If life operated the way it should a tribute game would go the way of the home team. In a world where things don’t often go the good way the result this past Sunday was extremely welcomed. The WFT recognized their past heroes lost this year to time. Gathered were the stars of decades ago. It was with many misty eyes that we saw John Riggins, Joe Jacoby, Joe Theismann, and honorary Captains Art Monk, and Billy Kilmer. They are old and they look it. The day was designed to honor two greats. It rained. The team was given no chance to win prior to kickoff. But the backup Quarterback captured some of Sonny’s magic. And, a sixth-round Linebacker on one of his first plays intercepted a ball for a touchdown. It was fitting. Monte Coleman was the 289th pick of the 1979 Draft: Medrano was the 205th pick last year. The net result was a win over the reigning World Champions. In the end it was a completely fitting tribute.
Football consumers are subjected to endless attempts at programming. Gambling is a business built on probabilities. There are computers that will run Monte Carlo calculations about the odds of not only game outcomes, but personal performances within a game. Like any other computational operation the old rule that “Garbage In equals Garbage Out” often applies. Human beings defy conventional wisdom on a constant basis. So, after being told all week that the Burgundy and Gold had less chance than a snowball in a hot place on Sunday…they went out and won the game. As Warner Wolf used to say; “If you had Seattle and 7-points, you lost!” Once again conventional wisdom comes up short.
Follow the Plan
Last week in the Game Day article we detailed a five-point plan for the Washington team to win the game. Obviously they won the game. But, did they follow the plan?
Ball Security
Nothing can equalize a game faster than turnovers. Ask the Rams about that on Sunday night. Or, better yet ask the Seahawks after this game. Coming in Washington had lost one turnover. There were none on Sunday. Seattle is opportunistic having generated four-turnovers in two games coming in to Washington. They left with the four they came with. It’s a huge deal that contributed mightily to the win.
It’s not the yards that matter in the run game, it’s the attempts.
HOF Coach Bill Cowher
Pounding the Rock
The late Marty Shottenheimer used to love to run “Power.” By his own admission his favorite play call was “34-Gut.” It was a holdover from the Wing-T formation days. There are many variations. But, the essence of it was to run hard to the “A” or “B” Gaps in the center of the line to piledrive a few yards at a time. Fans groan at runs that seemingly don’t go anywhere. What they don’t realize is what it does to the Defense. Coach Bill Cowher often says, “It’s not the yards that matter in the run game, it’s the attempts.”
There is a loose correlation between rushing attempts vs passing attempts and winning. The old adage is for “Balanced Offense.” Washington ran 63 plays: 32-Rushes vs 31-Passes. That qualifies as balanced all week long. Seattle had 46-Passes vs 18-Rushes. Seattle had only 44-yards rushing while Washington had only 82-yards of their own. It doesn’t prove Coach Cowher’s theory. It does contribute to the data pile, however. Seattle by their own admission expected a steady diet of Run-Pass-Option. They didn’t get it. The battering ram runs didn’t gain tremendous yards. (Yes, there was a long run for a TD. But, it was negated by a correct call Illegal Formation penalty.) The effect on Seattle’s Defense was to keep them in more base looks than they intended. One of the key plays of the game came on Marcus Mariota‘s designed RPO at the very end of the game. Seattle did not expect it. They keyed on the Running Back going left. The Left Defensive End for Seattle crashed down left leaving a lane for Marcus to run and seal the game. The Attempts had the desired effect.
Ball
Coming into this game Washington hadn’t generated a single turnover. This game saw three come to the Burgundy and Gold including a pick-six interception. A turnover is worth about 4-points per the football savants out there. That’s a plus 12-points worth of implied success due to an opportunistic Defense. It’s too easy and simplistic to assign all of the success of the day on the turnovers. Without them, however, things probably turn out differently.
“Hats off to Washington, I thought they played a great game, had a great plan.”
Seahawks Coach Mike Macdonald
Opportunities
If you were around in the glory days and listened to the iconic Sonny, Sam, and Frank radio calls then you heard Sonny say more than once a week that football was a game demanding that you take advantage of your opportunities. Or as Sonny with those lovely dulcet Eastern North Carolina Elizabethan tones would pronounce it “Opp-arh-toon-i-tis”
Washington won this game with a mixed bag in this category. The team scored three Touchdowns off of Takeaways. That’s winner-winner stuff right there. But, there were so many other plays that were right there for the taking that fell short. The long TD run by Bill that was wiped away; Sideline catches that weren’t; A 3rd and 2-yards to go where Mariota dropped a dime on the rookie Receiver that wasn’t caught. (The announcing team tore him up over it. The ball was ever-so-slightly tipped at the last instant by the Seattle defender which was never mentioned. Still, that’s a catchable ball.) And, last, but not least was the Celebration penalty for a non-uniformed Frankie Luvu on the field after the Pick-Six. More on that in a bit.
Despite the mixed bag of results the team found a way to win.
