Seahawks must find finishing touch

The Mariners are the playoffs, the Seahawks moved into a three-way tie atop the division with San Francisco’s loss to Jacksonville and the Huskies … well, the Huskies got handled at home.

I’m trying a little bit of a different format in today’s newsletter. Lemme’ know what you think at the bottom.

✏️ Three facts ✏️ 

• The Seahawks have allowed 34 points in the fourth quarter this season, which is one more than they’ve given up in the first three periods combined. That could be a product of circumstance. It could be a fatal flaw. I explain more in my reflections on this week’s win:

  Three Things We Learned from Week 4 | By Danny O’Neil

• The Washington Huskies didn’t come close to beating Ohio State on Saturday, losing 24-6. The Huskies were much more competitive against the Buckeyes than they were in last year’s losses to Penn State and Oregon, the two top-10 opponents they played.

• The Mariners are the No. 2 seed in the American League playoffs, which means two things:

  1. They have a bye through the wild-card round;

  2. They will host the winner of the best-of-three series between Cleveland and Detroit, which starts on Thursday in Cleveland.

📣 Two opinions 📣 

• Sam Darnold has been great. Better than I expected while Geno Smith was intercepted three times by the Bears, bringing his season total to seven, most in the league. Everyone who’s crowing about how Seattle made the right choice in trading Smith, however, should remember that the Seahawks wanted to re-sign him. Things look promising with Darnold, but let’s all chill a little bit with the big-picture congratulations on how Seattle has navigated its future at quarterback.

• There was an overreaction to the brick that Michael Penix put up in a Week 3 loss to Carolina. It was a bad game. A certifiable stinker. It was not, however, a death sentence. He completed 20 of his 26 passes against Washington in Week 4, averaging more than 12 yards an attempt. He can flat-out sling it.

🧠 One thing to keep in mind 🧠 

The Washington Huskies game on Saturday in Maryland might be their most important of its season. I say that for a couple of reasons:

1. The Huskies are coming off a game in which they were not only beaten, but lost Zach Durfee and Carver Willis to injury.

2. The Terrapins are 4-0, matching their win total from all of last season. Their quarterback, Malik Washington, might be the best freshman in the entire country and Maryland has yet to give up more than 20 points in a game this season.

I know most Husky fans looked at Maryland’s 4-8 record from last year and assumed a Washington win. This is a huge test of whether the Huskies are a better team than they were a year ago.

If they lose at Maryland, it’s hard for me to see Washington winning more than eight games.

For more on the Seahawks Week 4 win: