6 questions with the enemy

Geno Smith has been great thus far this season. While not quite as productive as he was in the first five games of 2022, Smith has done a much better job of protecting the ball, which was a major issue in the second half of last season. So far he’s only thrown one interception in three games and 103 attempts. He stared down Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a slant and got picked off by Deion Jones. Aside from that one glaring mistake he’s been just the right mix of aggressive and cautious, taking what the defense gives him while also pushing them downfield.

Julian Love played brilliantly last week against the Panthers, but the first two games of the season were pretty rough. Again, I don’t really blame him for it — I think schematically the safeties have been put at a disadvantage in coverage. I expect that Love will continue getting significant playing time even with Jamal Adams coming back into the lineup. Once they get these Xs and Os issues figured out (they always do by midseason) he’ll be fine.

Mario Edwards was quiet the first two games but he totally blew up against Carolina. While he still doesn’t have any sacks yet he managed to get nine pressures against the Panthers, which was a team high on a day when the whole rotation was cooking. Obviously, we’d like to see more of that going forward. Jarran Reed has been playing out of his mind, so if Edwards and Dre’Mont Jones get going too this will be a strong line across the board.