Carroll: Smith ‘lucky’ to avoid injury after tackle from Giants’ Simmons

By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith should be OK after suffering a knee injury in Monday night’s win over the New York Giants, coach Pete Carroll said during his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710.

“I think so,” Carroll said. “He went back in the game and was able to get back out there, so I think so.”

Carroll said even more strongly he felt a flag should have been thrown on the play as New York’s Isaiah Simmons tackled Smith out of bounds, and doing so from behind, in what Carroll characterized as a “horse collar tackle.”

“It just should have been recognized,” Carroll said. “… I don’t even care about the penalty. We’ve just got to get that out of ball. It’s so dangerous.”

Carroll said of Smith appearing to escape any significant injury that “we’re so lucky.” Smith declined to detail the specifics of the injury, saying, “It was some slight pain, but overall, I was just happy that I came out OK.”

Said Carroll: “He kind of twisted his knee a little bit, yeah. It really was knee and ankle at first, but I think it just came down to taping up the ankle and then his knee was a little bit — he might be sore [Tuesday.] He’ll need a break.”

The play happened early in the second quarter, and after the series it occurred, Smith retreated to the locker room to be further examined. He was replaced by Drew Lock, but Smith returned to play the second half.

Smith was angry that no penalty was called and said in an interview on ESPN afterward that it was a “dirty play,” adding, “I just don’t respect that type of stuff. There’s no need for that type of stuff. It’s a hard-fought game out there. We’re all battling, but there’s no need to take shots at guys running out of bounds on the sideline.”

Smith was a bit more measured in his news conference to reporters a little later, saying when asked if a flag should have been thrown, “I don’t know. Honestly, I try not to think about those things but in the moment, I was kind of heated, but after the fact, I don’t know.”

Simmons defended the tackle to ESPN.

“I really don’t got much to say about it,” Simmons said. “We playing football. He’s mad he got hit? What do most quarterbacks do when they don’t want to get hit? They go down. I don’t really know what else to tell him about that.”

On Tuesday, Carroll noted that eliminating such plays in which a player’s body weight can fall on another player’s from behind is something the NFL has tried to emphasize.

Carroll called the tackle “nasty” and “a scary moment” and added “that’s just something we’ve tried to get out of football, and it’s become a big deal and it was pretty clear cut that’s what that tackle ended up being.”

Smith remained heated throughout the second half and was later called for a taunting penalty as he continued jawing at some Giants defenders.

“Probably was going overboard,” Smith said. “Shouldn’t have been talking to their sideline, should’ve stayed in my place, so that was deserving.”

Carroll said he felt Smith simply wanted some acknowledgment that the play was illegal.

“I think if the flag would have been thrown it would have been different for him,” he said. “But the fact that it wasn’t is why he was so riled up.”

Seattle is helped now that the team has its bye which will allow Smith and other injured players an additional week to recover before Seattle plays again on Oct. 15 at Cincinnati.

Adams is ‘going to be fine’

Carroll reiterated Tuesday morning what he said after the game, that safety Jamal Adams should be able to make a quick recovery after being knocked out of the game on the first defensive series with a concussion.

Adams was injured when he took a knee to the head from Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

Adams played just nine snaps in his first game back since suffering a torn quad muscle on Sept. 12, 2022, against Denver.

“It was great to get him out there,” Carroll said. “He’s going to be fine. I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s got time to recover and all that.”

Adams was ruled out of the game after being examined by team trainers and the NFL’s unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant.

“He was in the tank over it because he just wanted to keep playing,” Carroll said.

Adams started the game as Seattle went with a three-safety look, playing alongside Julian Love and Quandre Diggs.

He had two tackles before leaving.

“I know what he can do,” Carroll said after the game. “That’s why we’re playing him there. We know what we’re doing. We haven’t seen the benefits of it yet. He missed the sack right off the bat when we had a shot at him. I’m sure he was maybe a little overexcited about that one. He was as free as you can get.”

Injury updates

Carroll offered a few other injury updates following the game:

— Nose tackle Jarran Reed was carted off in the fourth quarter, but Carroll said he did not appear to suffer a significant injury.

“He got kicked in the shin and it kind of blew up on him a little bit. So, it’s not broken or anything like that,” Carroll said. “He’ll be pretty sore for the next few days, but he’ll be all right.”

— Guards Phil Haynes (shin) and Damien Lewis (ankle) each left in the first half and did not return.

“Phil’s ankle — calf again,” Carroll said. “It’s his calf that he had a couple of weeks ago. We were going to rotate A.B. [guard Anthony Bradford] in there and not overplay him, but we didn’t get to that before it didn’t hold up.”

— Carroll said cornerback Coby Bryant should be back after the bye week after sitting out the last two games with a toe injury. But he said cornerback Artie Burns may be out a little longer — Burns missed the game with a hamstring injury.

“Coby has a really good chance,” Carroll said. “I’m not sure about Artie, we got to wait to see because it’s a hammy, got to see how he does.”