A Grip on Sports: The Seahawks grabbed our attention Sunday morning, and they will hold onto it all week despite some stiff competition

A GRIP ON SPORTS • At one point Sunday evening the TV remote started to heat up. The back button was mashed so often, it probably qualified for a disability payment. The Dodgers were trying to finish off the Mets, the Liberty were trying to win a title and Russell Wilson was trying to turn back the clock. All succeeded. And yet, despite all the hubbub, nothing topped what happened a few hours earlier in Atlanta.

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• The remote rested before noon. There was no way I was turning the channel. Not the way Seattle was playing. I’m not talking in a can’t-look-away-from-the-wreck sort of way either. Nope. The Seahawks looked, well, competent. For the first time in a month.

Expected? Uh, have to answer nope to that as well. A fourth-consecutive loss seemed ordained, what with the Hawks on their fourth-string right tackle, the secondary featuring three contributors trying to watch from home – hey, Riq Woolen, was that a pirated stream we saw on your social media post yesterday? – and a rookie head coach facing adversity – and its nephew, a grumbling locker room – for the first time.

Instead we wake up to a rainy Monday morning, check the NFC West table and see the Seahawks, 34-14 winners over Atlanta, alone at the top. Again. Sure, 4-3 isn’t anything to brag about on Insta, but in the we-want-everyone-except-the-Raiders-at-.500 NFL, it’s typical. And better than the alternative. Right 49er fans?

Before prognosticating Sunday’s outcome, however, most of probably forgot a salient fact or two. I know I did. The Falcons may have spent Jeff Bezo’s tax bill on quarterback Kirk Cousins over the offseason, but they still aren’t a great team. And like every team in the NFL after six weeks, they have injuries too. More after the first half was over.

In fact, Atlanta’s offensive line after intermission looked more like the Seahawks, circa weeks four, five and six, than Seattle’s did. Sieve-like. Mixing, matching, grasping at straws. A strong first-half rushing attack disappeared. The Hawks got a lead and Cousins began to do what he does, trying too hard to make plays.

He did make plays, though. For the visitors. Three consecutive Falcon possessions resulted in turnovers. And sealed their fate.

The Hawks led by 10 at halftime. Led by 10 after a six-and-out to end the third quarter. Led by 17 eight plays later. Thanks to a Boye Mafe strip sack, a Derick Hall recovery and Hall’s 64-yard touchdown return, which included a key hustle-and-get-in-the-way block from Devon Witherspoon.

Julian Love picked off Cousins on the next possession, Seattle cashed it in for a field goal – Jason Myers’ 59-yarder set a building record – and, with 7 minutes left, the Seahawks started celebrating.

Maybe they knew Cousins would throw another pick. After Coby Bryant came up with it, the only thing to worry about was the health of DK Metcalf’s knee.

Then again, anyone who watched Metcalf’s late-game cart ride to the locker room saw him mouth the words he was alright to a teammate as he left. And Mike Macdonald echoed that sentiment in his post-game comments, using the word “optimistic.”

With Josh Allen and the 5-2 Bills headed to Seattle next Sunday, optimistic isn’t a word that will be bandied about much this week. Maybe while speaking about injuries and getting folks like Woolen or Metcalf or even right tackle Abe Lucas back. But in the week-by-week NFL, your opponent dictates as much if not more than you do. Matchups matter. Health too. And quarterbacks.

Allen is a bigger, better Cousins. More mobile. Stronger. Faster. But, surprisingly, often just as prone to trying to do too much.
Problem is, Allen reaches his seemingly unattainable goals a lot, especially against a defense with the injury issues Seattle has – Sunday’s results notwithstanding.

• Not sure how Dave Roberts doesn’t have an ulcer. The Dodgers’ pitching staff, which seems bereft of healthy starters, not only puts stress on the opposing hitters, it also must stress out the manager. It did me last night. Luckily, I could relieve it often by switching to Wilson’s first Steelers’ start. Or watch Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu lay bricks for New York in the WNBA title game.

Wilson wasn’t perfect. But he won, 37-15. So too did Stewart, who left Seattle for a chance to help her home-state team win a title, though Ionescu’s 1-of-19 shooting certainly did not help in the 67-62 overtime victory.

