Geno, you take the field for the final drive. What's going through your head and do you even consider the stakes and the season's ramifications and all that.
I'm thinking just like last week. I feel like Drew (Lock) did a great job last week and we had a chance to match it this week. As I'm going out there, I'm not thinking about anything else besides the situation, knowing we got four downs. I think we had two or three timeouts left. So, we had a bunch of time, about three minutes. I was thinking about the situation and how we can get in the end zone. I thought Shane (Waldron) did a great job. I thought protection held up great. Obviously, receivers did a great job of getting open, and Colby (Parkinson) made a heck of a catch to seal the deal right there.
What can you tell us about that play? It sounds like you guys have been trying to get to that for a while now.
Yeah, we've been practicing it. I feel like we practiced it every day since the start of training camp. It's just that the situation hasn't come yet. But, at the right time, at the perfect time, coach called it, and we knew exactly what we were going to do. We've repped it so many times. Colby (Parkinson) knew exactly how the ball was going to come. Strong hands made that catch, got in the end zone, that was great.
The touchdown to DK (Metcalf) on the drive before, take us through that and what you saw there. What were your thoughts on the challenge?
Obviously, in those situations, a lot of teams like to double DK (Metcalf). They were playing a bunch of 77, which is double DK (Metcalf) or (Tyler) Lockett and sometimes they would double Jackson (Smith-Njigba). But that one particular time was one-on-one with DK (Metcalf). We had a double move on, the corner was sitting off, kind of inside, kind of bit on the first move. DK (Metcalf) did a great job and collisioned him, he fought through it. Once I saw the ball hit his hand, I saw him dragging his toe. Usually those are good when you put the ball in the area with a guy like DK Metcalf. So, I thought it was a great call, perfect call in the situation. They didn't double him, we read it right, and he made a heck of a catch. And that's what it was.
The final drive, the pass to (DK) Metcalf that became the pass interference. He's on the sideline the previous two plays. So in the back of your mind are you thinking this may be the guy I am going to go to here?
Yeah. Again, every down is a new situation. That's how you got to play the game. We had a play on where we had a post on that one and they actually went cover zero. I had to go and make a check at the line of scrimmage to get us into max protect. It was cover zero, so he was one-on-one again. I wish we would have got the touchdown on that, so that he could get the touchdown, but he fought through contact, again. The guy kind of hooked him and prevented him from getting the ball. And that was another play that helped us get down there in scoring position.
They had the number one red zone scoring defense coming into this game and you guys had the two real close misses in the first half. Did you feel like maybe there was a little bit of a timing issue early on with missing the last couple of games there? It seemed like he was just a tad late on those throws.
No, it wasn't late, it was just incomplete. That's how football goes, you don't get them all. You don't hit every pass, that's just football. But I felt like we did a great job of making sure we corrected those in the second half. And that's why there is two halves. I feel like we could always do a better job of trying to score every single time in the red zone. But again, we're facing a defense that's going to try to stop us. Those calls, those passes, were like an inch from being a touchdown. You got to kind of live with those at times. I wish I had thrown it sooner, like you said. I wish I would've thrown a little more flat ball to Jackson (Smith-Njigba). I thought I did a pretty good job to Colby (Parkinson). He got one foot in and wasn't able to get that second one down. But overall, you got to learn from those things. And I think we corrected those in the second half.
Geno, this is your fourth game winning drive of the season. What can you say about your mentality and your comfort in those situations?
It's preparation. Coach prepares us for these opportunities, for these moments in the VMAC (Virginia Mason Athletic Center). Every single day we go over two-minute, a bunch of different situations and scenarios. It helps when you get out there on the field, you're used to it, you know what to do. Guys are calm, they know their assignments, and you saw, it doesn't matter who the quarterback is. Coach prepares us to be in those situations and to make those plays and that's what we're about as Seahawks. We're going to fight to the finish and if the ball is in our hands as an offense, we want to make sure we close it out.
You've been on a few teams now, is that unusual? The emphasis on two-minute that (Pete) Carroll does is a little different?
I think we do a lot more than a lot of teams. Guys coming from other places, they mention that. I think there's a reason why we've been able to win games. I mean, just over the course of Coach Carroll's career here. We've been able to win games late in the fourth quarter in those game winning drives. So that speaks volumes to the preparation and the coaching. The players obviously got to go execute, but it feels like we've been in those situations a million times.
We see teams around the league where there's a clear-cut number one receiver gets the dominant share of the targets. As a quarterback, what does it do for you when you've got Jackson (Smith-Njigba), Tyler (Lockett), DK (Metcalf), all those guys you know you can go to any time?
I think it's big. You can add the tight ends and the running backs in that as well. I think it is huge for us as an offense to not be one dimensional in any aspect. Obviously, we got a guy like DK Metcalf who's going to draw so much attention, and he's a true alpha, a true number one. Every single team has a plan for him. They're going to try and double him. I love the patience that he shows, knowing that Jackson's (Smith-Njigba) going to have to get some targets, Tyler (Lockett) is going to have to get some of those targets, and the tight ends as well. Because he opens up the game for those guys, when they are doubling him, that's one less guy in coverage on the other side. When you've got guys like that, all those guys can make plays. You just drop back, read the field, and throw it to the open guy. That's the special part of this offense.
With Jackson (Smith-Njigba) in particular, he had the game winning touchdown last week and then this week, that third-and-14 play for him to come up, step up big there, get that 18-yard catch. What are you seeing from him with this emergence here in the second half?
I think he's getting better every single week. I love the way that he's preparing in practice. He's working extremely hard in practice. He's getting better every single day in practice. He's really getting more comfortable in the offense, just learning his assignments, the routes, the depths, all the things that we talked about him being great at. Obviously, he's a natural receiver when it comes to catching the football and making plays. I think the way that those guys are feeding off one another, the way that each guy steps up in different areas, it just makes our offense that much better.
How are you doing physically?
I'm okay. Got to get better. A lot better than a few weeks ago.
There was one play you kind of came up slow.
Yeah, it's football, man. You are going to get some bumps and bruises and you gotta keep fighting.
Big picture, you guys lose four in a row, having won two in a row, you control your own destiny to the playoffs. How do you feel about where this team is at?
I think we just got to take it one game at a time, one practice at a time. I love being around these guys. I feel like I never want this stuff to end. I know that we understand what's at stake, but we also know that we have to go and handle our business. So, just one practice at a time, and one game at a time, one rep at a time. That's all we can do is control that. And just to continue to fight to the end.
What's this last week been like for you, Geno? The kind of roller coaster on Monday night. And then you lead a game winning drive today to get your second straight win.
Typical week in the life of an NFL quarterback. I'm just appreciative of this team, this organization, all my teammates, all the fans, everybody. It's a great place. I think guys do things the right way around here. And it's been great. I'm part of this team, everyone's got each other's back and that's the special part about it.
