Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has “no idea” if quarterback Geno Smith will make their Thanksgiving showdown with the San Francisco 49ers after sustaining an injury in Sunday’s 17-16 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.
Smith took a heavy hit to his throwing arm near the end of the third quarter, missing the remainder of that possession as well as the Seahawks’ next two before returning for their final drive.
That drive ended with Smith getting Seattle into position for a potential game-winning field goal, but Jason Myers missed from 55 yards out as the Seahawks slipped to 6-4.
Smith suffered more bad luck when a malfunction with his helmet prevented him from receiving a play call inside the final 40 seconds, and his subsequent decision to call a run backfired when rookie Zach Charbonnet was stopped at two yards, leaving Myers with a long shot to turn the game around.
A heartbreaker in Inglewood.#GoHawks x @walottery pic.twitter.com/G0HQWnla0Y
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 20, 2023
The Seahawks need to bounce back on Thursday when they face the Niners – who are now a full game ahead of them in the NFC West – in the last of three scheduled Thanksgiving-Day games.
However, they may have to do so without their first-choice quarterback after he suffered what Carroll described as a bruise and swelling on his triceps or back of the elbow.
Asked whether Smith will be fit for Thursday’s game, Carroll said: “I don’t have any idea. I have no idea. Sorry. On Thursday games, you’re worried about everybody coming back.”
Smith himself is also taking things as they come, saying: “We’ll see how it goes.”
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Questioned about the potentially costly mic malfunction, Smith said: “I guess there was an outage or something, but no play came in my helmet.
“So I called the quickest play I could in that situation. We thought we had a chance and it didn’t really work out as we thought it would.”
Smith finished Sunday’s game 22-of-34 for 233 yards and a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, while his replacement Drew Lock struggled during his time on the sideline, completing two of six passes for just three yards, no scores and an interception.
Sunday’s defeat – Seattle’s third in their last six games – saw them drop down to the sixth seed in the NFC playoff picture, with the Rams still on the outside looking in at 4-6.
