Down in the dumps? Sad? We have the cure

• The line to remember today: “Well, at least we lost to a playoff team on the road .” Then quickly mention how the rival team lost to a middling squad during its regular season home opener . Offense is always the best defense. We are speaking, of course, of the Seattle Seahawks, who displayed only a semblance of third-down defense yesterday and whose offense, while mostly exceptional when it was on the field, rarely got a chance. The only saving grace yesterday, for Hawks fans anyway, was a self-destructive stadium-dedicating loss by the hated 49ers, who let the Bears – the Bears – rally for a 28-20 victory. Small solace that is, though, when the best defense in the NFL was made to look somewhat pedestrian by Philip Rivers and a guy I’ve heard people say was over the hill, tight end Antonio Gates. The Chargers have played two NFC West teams thus far and are just 1-1. The team leading the division, the Arizona Cardinals, defeated them in week one, then turned around and won yesterday 25-14 over the Giants on the road. And they did it without their starting quarterback. Which means the long slog that is the NFL season is getting started in unexpected ways. Which is also to be expected. It usually does. Look, the Hawks just have to hold home court all season, win half their road games and viola, the division is theirs. Of course, this Sunday they have one of their toughest home games of the season, Peyton Manning and the Broncos, so they better get their act together quickly.

• Speaking of getting their act together, the M’s have 14 more games to do just that. They wake up today a game behind Kansas City for the second wild card and 2 1/2 games behind Oakland for the first one. But there is a saving grace here as well. The M’s play 11 of their final 14 games on the road . That’s a good thing . They are 42-28 away from Safeco, the second-best winning percentage in baseball. And their three home games? That’s the last three of the season, when they face the Angels, who will have already clinched the pennant and are getting their rotation in order for the postseason.

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• WSU: The Portland State win is now in the rearview mirror. But it left some tire tracks on the road, which Jacob Thorpe examines today in this follow-up story . Jacob also has a practice report from last night’s short workout as well as a morning post with links. … One other thing. Jacob has his grades for the PSU game. … The Cougars are still 12th in these conference power rankings . This week’s opponent, Oregon , is No. 1. … The weekend was pretty interesting in the Pac-12. … Hey, the Cougar soccer team won again .

• Seahawks: Was it the heat ? The injuries in the secondary ? Or was it just that the Chargers are a good team that executed well ? All of the above? The Seahawks had their thoughts on the matter, as did the Chargers. … San Diego wasn’t afraid of Richard Sherman , that’s for sure. … If there was one positive, it was the play of the offense , though it didn’t have enough snaps due to a special teams turnover and the defensive woes.

• Mariners: Jon Lester kept putting men on base . The M’s, always the pleasant host, kept leaving them there. Most of the guys who didn’t come through? They won’t be in a M’s uniform next season. But that doesn’t help now. And it didn’t help in yesterday’s 4-0 loss to Oakland . … It’s not just the M’s that fiddle with their rotation . … Austin Jackson will be back but he needs to find his stroke if the M’s offense is going to score runs . You can’t have a leadoff hitter with the potency of an expired Tylenol.

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• As you might have guessed by the last sentence above, I have some aches and pains today. After the Hawks and M’s ruined my mood, I took the dog for a walk, trying to clear my head. All it did was make my hip hurt. Until later …