TERRY MOSHER
TOP OF THE TOWN – Maybe we should all consider it fate that is carrying the Seattle Seahawks to success this NFL football season. For what seems like the umpteen time the Seahawks prevailed for the sixth straight time this season on the road, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 17-9 with a myriad of miscues by the Eagles (five turnovers) that entered the game minus numerous players with injuries, including their top two receivers. Sure, the Seahawks played well on defense, but they were dealing with an injured Eagle and a quarterback that looks an awfully lot like Washington Husky Jacob Eason. They both have canons for arms, but can’t get out of their own way when it comes to dodging enemy rusher’s intent on harm. So because of luck or fate the Seahawks are sitting 9-2 with five games left on the regular schedule, and they are beginning to look like a playoff team even if they need some smoke and mirrors to get there. They are winning with a rookie receiver – D.K. Metcalf ‑ who might win Rookie of the year despite a portfolio that includes mystifying drops and a defensive end in Jadeveon Clowney who seems to play at his best when he feels like it. As luck or fate would have it, Clowney didn’t play Sunday in the strange win over Philadelphia because of injury, which makes the Seahawks’ good defensive effort Sunday more weird because Clowney at his best is one of the most disruptive players in the league. The Seahawks now host Minnesota in a Monday night football game on Dec. 2 and if the pattern of luck or fate holds the 8-3 Vikings are in trouble. As for the Washington Huskies they have tumbled from an elite status to mediocre with a 6-5 overall record and a 3-5 Pac-12 mark and it’s not easy to know why for sure. They are young. That is an excuse that is getting old 11 games into the season. There is plenty of talent among them, but they don’t seem to be getting better and already there are whispers that somehow the coaching staff is to blame. Head coach Chris Petersen has almost been immune from criticism because of his excellent record at Washington and at Boise State in his previous stop and now that his Huskies seem to be underperforming a tear in his resume is appearing. For throwing in two trick plays, both of which were unsuccessful, one at a critical moment in the game Saturday against Colorado, that criticism can be justified. Why do that? Just play it straight and beat a Colorado team that had lost five straight games and had a defense that couldn’t – until Saturday – stop a leaky faucet. One main problem it appears is that Eason, who one draft expert believes will be the fifth quarterback to be selected in the next NFL draft, is not living up to that prediction. Eason has not learned how to put some soft touch on his throws. He’s got a 100 mph fastball that he zings in there on a five-yard out and a 50-yard hummer downfield. Wentz has the same problem. Both men like to show off their canons. Maybe Eason is not football smart, either. His game seems to be on automatic pilot when different situations demand different throws. And he doesn’t seem to inspire his teammates, as Jake Browning did. Browning did not have the talent of Eason, but he found ways to get the job done. Eason doesn’t. The Apple Cup will be played Friday at Husky Stadium and if Washington continues to play offensively as it has the last two weeks when it scored a total of 33 points against two of the worst defenses in the Pac-12 it could be a long night for the Huskies. Unless something suddenly changes and the Huskies get some of the luck and fate the Seahawks have expect them to fall to the Washington State Cougars by, say, 38-21. That’s it for today.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.