A Grip on Sports: It’s Monday and we look at the Seahawks’ quarterback, but it isn’t the typical Monday morning second-guessing

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It is Monday, after all. Time for Monday morning quarterbacking. Or it wouldn’t bear that disparaged designation. Today, however, is different. Who wouldn’t want to be Sam Darnold right now? Life is easy. Well, at least in the first halves of Sunday’s games.

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• Yesterday certainly was. Except, maybe, one possession. But I’ll get to that and the other flaws in due course. Right now, I’ve come to praise Darnold, not bury him. And to envy him.

To praise a guy who had his own Andy Dufresne-like escape from the NFL prison that is the Meadowlands and now is on the other side

A guy who is earning $33.5 million this season to stand behind one of the best pass-protecting offensive lines in the league – ya, the stats bear that out – and survey the field until he finds Jaxson Smith-Njigba running free somewhere.

A guy whose team is 7-2, in large part because he’s completing 71% of his passes, has thrown 17 touchdowns (against six picks), has connected for 36 passes of more than 20 yards and has a quarterback rating of 116.5, the highest of his career – by 14 points.

Who wouldn’t want to be Sam Darnold, circa 2025?

Maybe it’s some sort of cosmic payback for having to be Sam Darnold of 2018. Of 2019. Of 2020. When he was plying his trade for the New York Jets, the franchise where quarterbacks’ careers go to die. Or at least be imprisoned.

He served his time. Also did a two-year stint in Carolina. A year of rehabilitation with Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers. A year leading the Vikings to the postseason. And now the toast of Seattle, all the while operating with the safety net of an improving running game (198 yards Sunday, much of it when everyone in Lumen Field knew that was the plan), a young but solid O-line and a defense that can multitask, putting points on the board while also stopping the opposition from the same.

Wait? Aren’t we supposed to be Monday morning quarterbacking here? You know, criticizing the quarterback? After a 44-22 win, no matter if it is over the Cardinals or the Sisters of the Poor, it’s sort of hard to do. But not impossible.

Darnold and his side of the ball were a bit too loose with the thing. They handed it to Arizona three times, part of why coach Mike Macdonald said “Just a little funky there in the second half,” postgame. “Just kind of a weird game all the things that happened.”

Weird? Is that always a bad thing? Certainly not when a linebacker, filling in for an injured buddy, forces two quarterback fumbles another rusher – the same guy both times, mind you – picks up and runs the other way for touchdowns.

Tyrice Knight, starting in place of the injured Ernest Jones IV, is the former, DeMarcus Lawrence the latter. Both soul-crushing – for Arizona – plays came in the first half, which ended with the Hawks up 38-7.

And killed any chance of today being filled with the usual Monday morning quarterbacking.

• So long Lenny Wilkins. Thanks for the memories. And so much more.

Wilkins, the longtime basketball-icon emeritus for the city of Seattle, was 88-years-old when he died Sunday.

He died at home, a place he and his wife of nearly 63 years, Marilyn, made in the Seattle area since 1968, when, as a veteran point guard, he was tasked with leading the still-young SuperSonics franchise on the floor.

Soon he would transition into the role of coach – while still playing. Then, in 1977-78, just after Bill Walton and Jack Ramsey brought an NBA title to the Northwest, Wilkins returned as head coach. A midseason replacement for the fired Bob Hopkins, the Brooklyn-born Wilkins led the Sonics to the finals that season. They lost.

But not the next one, when Seattle earned revenge against the Washington Bullets and won the city’s only NBA championship.

His place in the city’s history and hierarchy was assured. He set it in stone over the years by charitable works and a quiet demeanor that carried weight not only due to his basketball accomplishments but his depth of intellect as well.

The stone morphed into bronze last summer, when a statue honoring Wilkins was unveiled outside of Climate Pledge Arena. His likeness would forever tower over – it is 7-feet tall – the place his presence graced for so many years.

A place in a city he loved.

“When I first got here, I thought about going back East,” Wilkins said when the statue was unveiled, “but we liked it out here my wife and I … and decided it would be a wonderful place to make a home.”

They did. And he became such a part of the city, the city wanted to show its love in a permanent way.

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WSU: The Cougars host Louisiana Tech on Saturday (7 p.m., The CW), still needing two wins to earn bowl eligibility. In that their final two home games sandwich a second trip to Virginia – at 8-1 James Madison – Saturday’s game seems to be in the must-win category if Jimmy Rogers’ group wants to finish his first season in Pullman somewhere warmer. But that’s for another day. Today, we can fete a WSU alum, receiver Kyle Williams, who scored his first NFL touchdown Sunday. Colton Clark has all the particulars in his weekly look at local players in the league. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner’s weekly ranking of soon-to-be Pac-12 football schools is on the S-R website this morning. … Only one school, Oregon, seems to have come out of the Pac-12’s implosion with even a modicum of happiness. John Canzano has thoughts on that today. … He also has thoughts on Oregon State’s coaching search. … JuJu Lewis didn’t like the outcome but he enjoyed being Colorado’s starting quarterback. … Fresno State is going bowling. Where and when is still to be determined.

• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Saturday Pac-12 games, with the latest Associated Press rankings and listed chronologically. All are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.

– Minnesota at No. 7 Oregon (Friday, 6 p.m., Fox): The Ducks won in challenging conditions on Saturday. And were rewarded by falling in the Associated Press poll. I wonder how the CFP committee will perceive the last-second 18-16 win over Iowa. … Is this a trap game?

