Wednesday Wanderings: Halloween Four Days Early in St. Louis, Husky Takes Down a Weak Golden Bear, Sounders Fans Sound Off

By Marshall Cherrington

Wednesday Wanderings is a weekly column written by Editor-in Chief and creator of the Sports Soup Network, Marshall Cherrington. He brings you all of his weekly thoughts pertaining to Seattle sports, and anything else for that matter.

Injuries, injuries, injuries. They’re killing the city of Seattle this week. Russell Wilson making a bad read in St. Louis led to him running to Sidney Rice’s side and having would-be-tacklers roll up on Rice’s knee, which caused his torn ACL. And then in the Huskies clobbering of Cal, Keith Price couldn’t get enough testosterone running through his body to throw a deep enough pass for Kasen Williams to run under it. Kasen had to come back for the ball, resulting in a jump-ball situation, resulting in a destroyed Kasen Williams foot. Not good, Keith and Russell. Apologies will be accepted later. And then I’ve got the injury bug (well maybe not the injury part) and can’t seem to sleep for a whole night without waking up. That’s why you’ll be reading a shorter version of Wednesday Wanderings this week.

Despite all of the injuries, every Seattle sports team came out unbeaten this week. Even though the game in St. Louis was ugly, the Seahawks somehow pulled it out. Even though everybody in the world, including every Cal fan out there, knew UW was going to destroy… well they destroyed anyways. Even though every Sounders fan was kicking themselves after tying the Galaxy on Sunday, the men in rave green just pulled out a gutty victory against the Colorado Rapids to make it into the Western Conference Semifinals for the billionth time. Here are my thoughts on the week that was in Seattle sports.

Heading into Monday night football, Seahawks fans were deprived of their team. It had been 10 days since the team had played last and fans thought the players felt the same way: hungry and ready to kill the Rams. But as we all saw, it just wasn’t this way. But I don’t think this was so much of the two skill levels of each team being so similar to one another. I think it’s because Jeff Fisher coaches like a freaking god against the Seahawks. The Rams have consistently been one of the Seahawks’ toughest opponents over the last few years, if not for the entirety of the franchise. Now I haven’t been around that long to know that fir sure, but I would not be surprised if the Rams did play this role.

The subtle smile that haunts the Seahawks every year.

USA Today

Instead of the 10 day lull being a motivator and chance to come out strong for the Seahawks, I think it got the Seahawks off of their routine more than anything else. Add in that the Rams didn’t have their starting quarterback at the helm and you have an opponent that the players think they are going to absolutely murder. Now coaching and everything should be good enough so the Seahawks don’t come into the game with that mindset, but apparently none of that worked.

Also, did the offensive line decide to pull out their smart phones during the game and watch the World Series game that was taking place at the same time a couple of blocks away? Man, technology these days. But really, where were these guys. The blocking was terrible. I get that the Rams defensive line is one of the best in the league, but NFL lineman should be able to at least step in front of at least one of these rushers. Russell Okung, the Seahawks can’t get you back quick enough. Do they have to use some of those crude recruiting tactics your alma mater used to get you back in a Seahawks jersey and on the field? All jokes, but seriously, the Seahawks need you back big time.
After watching the game, there is no doubt in my mind that the Seahawks should spend their first round pick in the upcoming draft on an offensive lineman. They key word in that sentence is should. They’ll probably end up drafting Johnny Manziel or some other random player at a position they already have Pro-Bowlers at. David Yankey out of Stanford seems like an intriguing prospect that Pete Carroll and John Schneider have most likely kept their eyes on over his career.

Regarding the Sidney Rice injury, maybe I called that. In my second Wednesday Wanderings column, I discussed how Rice was expendable and Jermaine Kearse would produce fine in Rice’s position. Well folks, it looks like we have that scenario on our hands now. Kearse might be just as fast, athletic, and definitely smart as Sidney Rice was at the wide out position. Even though I don’t think Kearse has the kind of hands Sidney does, he has improved a ton in that category and he should be able to replicate Sidney’s production. Trust me guys, the loss of Sidney Rice won’t hurt too badly. His statistics for his entire Seahawks career were similar to the statistics of like one of Calvin Johnson’s games (season, but who’s counting anyways).

Seahawks fans hope Kearse won't be a curse as a now starting wide receiver.

The Tacoma News Tribune

I would go in depth on the Huskies, but I’ll save that more for the next edition of Wednesday Wanderings since they have a bye week this weekend. What I can say though, is that the Huskies performance on Saturday was exceptional. They controlled all aspects of the game against a Pac-12 foe and even though the quality of the opponent was minimal, the Dawgs did what they needed to do: win and win big. It was so much fun to watch Sankey gash the Cal defense and even though I question why he goes east and west sometimes rather than north and south, he’s still one of my favorite players to watch in the Pac-12. Another one of those players? Brandin Cooks, wide receiver for Oregon State. Man is that guy electric and boy does he have great hands. I can’t wait to watch him against the Washington defense in the second to last week of the season. Should be a fun one and a must win for the Huskies.

I absolutely love everything about this picture. Beautiful jerseys, beautiful angle, probably a beautiful pass from Mannion and an even more beautiful run after the catch from Cooks.

