Veteran Seahawks fans by now know well one of the principal verses in the Book of First Carrollians: You can't win the the game in the first quarter. You can't win the game in the second quarter. You can't win the game in the third quarter. You can win the game in the fourth quarter.

But the latest two weeks of evidence may require a modest change in the sacrament:

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When your children's children's children hear you talk about the Monday Night Football game of Eleven Eleven Nineteen, they will whisper among themselves: "How come the implant in his brain doesn't shut off the babble?"

The oldest child explains, "That is the only one the government allows to pass. It keeps them happy."

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After the Sounders were thoroughly outplayed in the first half Sunday, yet dodged and ducked to a scoreless draw, general manager Garth Lagerway looked over at his boss. Club owner Adrian Hanauer, a kid from Mercer Island who came to wealth and then to Major League Soccer with a passion to create a team with a global brand in a global sport, was tighter than yoga pants on Santa.

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As someone who has spent a good chunk of life dealing with addiction, WR Josh Gordon knows a little bit about hard tasks. So mastering a playbook from a new football team would seem a trifle. But that too is a lift.

“I’ve had to do it a few times with different coaches, different teams obviously," he said Saturday after practice, his first media session since the Seahawks surprised the NFL this week by claiming him off waivers from New England. "It can be difficult. It can be hard on the fly.

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On a long, slow slide into ordinariness, the Huskies on defense worked up a glimpse for a brighter future Friday night in Corvallis. On offense, however, Washington looked as if the Cyler Miles era had fallen out of the back of a truck into full view again.

Because Oregon State (4-5, 3-3) was unexpectedly rancid, it was hard to know what to make of the of the 19-7 win (box), except that it was UW's eighth straight in the series with the Beavers, and coach Chris Petersen set back a decade or two the career of his former assistant, Beavers coach Jonathan Smith.

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Richard Sherman would love nothing better than to help San Francisco, a franchise he helped crater starting in 2013, do this season to the Seahawks what his old club had done to the 49ers for much of the decade: Step on their throats and twist.

Sherman, a California native, Stanford grad and Seattle-area resident, then could say he helped weaponize and vaporize his two favorite NFL franchises. The ultimate power trip.

Aren't revenge games fun?

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After the press gaggle ended at the Sounders' Starfire training center in Tukwila Wednesday, Brian Schmetzer was walking back to the building when I suggested to him that what he has accomplished as Sounders coach -- Sunday is his third MLS Cup appearance in four years -- rates him mention among Don James, Lou Piniella, George Karl, Mike Holmgren and Pete Carroll in Seattle sports' top modern-era coaching achievers.

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Besides the win, the Seahawks earned something else Sunday in beating, barely, Tampa Bay: Knowledge that C Joey Hunt, DK Metcalf and TE Jake Hollister can be reliable players, and that there's room for newcomer WR Josh Gordon in the offense, should he deign to be a regular participant in practice.

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Russell Wilson. Fercripesakes.

In terms of mastery of craft, the Seahawks quarterback is approaching a level of enlightenment that is thrilling to the point of chilling.

On the final three possessions of a preposterous 40-34 overtime win over Tampa Bay Sunday, he took the Seahawks on scoring drives of 75, 48 and 70 yards. Except PK Jason Myers missed a potential game-winning field goal on the middle drive, necessitating the third drive in OT.

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Last time the Washington Huskies met Utah 11 months ago, they won the Pac-12 championship, 10-3, without benefit of an offensive touchdown. So if the Huskies, aided by the presence of highly regarded QB Jacob Eason, knew early Saturday morning ahead of the rematch that they were about to put up 28 points and gain 369 yards against the still-formidable Utes defense, they would have demanded to know where to sign up for that worthy feat.

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Richard Sherman, meet new Seahawk Josh Gordon. Josh, meet ex-Seahawk Richard.

See you both at a high point in the end zone on a Monday night.

In three sentences, that's largely why the Seahawks would hire a messed-up dude like Gordon, waived Thursday by the New England Patriots.

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One of the most remarkable things about the NFL is how swiftly things that seem solid turn to pudding.

Look at the 1-7 Atlanta Falcons, who blew a 28-3 lead and lost a Super Bowl to New England two years ago, and now the franchise's bones are bleaching in the Georgia sun. Consider the undefeated San Francisco 49ers this year, coming from the latest (4-12) in a string of reliably wretched seasons to instantly become the early-1990s Dallas Cowboys.

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Good as Los Angeles FC was alleged to be, they were little match Tuesday night for the badasses from Seattle.

The Sounders didn't care about LAFC's 72-point regular season, an MLS record, or its record-tying 85 goals. Didn't matter that LA gave up only 37. The facts that the second-year club held a 3-0-1 advantage in the two-year head-to-head, or that Vegas bookies pronounced it 6-1 favorites, or even that the Western Conference final was at LA's sold-out Banc of California home field, were of little consequence.

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It's as if the NCAA Tuesday leaped away from the buggy, slapped the horse on the hindquarters and jumped into a 1965 Mustang convertible.

How long it will take for the reform-resistant cartel to buy the 2020 Tesla remains unknown. But at least the business of college sports has made it to pavement, and reaching the 21st century will happen more quickly.

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Pete Carroll answered in a light-hearted manner. But as is often the case, truth lurks beneath the humor.

To the question of whether the final hours prior to the NFL's trade deadline at 1 p.m. Tuesday was going to be hectic, the Seahawks coach answered, "I don't think it's going to entertain me as much as I would like. It seems kinda quiet. As much as we worked to get to this point, we're kinda hoping things start picking up a little bit."

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Sunday in Atlanta, the narrative of the game foreshadowed precisely the season: Good first half, and who the hell knows about the second half.

The Seahawks are 6-2 after the 27-20 blowout-turned-passout triumph (box and video highlights) over the woebegone Falcons (1-7). Yet even The Man of Eternal Sunshine wasn't kidding himself.

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During a practice this month, the University of Washington Huskies men's hoopsters momentarily set up in their trademark 2-3 zone defense with 7-1 Brian Penn-Johnson,  6-9 Isaiah Stewart and 6-9 Hameir Wright in the back, and 6-6 Nahziah Carter and 6-6 Jamal Bey out front.

Most NBA teams can't do vertical like that.

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Napping at home in the Detroit suburbs with his three-month-old daughter, Quandre Diggs Tuesday was awakened by the abrupt rudeness of the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks had an emergency in their secondary, and he was chosen to bail them out. Bring buckets, water coming in fast.

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For those following the major sub-plot Sunday from the Clink stands, where the whole field can be seen, the verdict likely was unanimous. Earl Thomas wasn't the same. His famed lateral speed was reduced, and his tackling aggression seemed diminished. On one first-half play where he set up as usual, alone in the final third, he turned to head downfield by himself, tripped on his own feet and fell flat on his face.

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Looking for a trenchant statement about the events of the afternoon and its impact on the season, we turn to Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett, scorer Sunday of the Seahawks' only touchdown, although it was one of two TD passes thrown by Russell Wilson.

"The lesson was," he said, "you can't get away with everything."

Well put.

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