This Week in Seattle Sports
A Quick Look Back and Forward at What is Going on with Seattle Sports
Teams Playing for Real
Seahawks
Results
· Defeated New England Patriots 35–30
· 2–0 tied for 1st place in NFC West with Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams
While Pete Carroll has won a lot of games as Seahawks coach — he rarely makes it easy on fan’s hearts and Sunday’s game against the Patriots was no exception. Brian Schottenheimer really did a great job of mixing his run-pass play calling, but throwing deep without even a play-action fake on third-and-one to lock up the game was definitely a questionable call; even more so considering the Seahawks have a bad history of throwing the ball in short-yardage situations with the game on the line against the Patriots. The defense has a lot of room for improvement, but did just enough in this one, which was an even bigger win when you consider the Hawks overcame an opening play pick six. Good win and good 2–0 start. Here are the top 3 takeaways from the game:
1. Russell Wilson is good — really good. Through 2 games he is 52–63 (82.5%) for 610 yards with 9 TDs and 1 INT. As good of a start as a Seahawks player has had to any season — and the INT was on a perfectly thrown ball that bounced off TE Greg Olsen’s hands. The Seahawks haven’t played the toughest defenses in these first two games, but regardless these are NFL teams and Wilson has been a magician. His TD throws to Lockett, Metcalf and Carso were as good as any throws by a QB during week 2. Wilson showed great pocket presence throughout this game — rarely holding the ball too long, throwing it away instead of holding it too long (something he has been known to do) and throwing in 39 yards rushing. It has been said the Seahawks offense will go as far as Wilson can carry it; well that looks to be pretty damn far here in 2020.
2. The defensive line is not very good. Cam Newton never looked uncomfortable in the pocket and that was because in the 45 times he dropped back to throw he was only sacked once and pressured five times. The pressure came almost exclusively from the blitz with the defensive line only accounting for 2 of the 5 QB pressures. After allowing Matt Ryan to throw for more than 400 yards, Newton came within 3 yards of 400. The secondary does need to get better, but if the only way the Seahawks can pressure the QB is with blitzes it will be impossible for the secondary to live up to its potential.
3. Can the offensive line play this well all season? Wilson was only sacked twice and the running game accumulated 154 yards with a 5.1 yards-per-carry average. This was the best performance from the offensive line in at least 2 seasons. If this offensive line can show up against stiffer competition than the Seahawks have a real opportunity to be a top 5 offense.
Coming Up
· Sunday September 27 vs. Dallas Cowboys (1–1)
Notes
· During the Week 1 win, Russell Wilson became the second QB in NFL history with 30,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards rushing. Hall of Famer Steve Young is the only other QB to accomplish this feat.
· LB/DE Bruce Irvin and Nickelback Marquise Blair were lost for the season after suffering injuries in the win over the Patriots.
Sounders
Results
· Defeated LAFC 3–0 at home
· 1st Place in West by 1 point with 21 points. 3 points behind Columbus for Supporters Shield
The Sounders continued their recent string of strong performances against LAFC, but in an extremely strange match. The Sounders went up 2–0 just 32 minutes in thanks to the rarely seen 2 penalty kicks — neither of which came with the Sounders posing a dangerous scoring threat. Despite being up 2 goals, the Sounders remained aggressive and the game was pretty open, however, both teams struggled in the final third. Still, Frei was required to make several big saves — and as usual was up to the task. Ruidiaz then finished the game off by popping a ball over a LAFC defender to himself and then taking a half-volley from about 16-yards out unmarked and burying it to the right near-post. Maybe not the prettiest or most dominant of matches for the Sounders, but enough to keep them atop the West.
Top offensive players of the week:
· Raul Ruidiaz (1 goal): May not have been the leading scorer but remained involved throughout and drew a lot of attention from the LAFC defense. His mere presence opens things up for others and in the 82nd minute he showed he just needs a small opening to punish an opponent.
Top defensive players of the week:
· Yeimar Andrade-Gomez: Has been a great asset at center back this year. Strong in the air, physical tackling and always seemed to be in the proper position. Also, appears to be taking a leadership role in the back as he is constantly talking to guys about positioning.
Coming Up
· Wednesday September 23rd @ Portland Timbers
· Sunday September 27th @ LA Galaxy
Notes
· Brought back LB Brad Smith, further strengthening a position that already say Nouho and Joevin Jones battling for playing time.
· Jordan Morris, Raul Ruidiaz and Joevin Jones were named to the MLS team of the week following the Sounders dominating 7–1 win.
