Would anyone like a sandwich?
We’re serving one this weekend in Seattle.
The Seattle Seahawks had their perfect streak to open the 2024 National Football League season snapped on Monday night in Detroit by the talented Lions. Next week, first-year head coach Mike Macdonald will lead his first place Seahawks into action against his primary NFC West Division competition, the San Francisco 49ers, in a nationally televised primetime contest at Lumen Field.
Oh boy, can you imagine the excitement around that game for the new coach and his rabid fan base in Seattle? The Seahawks are respected for having a stadium that reaches decibels unsafe for the human ear. In 2010, when they upset the New Orleans Saints, the cheering for Marshawn Lynch’s dramatic length of the field touchdown run registered on the Richter scale.
The contest with the 49ers will be played with the Seahawks in first place, either tied or ahead of the 49ers entering the contest depending on this weekend’s results. San Francisco was the favorite before the season began to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX, but a pair of early losses for the Brock Purdy squad dropped them two games behind Seattle after three weeks of play.
Last week, the Seahawks were attempting to keep their perfect run alive against a Detroit Lions squad that is another of the NFC squads with the lowest Super Bowl odds. A key fumble in that contest shifted the advantage, and perhaps final result, to the Lions. Without that miscue, the Seahawks might still be flying with a perfect mark.
You can imagine how this resurgence of Seattle fortunes in the wake of the firing of their popular head coach, Pete Carroll, which was a shock to many last winter when it happened, now has fans in the Northwest fully behind his successor, Mike Macdonald.
The Seattle fan base for so many years had the advantage of rooting for one of the NFL’s best signal callers, Russell Wilson. In his prime, Wilson twice led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl and beat Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts to complete the 2013 campaign. When Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos before the 2022 season, the door was open for Smith to earn the Seattle starting job.
It had been a long circuitous journey for Smith to be confirmed starting quarterback in the NFL. He had a solid four-year career at West Virginia and was at the 2013 NFL draft in anticipation of being a first round pick.
Didn’t happen.
He dropped to the 39th overall selection when the New York Jets took him in the second round. His career with the Jets turned out to be a backup role to Mark Sanchez, and in the 2017 he signed with the New York Giants and became the backup to Eli Manning. In 2019, the Seattle Seahawks signed Smith, and again he was relegated to a backup role, this time behind Wilson.
Yet, when Seattle shipped Wilson to Denver before the 2022 season, Smith was named the Seahawks starter. His first game in that role with Seattle was against Wilson and his Broncos.
Seattle upset Denver in that contest and that was the start of big things for Smith with the Seahawks. Over the past two seasons, Geno has earned Pro Bowl honors and brings the Seahawks into the Thursday night battle with the 49ers next week in first place.
The excitement for that encounter is growing exponentially in Seattle.
Did I mention that this week the Seahawks are hosting the New York Giants?
Probably not.
It’s not getting the attention it should if Seattle was going to be prepared to play this game. Nope, it is just a contest the Seahawks are going to participate in between their huge games against the Detroit Lions on Monday night and their primetime Thursday battle with the 49ers.
Who wants a sandwich?
Qoxhi Picks: New York Giants (+6½) over Seattle Seahawks