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WSU: Greg Woods spent his Sunday studying video clips of the Cougars’ pass rush during their definitive 42-10 homecoming win over Hawaii. What did he find? You will have to read his story to learn that. Spoiler alert: The Cougars seemed more like the Bill Doba/Robb Akey Cougs of old in this one than they may have any time in the couple decades since. … It was a good day for many of the former Washington State players in the NFL, as Ethan Myers passes along in his weekly look at the performance of local players in the league. … Most Cougar fans know the story of former basketball coach Kyle Smith’s autistic son. The Stanford camp is just learning it now. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly Best of the West rankings. At the top are Oregon, BYU, Boise State and WSU. In that order. … Stewart Mandel has the first three in his Athletic playoff bracket. Not the fourth, though. Still, the Cougars are in the top 25 of this ranking. … John Canzano looked back at the weekend. … Looking forward, ESPN’s College GameDay will be in Bloomington, Indiana, for the Hoosiers home game against Washington. … Oregon is No. 1 for the first time since 2012. How long will the Ducks be able to stay atop the volatile polls? They host No. 20 Illinois this week. … Oregon State has some issues. And, thanks to a tough schedule, a lot of pressure to fix them quickly. … Utah’s offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who seemed like a Ute lifer as recently as a couple weeks ago, resigned Sunday. We are to the point where changes are being made all over the nation. … Stanford seems ready to pass the offensive reins to freshman quarterback Elijah Brown and see what happens. With a 2-5 record, why not? … California has found new ways to lose each week. … Colorado did not have Travis Hunter on offense but it did not matter in the 34-7 win over Arizona. The Wildcats are in disarray. … UCLA picked up a breakthrough win at Rutgers. … Even Lincoln Riley cannot explain what has happened to USC. … Kenny Dillingham is young. The Arizona State coach will watch his words better in the future. … In the Mountain West, Hawaii spent Sunday bemoaning all the turnovers in the loss at WSU. … It had been a long time since Colorado State had won at Air Force. It dos not mean all is well with the Rams, though. … There is no rest for UNLV. Win at Oregon State, host Boise State the next week. … New Mexico has three consecutive wins. … Is it time for Wyoming to change quarterbacks? … In basketball news, San Diego State, missing some key players, still handled UCLA easily in a scrimmage. … Utah State played an exhibition. It won but showed a lot to work on.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, losing at Northern Arizona on Saturday night is tough for Idaho State to swallow. … Sacramento State held off Weber State 51-48 in double overtime. … UC Davis has picked up some wild road wins this season, including over the weekend at Eastern. … Cal Poly could not hold on in Moscow. … Wait, what? Montana basketball coach Travis DeCuire has been head coach for 11 seasons?

Seahawks: Pulling up Dave Boling’s column this morning, the lyrics to an old song immediately came to mind. The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades. At least Julian Love does. Weird ones. Anyhow, Boling was all in with how the Seahawks played, all things considered. And that’s how you have to judge the NFL game-by-game. By considering all things. … The Times’ Bob Condotta has the game story in the S-R, assigns everyone grades and lets us know what we learned from the win. … He also covers Metcalf’s injury. … There is a column in the Times too. … We have more coverage to pass along from The Athletic and elsewhere. … Kenneth Walker III was sick. Not expected to play. He played alright. And played all right. … So did right tackle Mike Jerrell.

Storm: The Liberty’s title, its first, led to a long celebration among the home crowd. And all the celebrities in attendance. There have been enough glimpses of Spike Lee in the past week to last me a lifetime. But we’ll all see more this week, won’t we?

Mariners: That’s because, for the 12th time, the Yankees and the Dodgers, once New York “neighbors,” will meet for the World Series title. Two of the three richest MLB franchises (the other, the Mets, made it until Sunday). The game’s superstars above all others, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Other greats like Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton for New York and Mookie Betts and (if he’s healthy) Freddie Freeman for Los Angeles. Solid role players. A couple of the highest-paid starting pitchers in NY’s Gerrit Cole and LA’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And two bullpens who will decide who wins.

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• As I watched the final out last night, I couldn’t help but think back to college. Watching the Dodgers lose the 1977 and 1978 World Series to Reggie Jackson and the Yankees. Or 1981, when the outcome was happier, as Kim and I joined our neighbors and friends when we could to cheer for our hometown team. Or 2017, when my sister paid a Southern California monthly mortgage payment for Series’ opening tickets and I got to sit in Dodger Stadium for a Fall Classic game for the first (and probably only) time. Of all the sports in my life, nothing holds more memories than baseball. Dodger baseball. So much so, instead of hearing Joe Davis’ voice last night as the game ended, in my head I heard Vin Scully’s. I hope my sons will be able to hear Dave Niehaus’ or Rick Rizz’s voice in their heads someday as the M’s win the American League championship and advance to the Series. Not sure it will ever happen. But if it does, I want to be there to share the joy. Until later …