Boy, the last two Seahawks games have had hard-to-watch finishes
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Really, it is tough being a Northwest sports fan. Yesterday was just more of the same. Read on.
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• Thanks Seahawks. Thanks for another tough defeat. That’s two in a row. Sure, yesterday’s season-opening overtime loss at St. Louis wasn’t the punch in the groin the Super Bowl loss was, but it was a karate chop to the stomach, that’s for sure. This was a game the Hawks had won. A seven-point lead with 4 minutes, 34 seconds left and the Rams 84 yards from a tying score. Seems like a win, right? Easy money. Except it wasn’t. And money, easy or otherwise, played a role. Look, the Rams scored 27 points against the Hawk defense. They were starting their third-string running back – Benny Cunningham had 122 yards from scrimmage – as well as a new quarterback. Their offensive line featured two rookies and a couple guys playing new spots. And yet, they scored all those points, capped by a game-tying, 84-yard drive that took a little more than 3 minutes and included three third-down conversions. And, lest we forget, the guy filling in for the missing Kam Chancellor fell down trying to cover in space on the scoring pass. If you are scoring at home – and 97 percent of you are – that’s 0-1 with a game at Green Bay looming next week. Think “Celebrity Jeopardy” champion Aaron Rodgers – “I’ll take ‘Backups’ for $400, Alex” – will target Dion Bailey at all? Heck, one of the Rams’ tight ends, Jared Cook, looked as if he was running patterns alone in the park a couple times yesterday as the Hawks’ secondary suffered more communication breakdowns than a Led Zeppelin concert. Either the Seahawks have to get the problems fixed or they will be faced with the real possibility of giving in to Chancellor. If it’s a choice between the future and the present, another debacle like yesterday and fans will be vocal in their “the future is now” feelings. So where does the 34-31 defeat leave Seattle? At the risk of sounding mundane, 0-1. And nothing more. There are 16 games in the NFL season. Six teams in each conference make the playoffs. Then the real fun begins. Eleven or 12 wins should get the Hawks where they want to be, in the postseason lottery. Even an 0-2 start won’t preclude that. Could it make the ultimate goal harder? Sure. Getting through Green Bay in January is tougher than beating the Packers, or anyone else, in Seattle. But not impossible. And who knows what the next few months will hold. So take a page from Rogers’ 2014 playbook, relax and remember: The Hawks aren’t the Mariners. Thank the Lord.
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• WSU: What did Saturday’s come-from-behind win mean? Other than the Cougars are 1-1 you mean? Well, a road victory against a Power 5 opponent is something to build on, that’s for sure. Jacob Thorpe examines that in his story today. He also has a practice report from last night with a couple of interviews. This morning he has a blog post with links. ... It was decent weekend for the Pac-12 but a poor one for the SEC – though it could have been awful. ... The top 25 is always in a state of flux this early for good reason. ... One of the bigger non-conference games this week is in the Rose Bowl, where UCLA will host BYU.
• EWU: Both the Eagle and Cougar soccer teams had big wins Sunday.
• Seahawks: So where do we start? There is the Chancellor angle, with Bailey swearing he’ll never let such mistakes happen again. There is the offensive line's play. There is the on-side kick that wasn’t supposed to be an on-side kick fiasco. There are the defensive lapses. There is Jimmy Graham's debut. There is, well, there is a bunch of weird stuff that always seems to happen in St. Louis. ... The Hawks had a lot to say after the game but it comes down to this: They lost, they aren’t happy about it but there is nothing to do now other than move forward. ... You want grades? You want statistics? Here you go.
• Mariners: James Paxton returned to the hill for the first time since May. He wasn’t out there long. But he was there. ... The end result was a 3-2 loss to the Rockies. ... The M’s have been playing a bit better lately. Of course. The pressure is off.
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• Let’s move on. If the Hawks can find a way to win in Green Bay, then all of yesterday’s failures will be forgotten. That’s the way the NFL works. Until later ...
