What Ryan Grubb said about Seahawks QB Geno Smith's 2024 NFL season debut

Sunday's win for the Seattle Seahawks was a difficult matchup to judge a quarterback on. To begin the game the Denver Broncos dominated the Seahawks offensive line in the trenches. That put quarterback Geno Smith on the defensive on his first drive and he took a sack and then threw an interception. The entire unit continued to sputter until after halftime, when offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb got the run game going with some sharp schematic adjustments.

Smith did bounce back from that brutal start, but then he also had to deal with continued issues in pass protection the entire game. Meanwhile, his number one receiver DK Metcalf was getting locked up by Pat Surtain II and Jaxon Smith-Njigba was relatively quiet, as well. Tyler Lockett came through when Smith and the Seahawks needed him most, though. Overall, the passing game was just good enough to earn the win.

While it was far from Smith's best start for Seattle, Grubb seems to have liked what he saw. Here's what Grubb offered for analysis on Smith's Week 1 performance, per Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times.

Ryan Grubb on Geno Smith Week 1

"I thought he was super efficient and responsible with the ball. Obviously, he threw the pick when he kind of got crunched in the back knee there. You'd love that to obviously not happen, but I think it matches everything I've said that I love about Geno. When you think about starting a game that way and this guy is just one cool customer who walks up and stays on it, doesn't flinch at all when you're talking to him and he's just been there and done that in so many battles like that that he's just going to be able to respond to tough situations and he certainly did..."

Smith ended the afternoon with a line of 18/25 for 171 passing yards , one touchdown, one interception and an 87.2 passer rating. He also scrambled for a 34-yard score in the second quarter.

By no means was Smith terrible, but it's also part of Grubb's job to defend his quarterback. We've seen much better outings from number seven, even when going against a heavy pass rush. So, we gave Smith a B- grade for the game.