West Coast Lag
Going into the game Boomer Esiason held court on his radio show about how Seattle was going to mop the floor with Washington. One of his key points was that there was no evidence of the old West Coast Lag effect on Seattle. The data would confirm his point. Coach Mike Macdonald had played in seven of these 10:00 a.m. Pacific-Time games in his 2-plus years. He’d won them all. He won’t be able to say that going forward.
Perhaps Sam Darnold was a bit rusty to start. But, the team looked fine otherwise. And, Darnold’s fatal pick-six came in the 4th-Quarter. So, this loss can’t be ascribed to any sort of time zone lag.
Overall
The team did follow the script fairly well. Perfection is not necessary. Just hit enough of the positives while minimizing the negatives and success will follow.
Sonny Styles
Here’s a life tip for you: Find the people that declared Sonny Styles to be a bust after his first pre-season game and eliminate them from your life. They’re nitwits. Styles forced 2-fumbles. One had the bad luck of bouncing back to the Seattle Tight End as he crossed the goal line. The other one Washington recovered only to score on the new possession. He had hands enough to catch a ball tipped by a Lineman’s helmet. He had 4-solo tackles and helped on 5-others. There was 1-Tackle for Loss to go with 1-QB hit. And, then the real kicker; 2-Passes Defended.
Bobby Wagner is going into the Hall of Fame without a bit of doubt. But, he was here last year on his Sunset Tour. He played 1132-Snaps last year. He produced 4-PDs. Styles has played 170-Snaps and produced 2-PDs already. All you need to see is this play where Styles runs with the Running Back on a “Wheel Route.” If not familiar the Wide Receivers work to one side of the field taking the Secondary with them. That leaves the other side wide open. The Running Back runs a wide curve that takes him to near the sideline. There’s no Secondary to cover him. Instead a Linebacker has to do it. It usually ends up being the “Mike” (Middle) Backer. Last year teams ran this play often. Wagner could not keep up with the Running Back turned Receiver. Styles, on the other hand can do just that. This play is a thing of beauty:
That play right there shows the upgrade at the Mike position. It sure looks like Styles at #7-overall will play out as a winning move.
“Oh No!”
That, or words to that effect surely left the lips as Washington missed an Extra Point. C’mon admit it: You KNEW darned well right then that Washington would lose that game by a point. It was a given. And, then Seattle scored right away. It was a foregone conclusion that Washington would not be able to run out the clock; Seattle would drive; and then kick the game-winner with time expiring. If you weren’t thinking that you were in a miniscule minority.
The reason for the missed Extra Point was that it was a 48-yard attempt in what Tress Way called “British Open Conditions.” It was straight until late in flight when the wind got hold of it shoving it left. The reason it was back there was because Frankie Luvu joined the guys celebrating the Pick-6 on the field while not in uniform. Silly or not, thems the rules. The old adage is to “Act like you’ve been there.” Washington hadn’t, however. The last Pick-6 for the team was the Detroit playoff win in January 2025. Still, it’s a good idea to keep one’s cool. The whole scenario caused an outbreak of angina.
4-Minute
For those of us seasoned enough the play for the old Redskins was for John Riggins to run out the clock. Everyone knew he was coming. No one could stop him. Washington got the ball back with 2:51 remaining on the clock. Seattle had three-timeouts to go along with the Two-Minute warning. What was needed was two-First Downs. The WFT delivered just that. The Riggo Drill is in the dustbin of history. Perhaps the only Running Back in the game capable of doing wears #22 in Baltimore. Derrick Henry aside, the teams now call it the 4-Minute Drill. It requires more than just running Counter-Treys ad nauseum.
There are two key plays in that drive. Discussed above was the Run-Pass-Option that Marcus Mariota ran to perfection to seal the game. It’s been labelled as a “Scramble.” It wasn’t. The other was a third-down and nine-yards to go. There was 1:47 left on the clock with Washington at their own 33-yard line facing 3rd and 9-to go. Pass play situation. But, an incomplete would stop the clock. Seattle still had all of their timeouts. Dan Orlovsky breaks down this crucial play. Keep in mind, the team is only up by 2-points:
Dan Quinn relayed to the broadcast crew how he let young Coordinator talent get away from him in Atlanta. He was bound and determined to not let that happen again. That’s why David Blough went from “Assistant QB Coach” to Offensive Coordinator after only a few years in the coaching business. It looks, from early indications, that it was a shrewd move. He and Marcus Mariota do work well together. That much is obvious at this point.
This Week
There’s going to be a lot of Jayden Daniels talk this week. He’s going with the team to London for the Colts’ game. That’s not what matters. What matters is for the team to go over there and take care of business. The Colts’ Defense is awful. Despite the early underdog status from the guys in the desert, this is a very winnable game. The Division has established itself as wide open. A win changes the calculus for the better.
If you had broken out your collection of dirges in anticipation of a loss to Seattle and the dreaded 0-3 Start, you can at least put them back in the box. A win next week would mandate that you put them back on the shelf in the closet.
The week-to-week of an NFL season is the most audacious of roller coasters. Stay in your seat with the safety belt on at all times.
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