Grip on Sports: The Seahawks get close again but fumble away their chances to makes something of the season
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Time was running out. The Seahawks were moving down the field. One last chance presented itself. Would they grab it? Ah, no. Read on.
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• There seems to be an inevitability to this Seahawk season.
They will win some games, lose others and compete in them all. The wins will come against teams they are obviously better then, even if the final score won’t show that division. The losses will come against teams they are obviously inferior to, even if those final scores won’t show that gap.
Every game will be a close one, win or lose.
And the season record will reflect it. They will either barely make the playoffs or miss by a game as they did last year – and this Thursday night’s game with Green Bay will go a long way in deciding that.
Yesterday they lost another one possession contest. They were on the road against the second-best team in the NFC. The chance to win was there. One more play was all that was needed.
It didn’t happen.
I’m pretty sure many of us, maybe all of us, knew it would come down to this. One play or another would make the difference. And, with half of this season seared into our memory, we knew the Hawks wouldn’t make it.
They have so often, as Max Smart used to say, “missed it by that much.”
The final drive of yesterday’s 36-31 loss in smoky Los Angeles was this season in miniature.
Russell Wilson moved the Hawks down the field. The clock was winding down. A touchdown would win it. The path to the playoffs, one that seemed pothole-ridden after the beyond-the-last-second loss at home to the Chargers, would smooth out.
But it didn’t happen.
Now the 9-1 Rams can clinch the NFC West title this week if they win in Mexico City vs. the Chiefs and the Hawks lose to Green Bay. It is the middle of November.
The Seahawks would be left digging around in the NFL muck with Dallas and Philadelphia, the Vikings and Packers, Carolina and Atlanta, for one of the two wild cards. And, in that case, poorly positioned to make a run.
Seattle almost has to win Thursday night if it wants to stay relevant this season. To get to 10 wins, they must defeat the Cardinals and 49ers at home and San Francisco on the road – OK, that should happen – and then win three of four against Green Bay, Carolina, Minnesota and Kansas City.
How many of us believe it will happen? It seems tough, and darn near impossible if there is a loss this week.
• One little note. My father, who proudly traced his ancestry back to Sicily, wore a mustache my entire life.
From the moment I can remember, his upper lip was covered with facial hair. Over the years it evolved, however, from the usual type to one with sharp, pointed ends and even to a fancy handlebar for a little while.
Boredom does funny thing to a man sometimes.
Anyway, he had to use wax on his mustache at times. It came in a tin. I can remember that tin as if it were sitting on my desk right now. Fancy writing. Bright colors. Polished steel. And the word “moustache” written all over it. You know, the fancy, European way to spell mustache.
It always stuck in my head as the cool way to describe caterpillar-like facial hair.
Which is why I use it a lot to describe Gardner Minshew’s trend-defining mustache.
But I am nothing if not a slave to journalism conventions. Forty years of being in the business will do that to you. And the Associated Press style guide wants us all to use the mustache spelling. So I will forego the more snooty European spelling that was seared into my mind years ago and revert to the boring, mundane American English one.
Mustache it is. Even if Minshew’s seems to have moustache written all over it.
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WSU: Before we get to all the football coverage, we interrupt your euphoria with some basketball news. The Cougars began their season yesterday. And they won. Don’t question the opponent, just savor the win. Theo Lawson arrived back in Pullman in time to cover the 89-72 victory over Nicholls State. The victory came, in large part, due to Robert Franks’ 31 points and 11 rebounds. … While traveling back from Boulder, which received a half-a-foot of snow Sunday, Theo wrote about the football game and how Washington State controlled the clock. … He also looked ahead to Saturday’s game, which will start at 7:30 p.m. and be on ESPN. Love those late starts. … WSU moved up to eighth in the Associated Press poll. … The volleyball team lost to USC in Los Angeles.
Elsewhere in the Pac-12, the polls are one thing, power ratings are another. … Washington is coming off a bye, which is a mental break as well as a physical one. … Oregon will host Arizona State in the Ducks’ final home game of the season. … Oregon State was blown out at Stanford. Now it has to travel to Washington. … After the win against Oregon, Utah heads across the mountains to face rival Colorado. … California picked up its first win over USC in years. Now the Bears have to prepare for the rivalry matchup with Stanford. … The Los Angeles papers aren’t saying “if” anymore when talking about a possible Clay Helton firing. They are using “when” instead. Oh, and there are some football thoughts as well. … UCLA seems to be looking forward to hosting its rival this weekend. … Arizona State is still savoring the win over the Bruins. … In basketball, USC’s loss to Vanderbilt at home could hurt the conference down the road. … Washington, which already had one of those type of losses, hosts USD tonight. … Arizona picked up a win over Cal Poly by dominating the second half.
Gonzaga: If the win over Texas Southern showed one thing, it showed the Zags can address shortcomings and fix them. Quickly. Jim Meehan looks back at the victory and examines how the Bulldogs defended better. … The women traveled to Cheney and rallied past Eastern Washington, 63-51. Dan Thompson has the story.
Idaho: The Vandal women lost at Stanford, with Central Valley alum Lexie Hull chipping in 17 points for the Cardinal.
Whitworth: The Pirates will host a first-round NCAA Division III playoff football game, with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps coming to the Pine Bowl on Saturday. Dan Thompson has more in this story.
Seahawks: Before we get to the coverage from Los Angeles, we want to pass along Justin Reed’s story on Cooper Kupp’s day. It was going well until the Eastern alum tried to cut in the fourth quarter and went down to the grass untouched. Sadly, it looks as if Kupp tore his ACL. … The inability to finish a comeback is not just something we see. … Expect the Hawks to be sold in the not-too-distant future. They will bring in a lot of money. … Rashaad Penny had a decent day as the running game did well. … Injuries hit the Hawks too. … Some Hawks played well. Others did not.
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• So what happened to fall? It seemed to last all of a couple weeks and, boom, we are right into the dead of winter. Is it possible autumn could return for a couple days so I can do aerobic raking? If not, spring is going to be sort of gross. Until later …