A GRIP ON SPORTS • Well, at least the defense was good. After a slow start. The Seahawks’ offense, which handed the Rams 14 points in a 21-19 loss? Treasonous might be the right word.
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• And the mastermind of all the sedition? Quarterback Sam Darnold. Either him or Chris Shula, Los Angeles’ defensive coordinator. It’s dependent on if you like to see you beer mug as half-empty or half-full.
My guess is, 4 minutes into the game at SoFi Stadium on Sunday afternoon, your mug was already in need of refilling. That’s how long it took for Darnold to toss the first of his four interceptions, an off-target pass aimed at Cooper Kupp.
Kamren Kinchens was the recipient instead. His 31-yard return put Matthew Stafford and the L.A. offense only 3 yards from the endzone. It took four plays but they found it.
Kinchens also grabbed the third Darnold pick, taking away a deep shot near midfield and returning this one 22 yards to the Seattle 25. That one came late in the third quarter when Seattle trailed by two points. Less than 2 minutes later, the deficit was nine, a gap about 5 yards too wide to overcome.
Mainly because the defense stuffed Sean McVay’s conservative fourth-quarter offense and Darnold led the Hawks’ best drive of the day – an 11-play, 84-yard one that cut the lead back to two with 2:23 remaining. Another stop gave the Hawks one last chance.
All they would have to do is take the ball out of the shadow of their goal-line pylon – Ethan Evans’ 50-yard punt went out of bounds at the 1 – and get it close enough for Jason Myers to connect on his fifth field goal. Over the next 1:41, Darnold and the offense moved the ball 56 yards. They need 60 or so.
Myers’ last-second attempt from 61 yards away came up short and right. And L.A., at 8-2, wrested control of the NFC West from 7-3 Seattle.
But control is such a nebulous term in the NFL.
The Rams host the Buccaneers next Sunday night. The Seahawks will have already posted a win at Tennessee – yes, that is a prediction, based on the Titans’ woeful season.
A Seattle win, an L.A. loss and we’re back to where we started yesterday afternoon, albeit with the Rams holding a tiebreaker.
Good thing the two play again in December. On a Thursday night. In a wet and freezing Seattle – another prediction, based on the Emerald City’s usually awful week-before-Christmas weather.
• Funny thing, though. While everyone has been worried about the Rams in the West, the 49ers have refused to go away. Despite more injuries than a 12-car pileup on U.S. 101.
They won again Sunday, a Brock Purdy-led 41-22 rout of host Arizona. That came a week after a blowout loss to the Rams in San Francisco, a 42-26 blowout that L.A. controlled from the opening kick.
Despite losses to the Jaguars and Texans, San Francisco is still lurking. Has a much-easier finishing sprint – just having the Browns and Titans on the schedule tilts the final stretch the 49ers’ way – before hosting the Hawks to finish up. And has Christian McCaffrey, the division’s best running back, in their backfield.
Sunday’s Seattle loss wasn’t the end. Or even the beginning of the end. It is just the beginning of an ending stretch that will be decided not just on how well Darnold rebounds from his horrendous performance, how healthy the defense stays or whether guard Grey Zabel’s knee injury is season-ending. It will be decided by all those things – and more.
Week-by-week.
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WSU: For about a decade, Washington State football fans could count on one thing. Mike Leach’s offense would rack up huge numbers. Well, except maybe in the Apple Cup. That legacy is long gone in Pullman, though it looks as if Jimmy Rogers is intent on building his. On the other side of the ball. It doesn’t matter who is playing, it seems. Or who the Cougars are playing. The defense, since the Apple Cup debacle, the WSU defense has been as stingy as anyone on this side of the nation, yielding just 11.5 points per game in its last six. Greg Woods tries to explain this morning how Rogers’ group has accomplished that. … We were going to mention yesterday morning the reports the Cougs would be playing James Madison on Saturday with the College GameDay folks in Harrisonburg. Luckily for me, ESPN announced those folks were headed to Eugene just as I was finishing up. I deleted the note. Greg explains what happened in this story. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly ranking of next season’s conference members. It is on the S-R site. … The 5-5 Cougars didn’t move at all in The Athletic’s ranking of all 136 FBS schools. This week’s opponent, James Madison, checks in at 28. Just for reference, outside the defeat at OSU (124), the Cougs’ losses – Ole Miss (6), Virginia (18), North Texas (23) and Washington (34) – have come to teams a combined 35-7. … John Canzano spent Saturday in San Diego, talking with our old friend John David Wicker and watching his San Diego State team defeat Boise State.
• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, with the latest Associated Press rankings and listed chronologically. All are on Saturday. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.
– Baylor at Arizona (10 a.m., TNT): The Big 12 is still up for grabs.
– No. 16 USC at No. 6 Oregon (12:30 p.m., CBS): Yep, GameDay is in Eugene for the second time this season. Even though the game is on CBS. And USC is still trying to prove it is a contender in the Big Ten. … The Ducks are favored by more than a touchdown, even though the Trojans showed mettle in the second half of their win over Iowa.
