Mike Vorel: Why Seahawks' ugly win was welcome after rough Seattle sports weekend

SEATTLE — Credit the Seahawks for salvaging an otherwise dismal weekend in Seattle sports.

Consider the cascading dominoes that dropped Saturday:

— In Pullman, Wyoming quarterback Evan Svoboda found John Michael Gyllenborg up the seam for an 18-yard score with 24 seconds left, securing an unthinkable 15-14 upset of the suddenly crumbling Washington State Cougs. Lowly Wyoming (3-9) handed WSU (8-4) its third consecutive loss by three points or fewer.

— In Eugene, Ore., the Washington football team surrendered 222 rushing yards, 458 total yards and 10 sacks in a 49-21 trouncing against No. 1 Oregon. The result simultaneously cemented an undefeated regular season for the rival Ducks and the Huskies’ first winless road slate since 2009.

— In Carson, Calif., LA Galaxy forward Dejan Joveljic slid a shot past goalkeeper Stefan Frei in the 85th minute to deny the Sounders an opportunity to host the MLS Cup. The 1-0 result snapped a 10-match unbeaten streak and ended the Sounders’ season.

— In Seattle, the Kraken continued to crater, collecting a third consecutive loss to a team below them in the Pacific Division standings. This time, the San Jose Sharks (9-13-5) posted a three-goal second period in a 4-2 win.

Of course, there are welcome exceptions — such as the Husky men’s hoopers downing Santa Clara 76-69 on Friday to take home the Acrisure Invitational title, or the UW volleyball team earning its 22nd NCAA tournament berth in the past 23 years.

That said, I hope you spent Saturday cutting down a Christmas tree, or balancing on a ladder and hanging lights from the roof of your house, or riding a wave of reheated turkey and stuffing and gravy into a 24-hour nap.

Anything to avoid the parade of gut punches above.

But the Seahawks — via a turbulent 26-21 win over the 3-9 New York Jets — provided some solace.

First, though, their special teams served up more of the same — producing three muffed kickoff returns, two lost fumbles, one 99-yard New York kickoff-return touchdown, and one blocked extra point … in the first half alone.

For a while it looked like a nightmarish weekend would only get worse.

“That first half was definitely a little crazy, but I thought we did a great job of weathering the storm,” said Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who threw for 206 yards and a touchdown in the win. “Coach [Mike] Macdonald talked to us about really locking in and banding together for the rest of the season. I thought today was an example of that.

“When things were kind of going haywire, I thought guys pulled together. There was great leadership on the sidelines. And then Leo [Leonard Williams] made the play that really turned the game.”

That play may have turned the entire weekend, as Williams — a dominant 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive lineman — dropped into coverage, picked off a pass from an unsuspecting Aaron Rodgers and rumbled 92 yards for an astonishing touchdown.

From there the Seahawks scraped together enough winning plays to overcome their errors. Jason Myers connected on field goals from 54 and 43 yards out. On the final play of the third quarter Smith backpedaled and sent a rainbow to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 24-yard gain on fourth-and-6.

And credit the Seahawks defense for denying Rodgers’ desperation drive. On second-and-10 from Seattle’s 29-yard line, Seahawks safety Julian Love stuffed a short pass to running back Isaiah Davis for no gain. A play later, Williams bull-rushed into the backfield and sacked Rodgers for a five-yard loss. And on fourth-and-15 with 38 seconds left, blitzing safety Coby Bryant forced a throw that fell incomplete in the end zone to effectively end the game.

The Seahawks’ hero was Williams — who stacked four tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, a blocked extra-point attempt and a pick-six in another dominant display. In the aftermath, Macdonald said: “I would just have a hard time thinking that anybody is playing better than him right now. So we’ll take Leonard over everybody else.”

Suddenly, the 7-5 Seahawks — winners of three consecutive games — stand alone atop the NFC West, with a divisional match up at 6-6 Arizona slated for Sunday. The Seahawks remain an imperfect product, featuring a sputtering running game and self-combusting special teams. They’ve topped just one team with a winning record, the Denver Broncos in Week 1.

But considering the context — the Mariners’ and Kraken’s continued mediocrity, the coaching changes and resulting rebuilds for UW football and men’s hoops, the Sounders’ and Storm’s playoff exits, etc. — fans don’t need perfect. They don’t even need pretty.

Considering the cascading dominoes, an ugly win is welcome, too.

“Well, we talk about December football. This is when you want to be playing your best ball,” Macdonald said. “I wouldn’t say this was our best game, but we won, and that’s all that matters. So it’s about stacking those wins. You’ve got to play a certain brand of ball to win in December. This is all you can ask for, a chance to take it home down the stretch. So we’re right in it, and off to Arizona we go.”

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