Seahawks' Geno Smith Returns from Knee Injury for 2nd Half vs. Giants

The Seattle Seahawks controlled the early portion of Monday's game against the New York Giants, but it wasn't all good news for the NFC West team.

Seattle announced in the first half that quarterback Geno Smith was questionable to return with a knee injury. Drew Lock replaced him in the second quarter and remained under center for multiple drives.

However, the visitors could breathe easy because Smith returned to start the third quarter.

His return was certainly a welcome development for the Seahawks considering Smith was off to an excellent start before suffering the injury.

He went 9-of-11 for 67 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions with the score coming on a pass to DK Metcalf as Seattle took advantage of the short field created by a turnover its defense forced.

Yet Lock picked up where Smith left off with a 51-yard connection to Noah Fant to set up a Kenneth Walker III touchdown run. The tight end did much of the work on the long pass with a tightrope act along the sidelines, but Lock looked confident while standing in the pocket and delivering throws.

The backup entered the league as a second-round pick out of Missouri in 2019. He appeared in 24 games during his first three seasons with the Denver Broncos and led the league with 15 interceptions during the 2020 campaign.

Lock was sent to Seattle ahead of the 2022 season as part of the Russell Wilson trade, but Monday marked his first appearance during a regular-season game for the franchise.

While Lock is a capable backup, the Seahawks likely need a healthy Smith if they are going to contend for a deep playoff run. The West Virginia product is coming off the best season of his career in which he led the NFL with a 69.8 completion percentage to go with 4,282 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes to 11 interceptions.

Now that he is back on the field, he can continue working toward putting up similar numbers in 2023.