Grip on Sports: We may be used to the Seahawks’ offensive line woes, but that doesn’t mean we have to like them

A GRIP ON SPORTS • A bit of normality has returned to our region this fine Monday morning. The air is clear and crisp, the roads are crowded and stressful, and the Seahawks’ offensive line is swiss-cheese stinky. Read on.

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• Swiss cheese isn’t the most aromatic of cheeses, sure. But it is the one with the holes, which makes it the perfect food analogy for the Hawk O-line.

You know how quarterbacks sometimes buy their offensive linemen dinner or watches or a timeshare in Cabo?

Well, the Hawk offensive line should buy Russell Wilson a trampoline or a mattress or maybe one of those big old bouncy castles. Anything to cushion his face plants.

Don’t worry, we’ll fix it, was Pete Carroll and John Schneider’s stock answer about the offensive line over the offseason. We trust Tom Cable. Trust and optimism are good things, but would you trust Bobby Flay to come up with a tasty dish if all you gave him were the leftovers after a frat house Sunday brunch?

Me neither.

But that’s what Cable has to work with. The Hawks spend more money on their defensive secondary than any team in the NFL. Much, much more. And it shows. The Legion of Boom is the best, even with a rookie at one corner and another guy who egregiously pulls a Conor McGregor on a Packers’ player early in the game (and yes, that’s sarcasm).

But the NFL is a salary-capped league. There is only so much money to go around. The offensive line gets the leftovers. This Hawk administration has paid exactly one offensive lineman, center Justin Britt. There has been no chance they would shore it up with a smart-fit free agent. There is no money available. Check that, there has been no desire to spend the money available on the position.

Look, the Hawks have drafted offensive linemen. They have missed on their evaluations. They have brought in bargain-rate veterans. They have missed there as well. They have tried to patch the line and make it function with what they have. It is always a work in progress.

It will get better. Work and practice and time will help the O-line improve. 

But it stunk Sunday. It was a joke. It was dominated. And the offense was unable to move the ball. It couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain.

And yet, if Wilson didn’t fumble deep in his territory, the Hawks may have won. Despite the adversity. Despite the offensive line. Despite the stink.

• Speaking of stinking … I don’t even have to finish that sentence, do I?

The touchdown that wasn’t early in the contest was a game changer. Two fouls, one that didn’t needed to be called, another that was just outright wrong, altered the trajectory of the day completely.

Jeremy Lane was hosed, pure and simple. His face masked was grabbed, he was whipped around and his arms flailed. He was the victim. And yet he was ejected for throwing a punch.

The replays were an embarrassment to the league, as was the discussions held at halftime in their television partners studios.

Cliff Avril was called for a block in the back. If that’s a block, then he should be moved to the offensive line. He would fit right in.

It is maddening a multi-billion dollar enterprise continues to entrust its product with an officiating system that week in and week out has game-changing problems.

Spend the money. Get it fixed.

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WSU: Sundays are the NFL province, sure, but it’s also a great day to look back and ahead. Theo Lawson did that, covering the lessons learned from Saturday’s wild 47-44 triple overtime win over Boise State, emptying the notebook from the game and talking with assistant coaches after practice about Oregon State. All of his video interviews can be found on our WSU football page. … The Cougars dropped a spot in the Associated Press poll. Some voters passed along their reasoning behind their votes. … Theo also has a story on the basketball commitment. … The Times’ Stefanie Loh scouts out Oregon State and looks back at the defensive effort against BSU.

Around the Pac-12, it’s never too early in the week for power rankings. … Oregon State is reeling a bit headed into its conference opener at Pullman. … Sixth-ranked Washington will host a former assistant’s team this week in Fresno State. … Oregon hits the road for what might be its toughest non-conference game. … The gameplan USC decided to use against Stanford featured a battle of wills. … Colorado’s defense doesn’t seem to have lost much. … Neither has Utah’s, though that might be more about the opponent … USC has an injury to deal with against Texas. The Trojans also have a history with the Longhorns. … UCLA hits the road this weekend. … Arizona State didn’t grade out all that well. … The Wildcats may have lost, but Arizona was encouraged by the play of its defense.

EWU: North Dakota State was a bit surprised in how easy Saturday’s win was. … We can catch up with the Big Sky’s games today, and we will. Starting in North Dakota, where the Fighting Hawks shut out Missouri State. … Montana got rolled by UW, but still feels there were some bright spots. … Injuries hit Northern Arizona hard. … Cal Poly is 0-3 and the last loss really hurt. … Sacramento State evened its record at 1-1. … Montana State played well but fell to South Dakota State. … Southern Utah picked up a nice road win.

Chiefs: The preseason games continued, at least for Everett and Vancouver.

Indians: The Northwest League championship series between Eugene and Vancouver is tied at a game apiece.

Mariners: The M’s have a margin of error. The rest of the teams in the American League wild-card race allow for that. But it’s not all that wide. They used one of their lifelines yesterday, losing 5-3 to the Angels when Nick Vincent was roughed up. Thanks to the ineptitude of the other contenders, however, they are still just three games out of the final spot. They have 19 games left. … We examined how this season could affect the next one, as we don’t believe in waiting. When the season is over you may just be too immersed in football to care.

Seahawks: The offensive woes – the line was not the only problem yesterday, that’s for sure – and the hard-to-explain officiating were the subjects most explored after the 17-9 loss in Green Bay. But there were other ones as well.

Sounders: Lamar Neagle rescued Seattle from what would have been a horrendous home defeat yesterday.

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• My schedule is jam packed today with … nothing. I love days like this. Especially Mondays. Until later …