Sports Illustrated

All has not been well in Sounders land and it seems like injuries on the field have resulted in injuries in the stands, because of all of the angry fans. Yeah, I rhyme about as well as Kendrick Lamar does. Anyways, I think the Sounders are stepping it up as of lately, meaning their past two games against LA and Colorado. The defense has shown improvement and even though Robbie Keane continues to haunt every Sounders’ fans dreams, the team played well against one of their arch rivals. The Sounders barely snuck into the playoffs, but showed why they belonged tonight against Colorado. Eddie Johnson’s nutmeg of the Rapids defender that led to a goal that sealed the game was one of the dirtiest moves I’ve seen since my days on the soccer pitch. In case you were wondering, I dominated rec soccer. Nobody could touch me.

That’s it for this week’s edition of Wednesday Wanderings. Jackson and I are getting together after school tomorrow so I can beat him down in Madden and so we can record a podcast, so make sure to look out for that. I’ll keep you updated on our Madden series as well. In my opinion, I’m the more skilled Madden player, but Jackson is 2-0 against me in Madden 25, with a combined margin of victory of three points. I lost on a last second field goal yesterday. And yes, it was as heartbreaking as it sounds. Until next time Seattle sports nation! Have a fabulous week, and don’t get to crazy tomorrow for Halloween. Best costume wins something TBA. Comment below with your outfits. Appreciate it!

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Huskies Earn Second Victory Against a Top-Ten Opponent This Year

Coming into this game, Washington had lost three straight and had not looked good doing it. With the defense beaten up and the offense not coming close to its peak form of last year, UW fans were desperately hoping for a turnaround this week against undefeated Oregon State. In the first half, the fans got exactly what they had hoped for with dominant defense and solid offense.

Holding OSU to 110 yards in the first half, and two interceptions, the UW defense shut out the Beavers in the first. This stellar defense combined with Bishop Sankey’s powerful running, gave the Huskies a 10-0 lead heading into halftime. Sankey had over 60 yards and a touchdown in the first half and looked very strong running the ball, yet the offense couldn’t capitalize off of two turnovers. Part of the reason for this, was very questionable play calling by coach Sarkisian. Quarterback Keith Price barely threw the ball more than five yards downfield, and the passing game couldn’t get going.

Bishop Sankey pounded the ball in lieu to a 20-17 victory over the Beavers.

ESPN.com

One of the key sequences was when Washington had the ball and had what seemed to be a fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown, but it was reversed and it was 4^th and goal on the one. They responded to the tough call, and ended up scoring a Bishop Sankey touchdown after choosing to go for it on 4^th down. While Washington dominated the first half, the third quarter changed the game and momentum completely.

Oregon State jumped out to a quick start in the third quarter and on their first drive, went 83 yards in two plays, capped off by a 53 yard touchdown reception by Brandin Cooks on a bubble screen. This touchdown play was the one play in the game where Sean Parker was not on the field. The Washington offense could not respond, and punted back to the Beavers. This resulted in OSU moving down the field once again and tying the game up with a field goal. The Beavers and Huskies held even 10-10 heading into the fourth quarter.

Sean Mannion was mostly inefficient on the night, but did execute the bubble screen TD pass to Cooks.

AP Photos

The fourth quarter started off with some major excitement, when it seemed that Washington had an interception returned for a touchdown, but it was once again called back because of an unnecessary personal foul call that happened 25 yards away from the play. However, the Dawgs still retained the ball, but had to quickly punt it away, losing all momentum gained from the interception.

But once again, the Dawgs gained all the momentum back when the Huskies intercepted Oregon State quarterback, Sean Mannion, for the fourth time in the game. The Dawgs then drove down the field and aided by some key Keith Price passes, capped off the drive with a Bishop Sankey touchdown run. The poor play by Mannion, led to Oregon State switching quarterbacks to backup Cody Vaz, who had played well earlier in the season, when having to replace Mannion due to injury. He moved the offense down the field completing five of six passes including a 29 yard touchdown pass to tight end Connor Hamlett that tied the game at 17 with just five minutes to go.

The Huskies calmly got the ball back and methodically moved the offense down the field into Oregon State territory. This drive was highlighted by an incredible catch by Kasen Williams and a personal foul penalty that moved Washington into the red zone. A few plays later, with another interesting play call that lead to a fourth down, the Huskies kicked a field goal to give them a three point lead with 1:20 left in the game.

Keith Price was very efficient on the night. He wasn't stellar, but wasn't bad either.

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images North America

When OSU got the ball back, they started fast, completing back to back passes for first downs, but then their drive stalled. Cody Vaz threw back to back incompletions, to bring up third down, where he was then sacked for a loss of four yards. To compound the problem, the Beavers made a bone-head mistake, and got a delay of game penalty, to make it 4^th and 19. With an incomplete pass down the middle and one Husky kneel down later, the Huskies had captured a 20-17 victory against a top-ten team.
           
The story of the game was red zone production, as coming in Washington had been terrible in red zone offense, while Oregon State was very efficient. UW scored two red zone touchdowns, while OSU didn’t score any, and threw a first half interception while in the red zone. Red zone efficiency was a big key to the game tonight, and Washington won that battle, as well as the turnover battle, which made up for the fact that they were outgained 427-293 by OSU. If the Huskies want any chance at winning all of their remaining four games, they must win the turnover battle and keep up the good red zone efficiency. This was a great bounce-back win for the Dawgs, and should help them get back on track. The Dawgs face a motivated Cal team on the road at 6 pm on Friday on ESPN2. We’ll see if the Dawgs can convert their success at home on the road and pull off a solid victory at Memorial Stadium.

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Jackson Safon