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Brady Henderson, ESPN
RENTON, Wash. — After a scramble run late in the third quarter of the Seattle Seahawks’ 31-20 loss on Sunday, Geno Smith tossed the football at a Buffalo Bills defender, upset at what he felt was a late hit that went uncalled.
Smith drew a penalty for taunting, a lowlight for the Seahawks and their quarterback amid their fourth loss in five games.
“Those are things that I can’t have happen,” Smith said Thursday. “Obviously, everyone’s watching me, so if I’m upset, they get a little antsy. So I’ve just got to have a better poker face and just work on it.”
A self-reflective Smith spent much of his weekly media session talking about how he needs to keep his emotions in check after letting them get the best of him during a mistake-filled defeat that dropped Seattle to 4-4.
Earlier in the third quarter, the Fox broadcast showed him agonizing on the sideline after his screen pass was tipped for an interception. Late in the fourth quarter, with Seattle down 21 points, he gestured in obvious frustration toward the sideline after a delay-of-game penalty.
The Seahawks were flagged 11 times for 82 yards against Buffalo. They also got only three points out of two first-half trips inside the Bills’ 3-yard line, the first of which was thwarted by a bad snap and the second when center Connor Williams stepped on Smith’s foot on fourth down.
“I’m really not a great loser,” Smith said. “It sucks. I hate it. I need to, overall, when I watch myself … just continue to uplift the guys, and if I’m being honest, do a better job at times when we’re down. Those are things that I’m constantly improving. I’m not going to say I’m perfect at it. I’m very emotional when it comes to winning, when it comes to doing the right thing. At times I let my emotions show, whether that’s good or bad, that’s a personal opinion.
“But I’m going to be myself at all times. So I want to continue to bring that fire to our team, to our offense, I want to continue to be competitive – not in a bad way but in a good way. It’s always a fine line that you’ve got to walk, but I’ve got to be careful with making too many mistakes in that area.”
Former coach Pete Carroll, who counted Smith among his favorite all-time players, once called the quarterback a “hot head” in the heat of the moment. Smith, 34, has been described inside the organization as a someone who lives and dies on every play, sometimes to his detriment.
As was the case with Carroll’s staff, new coach Mike Macdonald and his assistants have worked with Smith on keeping his cool. Macdonald said over the offseason that the Seahawks challenged the 12th-year veteran to take the next step as a leader, which meant being “the voice of poise” — as the coach called it – in chaotic situations.
Macdonald wants Smith to find the right balance, saying that taking away his competitiveness and fire would be to take away “one of his superpowers as a player.”
“Any time someone gets upset, you want to keep it under control, and you want to stay poised,” he said Wednesday. “But we understand frustration. We’ve got to bounce back, stay … mentally poised. Geno knows that. I thought for the most part, he’s done a phenomenal job.
“We’re going to follow the demonstration that he provides, for our offense and the rest of the team. Give him a chance to take a deep breath and go back and attack. That’s the mentality I want as a football team. When we have adversity, we’ve got to … come together and connect in those moments rather than letting the emotion or the frustration get to us. We’ll grow from that.”
Smith — who has thrown for a league-high 2,197 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions this season — said his passion is “a big part of who I am.”
“If it becomes something that you’re going overboard or it’s a hindrance to your team or you’re hurting the team, then that’s a problem,” he said. “But otherwise, just be yourself. The guys like when I let my emotions show. I’m just evaluating myself and saying, ‘Hey, I can be better in this area,’ so those are things that I’m trying to improve on.”