One of the biggest reasons behind Geno Smith’s 2025 fall-off with the Las Vegas Raiders was his lofty interception total, leading the league with 17.

This season, though, he has yet to throw an interception through two games.

When asked by reporters if there’s been an emphasis on protecting the ball more this year, Smith had a blunt response: “You guys gotta watch film, man,” he said.

“You can’t just go off the stat sheet. That’s what a lot of people do. I’m a guy, like I’ve told you guys, I’m very sound in my decision making. I know what I’m doing out there.

“I’m always going to try and protect the team by protecting the football. Interceptions can come in a number of ways, turnovers can happen in a number of ways but the key thing is that we protect the team by protecting the football. That’s something I’m always mindful of.”

It’s important to realize that an unusually high percentage of Smith’s interceptions in 2025 were not on him. Yes, he absolutely could have done things to limit them, but he does have a point.

Interception totals without context do not tell the full story. Many of Smith’s interceptions last season came from his pass-catchers dropping passes, losing contested situations, or the pass getting tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Pro Football Focus named Smith the “unluckiest” quarterback of 2025 in this regard, estimating that he ended up with a league-high 4.7 more interceptions than expected to have based on his number of turnover-worthy throws.

In two games this year, Smith hasn’t thrown an interception and has been credited with just one turnover-worthy play. While it’s still early in the year, it’s a better start than he had through Week 2 of last season, when he hurled five turnover-worthy throws and had four intercepted.

Smith also ranks second to only Brock Purdy in adjusted completion rate (84.2%), meaning his strong accuracy has carried over so far.

Those numbers back up what the film has shown: he’s been accurate without giving opposing defenses too many chances to take the ball away. While he wasn’t as effective on Sunday as he was in Week 1, he certainly played well enough for the Jets to win.

We will see how he fares this week against the Detroit Lions, who have had one of the league’s worst defensive starts to the regular season.