A Grip on Sports: In the NFL it is not as important how winning is done as much as it matters if you win

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Seahawks didn’t play great. No one knows how good, or bad, New England will end up being in this, the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era. And yet, big whoop. Seattle won. On the road. And are 2-0 after two weeks. In the NFL, that’s it. That’s what is important.

•••••••

• How is immaterial. How much is too. Just win, right?

Can’t run the ball? Rely on Geno Smith and one of the best groups of wide receivers in the league. Can’t force a turnover? Do your best Scott Hanson imitation and lock down the red zone. Can’t get in the end zone in the fourth quarter and overtime? Move close enough for Jason Myers to tuck a couple field goals inside the uprights.

Did we mention the game the 23-20 victory came on the road? We did? Well, it deserves another mention. Road victories should count for a point-and-a-half in the standings. They don’t but they are like picking up a half-stroke on the competition. Savor them. Each one.

And savor Smith’s continuing renaissance. The guy was a marvel of composure and calm in the hurly-burly of Gilette Stadium. He was as close as a man can get to perfection, considering the stone hands his tight ends displayed and the occasional Swiss-cheese nature of his protection.

The final stats were exceptional: 33-of-44 passing for 327 yards. But the numbers behind the numbers were even better. His receivers dropped five balls. And Smith spiked a pass once to kill the clock. Basically, he had five misses – and only one, a deep OT shot intended for Jackson Smith-Njigba, of those in the game-tying and winning drives.

He wasn’t the only reason the Hawks won Sunday. Nor is he the sole reason they have two wins in two tries. But the NFL is a quarterback-driven league and Smith has often been Max Verstappen-good down the stretch in his two-plus seasons since replacing Russell Wilson. He was again Sunday. And that was enough.

• No matter how deep your Seahawks’ memories runs, we’re sure we share one simple one: As long as the team has been around, there has always been one guy on the offensive line who seems to attract yellow flags like flies to an open screen door.

Germain Ifedi. Robert Gallery. Russell Okung. James Carpenter. And that’s just in the past decade or so.

You can add Anthony Bradford to the list. The second-year guard out of LSU must be on some sort of watch list. He’s already drawn four penalties in two games, one of which was an ill-timed unnecessary roughness call Sunday that, as far as we could discern, was because he made too good of a block. An IHOP. You know, all-you-can-eat pancakes? Too esoteric? OK. But the point stands.

When there is a flag thrown around the Seahawks’ offensive line this season, check out where No. 75 is. He’ll be close by.

• You still on an Apple Cup high from Saturday? Or dealing with the post-fourth-down-option-call hangover?

We pretty sure there were text chains throughout the Northwest yesterday aflame with “What the heck was that?” and “You’re paying Jedd Fisch how much?” missives going back and forth.

Such day-after highs (and lows) illustrate an aspect of college football we always remember. If a play call works, the coach is a genius. If it doesn’t? He’s a dolt. Our argument? Two Apple Cup fourth-down plays in the last two games, both by Washington.

Saturday’s is still fresh in everyone’s mind. The last-minute time out. One yard needed for UW to take the lead. Fisch calls for a sprint option to the short side of the field. The Cougars blow it up. Game over. A 24-19 Wazzu win. An unexpected play that wasn’t blocked well. Nor was it executed with precision.

Less than a year ago, the Huskies, ranked fourth at the time, needed to pick up another late-game fourth down. Game tied at 21. A little over a minute left. Another fourth-and-1, but this one from UW’s 29. Kalen DeBoer pushes his whole stack in the pot. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb gambles too, calling for an end-around pitch to Rome Odunze.

Twenty-three yards later the Huskies’ perfect season was still alive, all because they executed, and blocked, the play perfectly. The risk was great. The reward greater. The play call? Daring, sure. Thanks to the players, the right one.

