Pete Carroll credits Geno Smith's game-winning ability to one simple but powerful reason
Game-winning drives are hard to come by in the NFL, yet Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has four of them this season.As constituted by Pro Football Reference, a game-winning drive gets attributed to a QB when they win the game by having possession of the ball and scoring after being tied or down by one […]
Game-winning drives are hard to come by in the NFL, yet Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has four of them this season.
As constituted by Pro Football Reference, a game-winning drive gets attributed to a QB when they win the game by having possession of the ball and scoring after being tied or down by one score in the fourth quarter or overtime.
Smith did that in Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans after being down three points with a little over three minutes to go. Smith led the offense down the field and hit tight end Colby Parkinson in the end zone for the game-winning score.
Smith also completed game-winning drives in Weeks 2, 7 and 9.
After the game, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll attributed Smith's ability to complete these game-winners to one simple, yet powerful reason: the power of belief.
"You've got to be around him (Smith) to appreciate the competitive mentality that he has," Carroll said during the postgame presser. "He believes so strongly that it's going to happen, and it's going to get done and his guys are going to come through for him."
"That belief it transfers, translates to other guys, they feel him. So they go through and do what they're supposed to do, and it comes out well. He's having an enormous impact on these guys just because his mentality is so strong and so consistent."
If anyone needs evidence that Carroll's words are more than just coach speak, look no further than backup QB Drew Lock's game-winning performance in Week 15 and his interview afterwards. Lock was nervous about starting the game following a long hiatus, but he had the same exact mindset as Smith.
"You sit there, you watch games, you wonder, 'Can I do this still? I haven't been out there on the field,'" Lock said after his Week 15 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. "You get back out there… 'You know what? I'm the man, so I can go do this.'"
It's clear that Smith's confidence and belief does trickle down to the rest of the locker room. That kind of leadership wins games and gets teams to the playoffs. So it's no wonder that the 8-7 Seahawks, with two weeks to go, control their own destiny heading into the postseason.
