RENTON — Sunday’s Giants-Seahawks game doesn’t just feature two of the hottest teams in the NFL but also the only two quarterbacks to ever start a game for New York instead of Eli Manning during the last 15 years of his heralded career.
Current Giants QB Daniel Jones took over for Manning as the team’s starter three games into his rookie year in 2019 after being taken with the sixth overall pick.
That season turned out to be the final year for Manning, and aside from injury, Jones has held the job since (one of the games he missed was a 2020 New York win over Seattle at Lumen Field quarterbacked by Colt McCoy).
And current Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith somewhat unwittingly found himself in the middle of controversy when in 2017 he was tabbed to start a late-season game for the struggling Giants against the Raiders — and in the process snap Manning’s streak of 210 career starts, at the time the second-longest in NFL history to the 297 of Brett Favre.
The Giants lost 24-17 and coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were fired the following day with the Giants standing at 2-10. Manning was then reinstated as the starter for the rest of the year by interim coach Steve Spagnuolo. The move by McAdoo to bench Manning and end his streak was regarded as something of a last-gasp attempt to turn the season around and save his job.
Smith, who went 21-of-34 for 210 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions in the only start with the Giants, didn’t start another game until filling in for an injured Russell Wilson last season with the Seahawks.
But if Smith holds any bitterness toward the Giants, he didn’t let on when he met Seattle media Thursday during his regular weekly news conference.
“What I can say is I enjoyed my time there, had an opportunity to learn and grow, was able to be under Coach McAdoo and Mr. Jerry Reese, who I owe a lot too,” Smith said. “And obviously, being able to be in the same room with Eli Manning and to learn from him, learn with him and to compete with him, it was awesome just to be a part of that for a year.”
The start against the Raiders, Smith said, “was just a chance for me to go out there and show what I got. It was one game. Obviously, it was a lot of speculations and stuff surrounding that game, but for me, like I’ve always been, I was just focused on the game. I didn’t really get caught up in anything else.”
And Smith noted he had already gotten to know Eli Manning and the rest of the Manning family dating to attending the Manning Passing Academy before his senior year at West Virginia in 2012.
Lockett says hamstring feels ‘all right’
Receiver Tyler Lockett was upgraded from a limited participant in practice Wednesday to full on Thursday as the hamstring issue he has dealt with the past two weeks improves.
Lockett didn’t practice all last week and then saw his lowest percentage of snaps of the season in Sunday’s 37-23 win over the Chargers at 65%, though he finished with seven receptions — his third-best total of the year — for 45 yards.
Lockett said before practice that his hamstring is “all right” and he hopes that practicing this week will lead to being a little more prepared to play against the Giants.
“It was an issue for me last week,” he said. “The hardest part is just going into a game and not really getting catches, not really getting routes, and not really working on some of the stuff that you want to work on as you get ready to get prepared for a game. But it’s one of those things where you kind of have to rely on your talent and your gifts, understanding that you have played the game for so long that you already know what you need to do. You have to trust yourself and know that the other weeks of preparation that you’ve had to be able to go out there and play, you have to rely on that a little bit as you go play.”
Metcalf again sits out
As coach Pete Carroll had said he would, receiver DK Metcalf sat out practice Thursday as he recovers from a knee injury suffered against the Chargers. Carroll said earlier in the week the team would rest Metcalf and then reassess where he is closer to the game. The Seahawks will have to make a game status declaration on Friday which will provide at least some insight into Metcalf’s situation. Like Wednesday, Metcalf was again seen at the end of practice walking off the field.
Others who sat out Thursday were: WR Penny Hart (hamstring), whom Carroll has already said won’t play this week; guard Phil Haynes (concussion), linebacker Nick Bellore (concussion), defensive end Poona Ford (ankle), linebacker Darrell Taylor (groin) and nose tackle Al Woods (resting vet). All but Woods also sat out on Wednesday.
Safety Ryan Neal (ankle) was limited for a second straight day but everybody else was a full participant, including cornerbacks Artie Burns and Sidney Jones IV, who each sat out last week with groin injuries, and guard Gabe Jackson, who has missed the last two games with knee/hip injuries. If Haynes can’t play, Jackson figures to return to the starting right guard spot.