•••

WSU: Saturday’s key fourth-down play will live in Thornton family lore until we are all dust in the wind. Why would we say that? Mainly because Greg Woods talked with linebacker Kyle Thornton’s family after the senior captain’s game-saving tackle. Those conversations are at the core of Greg’s day-after story. … The Washington Post’s Chuck Culpepper wasn’t in Seattle on Saturday afternoon. He was in Madison, Wisc., covering Alabama’s blowout win. Yet he wrote this blow-by-blow look at how Washington State made the play and upended college football’s apple cart during the week. … It was a great week for the Cougars, sure. And it continued Sunday with the play of alum Gardner Minshew, who led a Raider comeback win. His performance leads off Ethan Myers’ look at the area’s NFL alumni. … The Cougs host San Jose State on Friday night (the weather is expected to be great) in an unlikely battle of 3-0 teams. With UW in the rearview mirror and Boise State looming, this is the quintessential trap game for WSU. And old home week, as Spartans’ quarterback Emmett Brown returns to Pullman. He’s coming off a 26-for-38, 355-yard, four-touchdown passing performance. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly Best of the West rankings in the Mercury News and this week the Cougars are in the top five. … He also looks back at another way the conference missed the expansion boat the last time. … John Canzano takes a look back at all of Saturday’s West Coast action. … Christian Caple focuses on the Huskies and their defeat. … Talk about surprises, California is 3-0, headed to 0-3 Florida State to start ACC play and is still getting almost a touchdown. … Oregon State is still favored this week despite the Civil War debacle. Mainly because the Beavers are at home. And visiting Purdue gave up 66 points to Notre Dame on Saturday. After a bye. … Oregon didn’t receive a bump in the Associated Press poll after its best performance of the season. … Colorado, led by Travis Hunter, also had its best performance in a while. … The University of Utah has a relationship with the Ute Tribe. … The Utes did not move in the polls. … Can UCLA hold up in the physical Big Ten? … As if anyone in Tucson has a right to criticize. … In the Mountain West, what is Utah State’s identity? … Boise State is worried about not playing this week after Portland State’s whooping cough outbreak. … Fresno State needs a campus-wide effort to prepare for Pac-12 membership. … Hawaii’s 31-14 loss to Sam Houston State shows the Warriors are headed in the wrong direction. … The same issues keep cropping up for San Diego State. … New Mexico has struggled in the second half. … The UNLV football program has never been ranked. Until this week. In the coaches’ poll. … Next up for Colorado State is UTEP.

EWU: Cooper Kupp has dealt with a boot-full of injuries recently. He left the stadium yesterday after the Rams’ loss in a protective boot after an ankle injury. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana has a lot to take away from the rout of Morehead State. … It sure seems as if Sacramento State is looking at moving up the football ladder.

Zephyr: Former Washington State standout Sydney Studer led visiting Carolina Ascent FC to a 2-0 victory Sunday at ONE Spokane Stadium. Colton Clark was there and has this coverage.

Seahawks: We have a lot to share after the Hawks’ 23-20 win over New England. The Times’ Bob Condotta has a game story and hands out grades. … Matt Calkins has a column which focuses on Smith’s play. … Seattle has a closer’s mentality, and that’s shown the past two weeks. … Julian Love had a hunch. And it paid off in a key field goal block. … We learned a trio of things yesterday. Some have to do with Smith. … Tyler Lockett had just two catches. But that doesn’t tell the entire story.

Sounders: Seattle returned to Lumen Field and posted a 2-0 shutout of Sporting Kansas City. The three points kept the Sounders squarely in the middle of the Western Conference playoff pack.

Mariners: If George Kirby and two relievers had thrown the game they did Sunday in, say, mid-July, we would have led today’s column with it. The 27-out, one-hit performance was this close to being perfect. But it is September, the NFL is in full swing and Mondays are about the Seahawks, good or bad. Besides, the 7-0 win over the Rangers only allowed the M’s to keep pace in the wild card (2.5 games out) and American League West (4.5) races.

Reign: There is more soccer at Lumen Field tonight, with Seattle hosting Gotham FC.

Golf: We only caught snippets of the Solheim Cup singles matches – did we mention it was an NFL Sunday? – but we did see the shot of the day. Lilia Vu hit a wedge within a foot of the cup on 18, allowing her to salvage a draw and giving the U.S. enough points to win the Cup. The final score was 15.5-12.5 but until Vu hit her shot, it was looking as if the Europeans could pull off an incredible comeback.

•••       

• Not much to say today other than it is going to be real nice. Which means … yard work. Of course. Winter is coming, right? Until later …