Dave Boling

Rick Mirer tried to downplay his performance. Tried to short-sell his effort as nothing out of the ordinary, nothing much better than in some other games when he's been lustily booed. "We just had their number on a couple of plays," the Seattle Seahawks quarterback said Sunday.

PLAYER MATCHUPS Passing PC-PA Yds. TD Int. Rick Mirer, Seattle 116-215 1,507 6 14 Dave Brown, NY 128-231 1,368 5 6

The Seahawks will have to contain New York's Rodney Hampton, who is after his fifth straight 1,000-yard season. Photo by Associated Press

Apparently weary of seeing impressive early leads wither embarrassingly in the fourth quarter (see: loss to Notre Dame and tie with USC), the Washington Huskies tried a new ploy on Saturday. And that was spotting Oregon a 24-point halftime lead by stumbling through 30 minutes of uninspired play.

1. Rick Mirer's treatment by the Arizona Cardinals symbolizes the way the Seahawks have crumpled this season. Photo by Associated Press 2. Chris Warren is running well, but he hasn't become a pass-catching threat as Hawks had hoped. File/Associated Press.

Seattle's Steve Broussard (31) can't escape hold of Terry Hoage. Photo by Associated Press

Loucaides

Rick Mirer can't get uncocked for Seahawks. File/Associated Press

Seattle's Rick Mirer (left) may be watching future games from the bench. Photo by Associated Press

Chris Warren's running could not make up for the Seahawks struggling passing attack. Photo by Associated Press

Bledsoe

PLAYER MATCHUPS Passing PC-PA Yds. TD Int. Rick Mirer, Seattle 99-187 1,291 5 9 Stan Humphries, S.D. 120-211 1,469 6 7 Rushing Att. Yds. Avg. TD Chris Warren, Seattle 117 457 3.9 6 Steve Broussard, Seattle 22 124 5.6 1 Natrone Means, S.D. 155 627 4.0 4 Ronnie Harmon, S.D. 26 103 4.0 1 Receiving Rec. Yds. AVG. TD Brian Blades, Seattle 29 336 11.6 1 Joey Galloway, Seattle 26 451 17.3 2 Tony Martin, S.D. 44 560 12.7 2 Shawn Jefferson, S.D. 29 429 14.8 2 Injuries Seahawks: WR Ricky Proehl (ankle), LB Tyronne Stowe (arm) are out. DE Antonio Edwards (knee), DE Michael Sinclair (knee) are questionable.

Stan Humphries is expected back to pump life back into Chargers offense. Photo by Associated Press

What started early in the spring finally came down to 10 matches at Manito Country Club on Friday. And it could hardly have been more closely contended. Six of the 10 singles matches in the Washington Trust Bank Cup competition were decided on the final hole, and all 10 went at least through 17 holes.

Some wondered if the new format - with amateurs absent - would drain the drama from the Washington Trust Bank Cup golf competition. But there was plenty of that as the sun set on 20 area pros Thursday evening at Manito Country Club. And that was whether they'd be able to pry their frozen fingers off their putter grips on the final hole.

A theory prevalent in football - at any level - holds that a quarterback gets too much credit when his team wins and too much blame when his team loses. Well, the Seattle Seahawks, at 2-4, are losing. So quarterback Rick Mirer will be, predictably, dodging criticism as heavy as enemy blitzes these days.

John Stockton doesn't shirk in taking on Shawn Kemp at Arena. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The publicity folks at Southern Cal have politely requested that the media cease and desist calling their institution Southern Cal. USC is fine. Southern California OK. The Trojans, sure. Southern Cal? Don't you dare.

Most football teams prosper when they come together and communicate. The Oakland Raiders are better when they don't. Against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, the Raiders sputtered early, but really took off in the second period after going exclusively to the no-huddle offense.

Fans around the NFL are pretty much alike. They come to games wearing T-shirts bearing their home team's logo.

UW quarterback Damon Huard can't elude Notre Dame defenders. Photo by Associated Press

Raiders receiver Tim Brown scored his share of touchdowns last year, but found true happiness this season. Photo by Associated Press

PLAYER MATCHUPS Passing PC-PA Yds. TD Int. Rick Mirer, Seattle 69-120 837 3 4 Jeff Hostetler, Oak. 91-140 1,077 8 4 Rushing Att. Yds. Avg. TD Chris Warren, Seattle 78 336 4.3 4 Steve Broussard, Seattle 10 66 6.6 0 Harvey Williams, Oak. 89 364 4.1 5 Napoleon Kaufman, Oak. 48 257 5.4 1 Receiving Rec. Yds. Avg. TD Brian Blades, Seattle 17 209 12.3 1 Joey Galloway, Seattle 13 173 13.3 0 Tim Brown, Oak. 26 348 13.4 3 Daryl Hobbs, Oak. 13 207 15.9 2 Injuries Seahawks: WR Ricky Proehl (leg), S Robert Blackmon (hamstring) are out; S Tony Covington (ankle), DE Anotonio Edwards (knee), T Ray Roberts (ankle) are probable.

Tino Martinez takes his turn at stardom, blasting a two-run homer in the fifth inning of Seattle's Game 3 win over New York. Photo by Associated Press