Mariners
Results
· 1–1 vs. Oakland A’s (6–14)
· 0–2 vs. San Francisco Giants (7–15)
· 1–2 vs. San Diego Padres (9–14)
· 23–30 3rd Place in AL West. 10 GB 1st Place Oakland A’s and 4 GB of Houston Astros for 2nd AL West Playoff position with 7 games to play
Another week, another cancelled game for the Mariners, this time for the heavy smoke that covered the Pacific Northwest. Not only skipped games this week, but the Mariners also had to play “home” games at San Francisco and San Diego, which is also strange considering the smoke that has engulfed California as well… The schedule certainly didn’t help, but nothing can excuse getting outscored by more than 20 runs in 7 games. All things considered the M’s were lucky to peel off 2 games this week, but the playoffs are a complete long shot at this point. With that said, Justus Sheffield has strung together several good starts in a row now which brings a lot of excitement for his future in this rotation.
- Hitting
A .191 average and .302 OBP just isn’t good enough — especially when the offense has little power. 81 Ks is completely unacceptable — especially considering the Mariners had games with 11, 17 and 18 strikeouts this week. The two Kyles (Lewis and Seager) carried the offense early but have really struggled over the past 20+ games and the offensive results have followed suit. Let’s hope the M’s can finish next week a bit stronger and build a little momentum moving into the 2021 season for the young guys.
- Pitching
43 runs in 7 games and a 1.12 K/BB ratio are horrific numbers. Kikuchi continues to look like Dipoto’s worst move as GM and Ljay Newsome needs to return to the bullpen. Speaking of the bullpen, it continues to be anemic, however, a few arms appear to be showing promise to improve the performance in 2021. Sadler, Gerber, Misiewicz, and Ramirez are consistently coming out and getting outs and throwing strikes now. And as stated above, Sheffield looks like he could be a top-tier pitcher in the rotation for years to come; although it would be nice to see him up the K/BB ratio a bit more.
Top players of the week:
- Position Player: Luis Torrens: 7–18, .450 OBP, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 3 RS, 2 BBs and 1 no-hit games
Great offensive production from a catcher. Needs to improve consistency behind the plate but has played quite well since being acquired for Austin Nola. Carving out a nice role for himself in 2021.
- Pitcher: Justus Sheffield: 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 5 K, 3 BB, 1–0
Sheffield pitched another gem and broke up the Mariners losing streak. He is quickly becoming the Mariners stopper and gives some hope for the future Mariners pitching staff. Not sure he is capable of becoming an ace, but definitely a strong number 2 or 3 pitcher.
Worst players of the week:
- Position Player: Kyle Seager: 2–23, .300 OBP, 0 HR, 0 RBIs, 3 RS, 7 BBs, 1 SB, 5 Ks and 5 no-hit games
Seager has really struggled the past two weeks. While the walks are nice the Mariners must get more production out of the cleanup spot. Going to be tough to move Seager in the offseason with the way he is finishing the 2020 season.
- Pitcher: Yusei Kikuchi: 4 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 3 Ks, 6 BBs, 1 HR, 1 WP, 0–1
Erik Swanson could also have taken this coveted spot; however, he won’t be making $15.5M this year like Kikuchi. 6 walks in 4 IP is completely unacceptable. Kikuchi has struggled all season, rarely making it 5 innings and even less rarely keeping the Mariners in the game. The Mariners will need to ask real questions about keeping him in the rotation.
Transactions
· Optioned LHP Aaron Fletcher and activated RFP Erik Swanson (Swanson was arguably the worst arm in the bullpen earlier this year — so don’t color me excited)
· Recalled UF Tim Lopes for doubleheader (3-for-3 in game 1 — so I would say good call!)
· Designated Jimmy Yacabonis for assignment (released less than a month after acquiring in a trade — when does Dipoto have to start outsourcing his bullpen decisions).
· Optioned RHP Set Frankoff and activated RHP Brandon Brennan from 60-day DL
· Optioned UF Donovan Walton and activated SS J.P. Crawford
· Received RFP Matt Brash from Padres to complete trade for RFP Taylor Williams
Coming Up
· 3 games vs. Houston Astros
· 4 games @ Oakland A’s
Teams Waiting to Play for Real
Husky Football
· Pac-12 will hold a vote on Thursday September 23rd to determine if they will try to play football this Fall.
· 1st team All Pac-12 DT Levi Onwuzurike declared for the 2021 NFL Draft bypassing the chance to see if the Pac-12 would try to play this fall.
Cougar Football
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Husky and Cougar Basketball
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