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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith limped off the field and missed two series late in the first half Monday night after a questionable tackle near the sideline by New York Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons.
Smith injured his knee in the game. He stayed in the game for one more game before being treated in the medical tent.
“A dirty play. Dirty play,” Smith told ESPN’s Lisa Salters after he returned in the second half of Seattle’s 24-3 win. “You’ll see it. It’s a dirty game. There’s no place in this game for that and hopefully something will happen, but other than that, the grace of God allowed me to come back to this game and I’m happy to be back there. “
Smith immediately made his displeasure known. He was later flagged for taunting when he returned to the game in the third quarter.
He was still upset after the game even though the Seahawks (3-1) cruised into the bye week coming off a win. Smith finished 13-of-20 passing for 110 yards and a touchdown.
“I just don’t respect that kind of thing,” Smith said. “There’s no need for that kind of stuff. It’s a hard-fought game out there. We’re all fighting, but we don’t have to take shots on guys running out of bounds on the sideline. .”
Smith looked a little limited on the way back and was moving slowly on the knee. But he insisted that it was not the mayor.
“I’m fine. I’m good. God is good,” he said.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll’s biggest complaint was how Smith was taken rather than where. The play happened near the Giants sideline after Smith returned his pass to him.
It actually went as a reception for minus-2 yards in the game.
“Yeah, that’s very dangerous,” Carroll said. “I don’t know why we didn’t see that differently. It looked very dangerous. All the effects of a horse-collar tackle happened, with the body swing pulling the back of the leg, and he was hurt on that play. The penalty wouldn’t have corrected that, but it looked like a very dangerous play that might warrant a second look.”
The Giants don’t feel the same way about the hit. They think it’s clean.
“I don’t really have much to say about it. We’re playing football. He’s upset that he got hit? What do most quarterbacks do when they don’t want to get hit? They go down. I don’t know what else. to say him about that.”
Giants LB Isaiah Simmons
Simmons said he was just trying to make a tackle. Smith ran for yards after catching his own pass.
“I don’t really have much to say about it,” Simmons said. “We were playing football. He was upset that he got hit? What do most quarterbacks do when they don’t want to get hit? They go down. I don’t know what else to say to him about that.”
Simmons insisted it was clean and he started the tackle in bounds.
“Yeah, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody there. I want everything to be good, you know what I mean? Nobody’s trying to hurt anybody, so I hate anyone who intentionally tries to hurt me,” Simmons said. “Nothing was intentional. We’re just trying to play hard and win.”
Smith initially thought it was safety Xavier McKinney who made the questionable tackle. Both have field words later in the series.
McKinney didn’t seem too worried about the game afterward.
“I don’t know. I don’t really care to be honest what he says or what he does,” McKinney said. “It doesn’t really matter.
“Yes, I think it was a good hit.” He laughed. “He’s fine.”