It's a story of resilience and redemption that's unfolding at quarterback, for the Seahawks as well as the Steelers.
With Mason Rudolph coming off a 34-11 win last Saturday over Cincinnati, Rudolph's first start since November of 2021, head coach Mike Tomlin announced on Monday that Rudolph "has the ball" as the Steelers began preparations for Sunday's game against the Seahawks.
Waiting in Seattle will be Geno Smith, who began resurrecting his career as an NFL starter last season after the Seahawks decided to move on from Russell Wilson.
Smith responded to Wilson's trade to Denver by being named the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year after throwing for a career-high 30 touchdowns, a career-high 4,282 passing yards (a franchise record) and completing a career-high 69.8 percent of his passes (also a Seahawks record and the best such figure in the NFL).
"Veteran guy," Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin assessed. "Knows this league, knows coverages, is going to get the ball to the guys who need to get the ball at the right time. He really takes care of the ball. He gets the ball down the field. He's a good deep thrower. He's got arm talent. He has all the things you need.
"And he's a veteran guy that maybe was written off at one point in his career, that tells you he has tremendous mental toughness. We know he has talent but he has tremendous mental toughness and the way he goes about the game is really admirable, really like watching him."
Smith entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the New York Jets out of West Virginia (39th overall) in 2013.
He started 29 of 30 games over his first two seasons but lost his job as the Jets' starter late in his second campaign.
Smith ultimately bounced from the Jets in 2016 to the Giants in 2017 to the Chargers in 2018 to the Seahawks in 2019, and started a combined two games for those four teams over those four seasons.
The only offensive snaps he hasn't played in 2023 occurred in the two games he missed due to a groin injury (Dec.10 at San Francisco and Dec. 18 against Philadelphia).
Smith directed a 14-play, 75-yard drive in 2:24 for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown, a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cody Parkinson with 57 seconds left in regulation, in Seattle's 20-17 victory last Sunday at Tennessee.
For the season Smith is completing 64.8 percent of his passes, with 17 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a passer rating of 90.4. He's also rushed for a touchdown.
"He's obviously playing well, and that's really the biggest thing," Austin said. "He's playing well and he does a good job for them and that's really the most important thing."
Smith has a trio of high-end wide receivers at his disposal in DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Parkinson is one of multiple tight ends the Seahawks depend upon, often two at a time. Noah Fant leads the latter group with 37 catches.
Austin has a pretty good idea what portion of the field Smith and the Seahawks will choose to attack on Sunday.
"Over the middle is kind of our Achilles' heel right now," he said. "I would think they'd probably try to get all those guys in there at some point. It's our job to defend it. We have to do a better job. I have to help our guys get in better positions.
"I think they're all capable of going over the middle and making some hay down there. We have our work cut out for us. I don't think it's going to be one particular guy. I think they'll be able to probably scheme and try to get multiple guys in that area."
