RENTON — Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith had no real use for delving into fantasy this week.
As he prepared for the first postseason start of his career at the age of 32, against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday, Smith was asked if the game feels like a fitting end to what has been a “fairy tale” of a season.
“I would say it’s not a fairy tale,’’ Smith said. “I’d say it’s very much reality, and where we are as a team is that we’ve been working hard. We put a lot of good stuff on tape as a team. I think we’ve came a long way since the beginning of the season, since training camp and OTAs (Organized Team Activities), and it’s all just a result of the hard work and all the repetition that everyone has put in.’’
If returning to the playoffs after a year away was a team effort, it’s fair to say no one was more important than Smith, who throughout the ups and downs of a 17-game regular season provided the Seahawks with uncommon stability at the game’s most important position — and especially so in a season when there was uncommon instability at QB around the rest of the league.
When the dust cleared on the 2022 regular season, 68 different quarterbacks started games, the most in the NFL since 1987. That 1987 season comes with an asterisk as that was the year of a three-game players strike and replacement players, which resulted in 87 different QBs starting.
Smith was one of 10 quarterbacks this season to start all of his team’s games.
Eight of those 10 made the playoffs and another, Detroit’s Jared Goff, finished with a winning record. The only team to have a QB start every game and not make the playoffs or have a winning record was Green Bay, which went 8-9 with Aaron Rodgers.
That stability was particularly important in the NFC West where the Rams and Cardinals each started four different quarterbacks and the 49ers three.
San Francisco overcame that to win the division, due in part to the almost unfathomable strong play of rookie Brock Purdy paired with an offensive line among the best in the NFL and a defense that ranked first in the league in fewest points and yards allowed.
For the Rams and Cardinals, the losses of Matthew Stafford and Kyler Murray for lengthy stretches played an obvious role in disappointing seasons.
Not only did Smith start every game, but he played every snap, the only quarterback in the NFL to do so.
True, some of that was because the Seahawks had no real blowouts in either direction. To Smith, it was a point of pride that he was able to be on the field for all 1,093 offensive plays.
“Obviously, I want to be available for every snap,’’ he said this week. “Obviously if you get in a blowout or you’re winning when the backup comes in, but me being available for every snap was one of my goals, my main goal, and so I feel good about that.”
Not that it was necessarily easy. Smith took a big shot late in Sunday’s game from Jalen Ramsey in which he had the wind knocked out of him, and if there hadn’t been a penalty, he might have had to miss a play, a sequence that impressed teammates.
“Just says a lot about the character of him and who he is as a competitor,’’ safety Quandre Diggs said. “He took a big shot on Sunday and went right back into the game. … That’s just the type of competitor and person he is.’’
Smith got up slowly after having the wind knocked out of him in Kansas City but didn’t miss a play.
It continued a trend for the Seahawks.
Russell Wilson famously didn’t miss a game from the beginning of his rookie season until early in 2021, a streak of 149 consecutive starts that is sixth in NFL history (Wilson had four seasons in which he took every snap in Seattle).
That Smith and Wilson have been the Seahawks’ only two starting QBs of the last decade means Tyler Lockett — completing his eighth season in the NFL — has caught all of his 54 touchdown passes, second most in team history, from just two QBs.
Consider that Washington receiver Terry McLaurin, who just completed his fourth NFL season, has caught TD passes from seven different quarterbacks.
It’s not just a recent trend. The Seahawks have been pretty stable at QB for most of the history of the franchise. Only twice since 1998 have they had to start more than two quarterbacks in a season (2008 with Matt Hasselbeck, Seneca Wallace and Charlie Frye).
The Seahawks have had just five starting QBs in coach Pete Carroll’s 13 years.
Smith is the just 23rd starting QB in the club’s 47-year history. Tampa Bay, which entered the league in 1976, the same year as the Seahawks, has had 39.
Smith will become the fifth QB in team history to start a playoff game Saturday, the others are Wilson (9-7 in 16 starts), Hasselbeck (5-6), Dave Krieg (3-4) and Jon Kitna (0-1).
Smith is eighth in wins in team history with a record of 10-10, just behind Warren Moon, who went 11-13 in 1997-98.
Whether he has a chance to pass Moon will be determined in the next few months as Smith will become a free agent on March 15 and able to sign with any team unless he agrees to a new deal first with the Seahawks — or has been slapped with a franchise tag.
The Seahawks are surely already weighing their options — having the No. 5 pick in the NFL draft could play into their decision.
Smith made it clear with his statement after the Rams game that “football is a business,” and that he will surely consider every option that becomes available to him.
How the playoffs go — if the Seahawks can really pull off what would be one of the bigger postseason upsets of the last few years, or at least throw a scare into the 49ers — could heavily influence what happens next.
What Smith proved with his ability and durability in 2022 spoke loudly enough to his teammates.
“I’m super proud of him,’’ Lockett said. “And we’re going to need him this week. For him, he wants to keep adding to that legacy of this 2022-2023 football season. He’s got a perfect opportunity this week with us being underdogs and us going on the road and playing a big game.’’