected him being able to catch a touchdown right there and that affected us being able to get points. So that’s a four-point swing, and in games like this, every point matters. Tough call but hey, that’s how it is sometimes.”
The Seahawks have been outscored 120-56 in their four straight losses to the 49ers.
“We’ve got another chance to go against these guys in a few of weeks and I think everyone’s got to take that personal,” Smith said. “I know I am. We all got to take it personal. We can’t keep coming out here and letting them beat us like that.”