– Arizona at Cincinnati (9 a.m., FS1): The Wildcats’ win over Kansas has them looking at bowl possibilities.

– Oregon State at Tulsa (10, ESPN+): The Beavers have to put Saturday’s confounding loss behind them.

– West Virginia at Arizona State (10, TNT)

– Colorado State at New Mexico (Noon, Mountain West): The Lobos are headed to a bowl in their first year under Jason Eck.

– Iowa at No. 17 USC (12:30 p.m., Fox): No, the Trojans’ fake punt wasn’t on the up-and-up.

– Texas State at Southern Mississippi (12:30, ESPN+): The Golden Eagles lead the Sun Belt with a 5-0 record.

– No. 15 Utah at Baylor (4, ESPN2): There is more going with the Bears than just the games theses days.

– Purdue at Washington (4, FS1): The Huskies need to bounce back from the crushing loss to Wisconsin. Luckily, woeful Purdue is on tap. At home. 

– Utah State at UNLV (4, CBS Sports): When the Rebels play at their best offensively, they are hard to beat.

– UCLA at No. 1 Ohio State (4:30, NBC): There are reports the Bruins will be moving to So-Fi Stadium as early as next year. The bill for that inappropriate decision could end up in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

– Boise State at San Diego State (7:30, CBS Sports): Maybe the Aztecs were looking past Hawaii? How else to explain the rout Saturday night?

– Wyoming at Fresno State (7:30, FS1): The Cowboys know they will need more offense to get past the host Bulldogs.

• In basketball news, Washington went to Waco, Texas on Sunday for a nationally televised showdown with Baylor. The Bears handed the UW men their first loss of the season. … Colorado State is 2-0 after a win over Omaha. … Colorado needed someone to step up beyond the arc. Elijah Malone did. … Utah needed a dynamic performance for a guard duo to stave off an upset loss over the weekend. … USC just kept pouring it on overmatched Manhattan. … Arizona State showed improvement in a win over Utah Tech. … Idaho State pushed San Diego State hard. … The 18th-ranked USC women got past No. 9 North Carolina State in a neutral-site game. … Arizona handled visiting UC Irvine. … We linked this L.A. Times story on former WSU star Charlisse Leger-Walker a couple days ago. It is on the S-R site today.

Gonzaga: It was snowing in Toledo on Sunday, but the Bulldog women were able to hold off a late deluge of points from the Rockets by doing something simple. Make free throws. As Greg Lee passes along, the Zags hit their final six attempts from the line, and 16 of 17 overall, in a 72-69 road win. … After his Oklahoma team had been dominated on the glass by GU on Saturday, UO coach Porter Moser was in awe of the Zags’ wings and their ability to fly to the boards. Theo Lawson uses the 15 rebounds combined from Jalen Warley and Tyon Grant-Foster to lead off his look back at the Zags’ 83-68 rout. … Wanted to note a familiar face on the Oklahoma bench. Matty Carney, a Gonzaga Prep graduate, whose father Brian is an assistant for Matty McIntyre, serves as assistant director of basketball operations for the Sooners. … Julian Strawther is not getting a lot of playing time with the Nuggets. He understands why. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Gonzaga isn’t the only conference school with alums playing overseas. Saint Mary’s has some too.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana was able to hold off Eastern and hold on to its perfect record. … The Montana State defense rallied despite injuries to help rout Weber State. … UC Davis was happy to leave Moscow with a win. … Northern Arizona won the battle of the Northern schools (Colorado). … Sacramento State leaned on its running game to rout Portland State. … In basketball news, the Montana State men lost a close one to visiting Denver.

Preps: Dave’s usual look back on Friday night’s football action had to wait a day this week due to so many State playoff games on Saturday. But he has it now. And it covers the GSL’s two remaining postseason participants, G-Prep and West Valley.

Velocity: A USL League One title match awaited the winner of Sunday’s semifinal between Spokane and Portland. And waited. And waited. Until a shootout. Goalkeeper Carlos Merancio made two saves and Spokane earned the right to play One Knoxville SC in Tennessee next week for the league title. Samantha DiMaio has the story.

Mariners: Who will the M’s use as Cal Raleigh’s backup next season? A low-priced free agent, perhaps?

Seahawks: We start today’s links as we always try to do, sending you to Dave Boling’s column in the S-R. He seems to becoming close to being all in with this group of Hawks. Even before Sunday’s showdown in So-Fi Stadium against the Rams. … Bob Condotta has the Times game story, which runs in the S-R as well. … There are always grades. And instant impressions. … Seattle is earning the right to call themselves elite. … The defense did something elite yesterday – and rare. Fun, too. I missed the second defensive touchdown live and, when I heard the yelling and headed downstairs, I thought at first it was a replay.

Kraken: The most reliable betting statistic I could find today. Bet on Seattle to lose the second night of back-to-back games. The Kraken moved to 0-16 in that category after Sunday’s loss to Dallas.

Sonics: We linked Wilkins’ obituary above, written by the Times’ Tim Booth. We do it again here. And add one from the Washington Post.

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• With Veteran’s Day on tap for tomorrow, I thought I would share a story from the Washington Post that perfectly encapsulates how my dad’s generation dealt with their time sacrificing to make the world safe for democracy. Until later …