Pete Carroll Announces Decision On Seahawks Quarterback

Outside of an 84-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter of Monday night's game, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith struggled to move the chains against the New Orleans Saints. His performance led to questions about the team's quarterback situation heading into Week 8.

Despite Smith's lackluster performance against the Saints, it doesn't sound like the Seahawks are ready to move on from him.

During an appearance on 710 ESPN Seattle this Tuesday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll confirmed that Smith will start this Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"Sure," Carroll said when asked if Smith is still the team's starting quarterback, via ESPN. "Yeah, he is. And we're counting on him to just keep getting better and us to play better around him."

The one thing Carroll wants Smith to do a better job of is getting the football out as fast as possible in certain situations.

"I would like him to get the football out, be more open to throw the ball away," Carroll explained. "We talked about it in the locker room after the game. Sometimes those situations happen so fast, and to make that declaration to give up on the play is something that takes experience. That experience for Geno right now, it's not quite settled in the way he needs to be satisfied with, 'I've got to throw the ball away, we've got to punt the football.' And there's nothing wrong with that. We took two or three sacks last night that we shouldn't have taken."

In three games this season, Smith has 507 passing yards, three touchdown passes and an interception. He hasn't been sloppy with the football, but he also hasn't produced that many big plays in the passing game.

We'll see if Smith can bounce back this Sunday against the Jaguars.