– Kansas State at No. 13 Utah (1, ESPN2): With their starting quarterback banged up, the Utes turned to their freshman phenom to top Cincinnati. Lucky for Utah, the two quarterbacks aren’t rivals.
– UL Monroe at Texas State (2, ESPN+): The Warhawks squandered a two-touchdown lead in their latest defeat.
– Colorado State at Boise State (4, FS1): It is Senior Night in Boise.
– California at Stanford (4:30, ACCN): It’s Big Game week in the Bay Area. It’s so big their new conference has decided to put it on the ACC Network. And, yes, that’s a dig. The two schools belong in the new Pac-12.
– Arizona State at Colorado (5, ESPN2): The Buffs’ offensive line may be their most-improved group. … The Sun Devils aren’t going to be much healthier this week.
– Washington at UCLA (7:30, NBC): The Huskies are coming off a convincing 49-13 win over last-place Purdue and now face the Bruins, tied with Northwestern for 11th in the Big Ten. Math, and marketing, is weird.
– Utah State at Fresno State (7:30, CBS Sports): A linebacker has stepped up to lead the Bulldog defense.
– San Jose State at San Diego State (7:30, FS1): The Aztecs’ win over Boise cements them atop the Mountain West standings and makes them the favorite.
• In basketball news, the rivalry between the Arizona and UCLA men isn’t going to diminish, at least for a while. Despite the conference breakup. … Arizona State hopes to rebound from the GU loss tonight against Georgia State. … Colorado State handled Loyola-Chicago to stay unbeaten. … Utah State is also playing well. … The Oregon women pulled away from Army in the second half. … Colorado routed Portland State. … No. 2 South Carolina’s win over eighth-ranked USC still doesn’t give the school the right to call itself “the real USC.” That would take years of success. Football success. … Third-ranked UCLA is for real. … Arizona is 3-0. Are the Wildcats for real? That is still to be determined.
Gonzaga: The first time I heard the saying “fatigue makes cowards of us all,” I was probably still a preteen. It was a mantra of legendary Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi and was repeated on just about every athletic field and court in America in the 1960s. Just before a bunch of gassers, I’m sure. Lisa Fortier used it after her team’s 65-52 loss to visiting Stanford on Sunday, and the Cardinal players were talking about it on the court in the second half. (Kim’s seats at GU women’s games are close enough to the visiting bench, such comments are audible whenever the band isn’t wailing away.) The fatigue, mental or physical, showed most in how careless the Zags were with the ball. And occasionally popped up in shot selection, as there were times in the second half when the idea of running more offense seemed anathema to them. Greg Lee was in McCarthey and has this game story. … The men take over the Kennel tonight, hosting Southern Utah in a nonconference breather between a tough three-game stretch that finished in Tempe on Friday and a trip to Las Vegas for one of the best holiday tournaments of the year next week. Theo Lawson has a preview of tonight’s game as well as the key matchup.
EWU: It wasn’t the best of games for former Eagle Kupp, who Sunday was playing against former Rams team for the first time ever. Kupp’s performance leads off Colton Clark’s weekly look at local players in the NFL. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the prelims are over. No. 2 Montana and No. 3 Montana State square off Saturday in their rivalry game. Both are coming off wins. … Northern Colorado threw away any chance of winning in Cheney. … Idaho State had little trouble with Weber State. The Bengals have been playing better since their mascot was given a makeover. … Once again UC Davis has to bounce back from a loss to a highly ranked foe. … Northern Arizona got past Cal Poly in a wild game. … Sacramento State’s last-second win was celebrated by the Hornets. … In basketball news, Sac State’s Benthe Versteeg is living up to her preseason hype. … The Weber State men fell to UC Irvine on Sunday.
Velocity: For the second consecutive season, Spokane fought its way to the USL League One championship match. And for the second consecutive season, it lost. Host One Knoxville scored early, used its stellar defense and earned the title with a 2-0 decision. John Allison has the match coverage. … Velocity fans gathered at Flatstick Pub yesterday to watch and cheer. Emily White was there as well and has this story.
Whitworth: The Pirates will host an NCAA Division III playoff game Saturday. And the opponent, Chapman University, is familiar. Ethan Myers has all that and more in this story.
Seahawks: As always, we begin our Hawk links with Dave Boling’s column. He also focuses on two main elements: the defense and Darnold’s performance. … We linked Bob Condotta’s game story in the S-R above and here as well. … There are always grades. And instant impressions. … There is also always coverage from all over, more so this week as the game seemed to be the best in the NFL. The main subjects? Darnold and his four interceptions of course. The Hawks believe in their quarterback. And the Rams’ secondary, which is now all the rage in Los Angeles. … Zabel’s injury could be a big deal.
Mariners: Though his signature isn’t on a contract just yet, Josh Naylor and the M’s have agreed to a five-year deal that will keep the popular first baseman in Seattle until he’s 33. … Naylor is the first high-end free agent to sign, which means there is coverage from all over. … Seattle also traded with the Dodgers for a left-handed reliever, giving up a minor league prospect for Robinson Ortiz.
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• Monday mornings are packed these days. It is football season after all. Until later …