New Orleans Saints keenly aware of Seattle quarterback Geno Smith’s improvement

Last season, on short preparation and in an offense more designed to take advantage of the talents of quarterback Russell Wilson, Seattle’s Geno Smith was made pedestrian by a New Orleans Saints defense that pedestrian-izes quarterbacks who’ve had far more preparation and effectiveness than Smith had shown in his NFL career.

Smith completed 12 of 22 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, and was sacked five times for minus-38 yards in the Saints’ 13-10, nationally televised road victory.

Entering Sunday’s game against the Saints (1-3) in the Caesars Superdome, this Geno Smith hasn’t been that Geno Smith for the Seahawks (2-2).

This year’s version, having earned the starting position in training camp after Wilson was traded to Denver in the offseason, is an edition that has completed 77.3 percent of his passes (102 of 132) for 1,037 yards and six touchdowns, with two interceptions. Smith, who also has run for 64 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, only has been sacked six times this season.

“One more year of comfort in the system that he’s in,” Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan said. “You feel like last year he was more like, I wouldn’t call him a fill-in, but a fill-in for Russell. And now Russell is over with the Broncos and now it’s Geno’s team and he got the go-ahead early on and I think they’ve been riding with him.”

Jordan had a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and four tackles in the victory last season, when New Orleans limited Seattle to 219 yards. In Seattle’s most recent game, a 48-45 victory over Detroit, Smith completed 23 of 30 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, and ran for 49 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. He wasn’t sacked by the Lions.