Film room: How Geno’s deep passes impact the offense

New quarterback can chuck it deep and open up Las Vegas’ offense

The Las Vegas Raiders made the first big splash in the quarterback market this offseason, trading with the Seattle Seahawks for Geno Smith.

This marks the third year in a row that the Raiders have gone the veteran quarterback route since moving on from Derek Carr. While Jimmy Garoppolo and Gardner Minshew quickly flamed out in Las Vegas, Smith brings something to the table that Garoppolo and Minshew didn’t: the deep ball.

Smith has always been known for his arm strength and, according to Pro Football Focus, his 22 “big-time throws” on passes 20 or more yards down the field were tied for the third-most in the NFL last season. Additionally, he registered a top 10 BTT rate (27.8 percent), had the third-fewest “turnover-worthy plays” (three) and ranked fourth with a 3.8 percent TWP rate (minimum 37 deep attempts).

In other words, the former Seahawk brings a vertical element to the Silver and Black’s passing attack that has been absent for years. Let’s take a peek at what that could look like.

One aspect of Smith’s game that stands out, regardless of how deep he’s throwing, is that he has a good feel for pressure in the pocket. That comes into play in the clip above as the right tackle begins to lose the rep and the quarterback steps up to buy more time while keeping his eyes downfield.

That allows DK Metcalf to get open on the corner-post route. Then, Smith fires a rifle to beat the safety and hit Metcalf in the endzone for a 31-yard touchdown. To add more context, this was third and 15 right before halftime. So, Smith turned what could have been a disastrous play into points on the board.

On top of having the arm strength to push the ball down the field, the veteran quarterback also has impressive accuracy when throwing deep. For example, PFF charted him with the sixth-best adjusted completion percentage (49.2 percent) on attempts 20 or more yards past the line of scrimmage last season.

A big reason for this is that Smith is very precise when making back-shoulder throws. In the example above, the wide receiver runs a go route against a corner with inside leverage, meaning the back-shoulder throw is open.

The receiver adjusts too early, tipping the back shoulder pass. However, take a look at the endzone view above. Smith places the ball perfectly to prevent the corner from making a play on the pass while dropping it right on target for the wideout to come down with it for an explosive play.

This is another perfect ball to beat tight coverage. The biggest difference is that Smith leads Metcalf up the field instead of throwing it back shoulder. Regardless, this is a great throw that’s dropped in the bucket where only the receiver can come down with it to put six points on the board.

What’s impressive about Smith’s deep ball is that he can throw it on a line with velocity while still having enough touch to keep the pass out of the defender’s reach, which this clip and the next one are great examples of.

Seattle dials up a play-action pass with three deep routes here and all the receivers are pretty well-covered by New York initially. Especially with a shaky offensive line, that makes this a risky play call.

With no one open, Smith steps up in the pocket to buy some time. Simultaneously, the defensive tackle recognizes that a pass-rush lane has opened and loops around to get pressure on the quarterback. However, Smith gave Jaxon Smith-Njigba just enough time to get a step on the defender with the over route.

The defender is still in a position to make a play on the ball, but Smith delivers a perfectly layered pass on the run with a defender in his face to hit Smith-Njigba for a big gain. Another example of excellent touch and arm strength to get the job done.

As referenced above, Smith’s arm strength and playing style also help keep plays alive to execute the coveted “off-script plays”.

In the clip above, it’s 4th and 15 at the end of the game with the Seahawks trailing by five. No one is open initially and the pocket quickly breaks down. But Smith scrambles to buy some time for Smith-Njibga to break free and get open down the field.

That’s where the quarterback’s big arm comes into play as he throws off his back foot about 30 yards down the field, connecting with the wideout to give the team a chance to win the game.

Finally, we’ll end with another great example of the 34-year-old’s ability to create plays out of structure.

It was a common theme in Seattle last year as the pocket breaks down, again, with all four pass rushers collapsing the pocket in one form or another. There’s barely any room for the quarterback to move, but Smith stays calm and uses a spin move/his athleticism to get out of the pocket — if you can even call it that.

That allows Smith to extend the play and find Metcalf open in the endzone, firing a laser to the wideout for another touchdown.

Clearly, this is something that has been missing in Las Vegas over the last few years and will be a welcomed sight once the former Seahawk puts on the silver and black.