One of the odd aspects in the continuing fallout over President Trump's denigration of the NFL's anthem protestors is that there has been little coverage of responses from players who didn't want to be a part of any protest. Understandably, some players are reluctant to be quoted for pragmatic reasons, like not wanting to damage their NFL futures.

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Can't run. Can't stop the run.

Who thought that would describe a Pete Carroll-coached Seahawks team?

Tennessee's 33-27 triumph in stifling Southern humidity Sunday was more complicated than that simple reduction, especially on a day that was a benchmark in the history of the intersection of American sports and politics.

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Takeaway

The Tennessee Titans rode a third quarter streak of 21 unanswered points, which included touchdown passes of 55 (Rishard Matthews) and 24 yards (Jonnu Smith) from QB Marcus Mariota, as well as Demarco Murray's 75-yard scoring run, to wear down the Seahawks 33-27 Sunday in hot and humid Nashville. Despite 373 yards and four TD passes by QB Russell Wilson (box), Seattle fell to 1-2.

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Responding to President Trump's disparaging remarks Friday about player protests, the Seahawks and host Tennessee Titans sat out the national anthem Sunday in Nashville's Nissan Stadium. The Seahawks entered the field arm in arm.

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The same week it became public that Seahawks DE Michael Bennett co-authored a well-reasoned, respectful letter to the NFL seeking a partnership for an awareness month on social justice, President Trump publicly called him a son of bitch for his anthem protest.

Congratulations to Bennett and his NFL colleagues. It worked. Awareness is suddenly global. Just not in the civil fashion intended.

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Jimmy Graham looks as if he'll get a chance to add to his season total of four catches and nine yards Sunday in Tennessee when the Seahawks play the Titans (1 p.m., FOX). An ankle sprained Sunday against the 49ers has healed sufficiently to allow him to play, according to Pete Carroll.

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Michael Bennett's voice against social injustice just became louder, smarter and more irresistible.

Disclosure by Yahoo! Sports Wednesday of a lengthy memo (see below) from the Seahawks defensive end and three other NFL players to Commissioner Roger Goodell spelled out the causes behind the national-anthem protests. More strategically, included among several requests for support from the league was a call to dedicate an awareness month to social justice similar to what the NFL does for breast cancer awareness and supporting the military.

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To hear many in the NFL tell it, the spread offense in college football is the worst invention since the adobe submarine. Offensive linemen who make it to the NFL have no experience in the three-point stance used in run-blocking, which accounts for much of the epidemic of dorky offenses plaguing the league, including right here in Field Goal City.

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Seattle (1-1) defeated NFC West foe San Francisco 12-9 Sunday thanks to QB Russell Wilson’s 22^nd fourth-quarter comeback and no thanks to the best offensive player at CenturyLink Field, 49ers RB Carlos Hyde, who gained 124 yards on 15 carries and twice set up field goals with long runs.

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And you thought the drama in the home opener was in watching the Seahawks season go down the drain with a second consecutive touchdown-free game. Behind the scenes, in the first quarter, the real drama was in the locker room when the escape from the infernal abyss began to come together.

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Takeaway

QB Russell Wilson escaped a certain take-down for loss and tossed an off-balance, across-the-body, nine-yard TD pass to WR Paul Richardson with 7:06 remaining to lift the Seahawks to an absurdly difficult 12-9 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at CenturyLink Field Sunday (box). The Seahawks improved to 1-1 and avoided becoming the first Seattle team since 2001 to fail to score a touchdown in consecutive weeks.

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Despite missing a couple of days of practice because of a sore hamstring, CB Richard Sherman was assessed as good to go for the Seahawks' home opener at 1:25 p.m. Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, at least according to coach Pete Carroll. The NFL official injury report still lists him as questionable.

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Lost in the lamentations over a kitten-soft offensive line Sunday was the fact that, despite the absence of a veteran cornerback and the presence of a rookie, the Seahawks defense  pitched a first-half shutout against QB Aaron Rodgers, a first for him in 13 NFL seasons.

Given that the Packers rung up 38 points on Seattle in December, holding them to 17 for the game was akin to denying the Kraken a pirate ship. No one has seen such a thing.

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After a loss, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll's favorite all-purpose descriptor for his take on the outcome is: "Disappointing." It's a safe word not only because it's true, it doesn't reflect anger or despair, two emotions in a long season that Carroll deploys almost never. When he does, it counts.

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Given the bleakness that attended the performance of the offensive line, the Seahawks didn't deserve to win. At the same time, they can say beyond all question that they didn't deserve to lose Sunday's season-opening game in Green Bay because of two phantom calls on what proved to be the biggest play in another traditionally lamentable Sunday afternoon for Seattle at Lambeau Field.

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The Seahawks have done a lot of positive things since 2010 under Pete Carroll. But the one thing they haven't done is beat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Rodgers took advantage of a 12-men-on-the-field penalty late in the third quarter Sunday with a 32-yard TD pass to WR Jordy Nelson, all but clinching what became a 17-9 Packers victory.

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As auspicious an opener as the Seahawks have Sunday in Green Bay, the New England Patriots opened the NFL season Thursday night with a suspicious one. Suspicious, in that if the one true thing that was known about the season was false, what else is at risk?

The Pats aren't likely to remain as bad as they looked in the 42-27 loss at home to the Kansas City Chiefs. My guess is that coach Bill Belichick is already on the phone to the Boston Red Sox, seeking to borrow their Apple watches.

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Throw out the 2012 “Fail Mary” game and the NFC Championship corker two seasons later, when Seattle rallied improbably to win in overtime after trailing 19-7 with four minutes remaining in regulation, and the Seahawks have not enjoyed much success against the Green Bay Packers. Especially at Lambeau Field, where the teams will re-engage Sunday (1:25 p.m. PT kickoff) in the 2017 season opener.

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The Las Vegas Police Protective Association Metro, Inc., the union that represents the city's police, released a letter to Roger Goodell Thursday that urges the NFL commissioner to conduct an investigation and take "appropriate action" against Seahawks DE Michael Bennett for making "obviously false and defamatory claims against our officers."

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The friendship between Seahawks teammates Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett is filled with enough teasing man-banter that, as Avril put it, "We play around so much that sometimes, we don't know what's what."

But when Avril arrived at Bennett's Las Vegas hotel room early in the morning of Aug. 27 and the door opened, Avril knew something serious had gone down.

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