Geno Smith Thanks Former Giants Coach, GM After Comfortably Beating NY

Early NFL Comeback Player of the Year candidate Geno Smith gave an unexpected shout-out to a former regime in New York following the Seahawks' comfortable 27-13 win over the Giants in Week 8.

In his postgame speech on Sunday, Smith gave the nod to former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese who brought on Smith in 2017. The Giants were Smith's first team after a deficient four-year campaign with the Jets. It ultimately became the first step toward rehabilitating his status for a starter's role in the NFL.

"For me, this game was for Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese," Smith said after the game. "They believed in me."

Ben McAdoo, Giants HC, 2017-18 (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

Jerry Reese, Giants GM, 2007-17 (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Smith lives in Giants infamy as the QB that ended Eli Manning's 210-game starting streak after the NY legend got benched in 2017. McAdoo and Reese lost their jobs follwing their failed experiment.

The G-Men pivoted to Joe Judge as HC and Dave Gettleman as GM, which quickly fizzled out before current coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen took over.

Geno didn't splash with the Giants or Chargers in the back-to-back one-year campaigns, but he eventually landed with the Seahawks in 2019 and was named heir to the starting job after Russell Wilson departed in the 2022 offseason.

(Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)

The Seahawks haven't missed a step after replacing Russ with Geno.

Smith led an impressive performance against the red-hot Giants defense: completing 23 of 34 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

It was Geno's second-straight game with a triple-digit passer rating — propelling Seattle to a 5-3 record to take the NFC West lead.

(Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)

Ben McAdoo led the Giants to an 11-5 campaign in his first year as head coach, bringing NY back to the postseason since their Super Bowl-winning season in 2011-12. He was canned during his sophomore season after a 2-10 start but mostly for botching Eli's role with his longtime team.

Jerry Reese was general manager in NY for a decade (2007-2017), winning two Super Bowls with the Giants.