From a long-term prognosis standpoint, Sam Darnold appears to be on a trajectory to return in the not-so-distant future for the Seattle Seahawks. But that future won’t be as early as this upcoming weekend.

Rather than dance around the possibility of Darnold potentially being available to play in Arizona against the Cardinals on Sunday, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald confirmed the Pro Bowl quarterback would sit out this week, yielding the controls to the offense to backup Drew Lock. Fortunately, injured reserve isn’t on the table at the moment, and the organization will revisit his status next week.

“We don’t anticipate putting him on I.R. or anything like that,” Macdonald told reporters. “We’ll just kinda re-evaluate every day and re-evaluate next week. We’ll go from there, but he won’t play this week.”

Knocked out just six plays into Seattle’s season opener, Darnold’s right knee rammed into the turf when New England defensive end Dre’Mont Jones brought him down from behind for a drive-ending third down sack. He hobbled off the field and after trying to shake off the discomfort, he spent a brief moment in the injury tent before limping alongside trainers into the locker room, ruled out late in the second quarter due to a hip injury with Lock playing the remainder of the game.

It’s just about hockey season. And that means announcing captains and alternates. The Seattle Kraken are heading into the 2026-27 season with a familiar face leading the way and two defensemen officially taking on larger leadership roles with a few returning faces.

The Kraken announced Wednesday that Jordan Eberle will serve as team captain for a third consecutive season, while defensemen Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour have been named alternate captains. They join returning alternate captains Matty Beniers and Adam Larsson to form Seattle's leadership group.

Eberle's continued presence at the top of the group provides the Kraken with a steady veteran voice as the franchise enters another important season. The 36-year-old has worn the captain's “C” since the 2024-25 season and has become one of the team's most recognizable leaders both on and off the ice. He led the squad in goals last season with 26.

But perhaps the most interesting part of this year's announcement is the decision to give Dunn and Montour the “A.” Neither selection comes as a major surprise when looking at how both defensemen have grown into leadership roles in Seattle.

When Cole Young rolled one over weakly to second for a game-ending double play on Tuesday, a grim reality that had been all but assured for weeks became official: the 2026 Mariners are a losing team.

Seattle’s 2-1 loss to the Angels dropped the team to a 70-82 record with 10 games left to play. The playoff picture, which became even uglier as the Astros and Rangers both won, is now hardly worth thinking about.

Tuesday’s step into the abyss, like all 81 before them, had a little bit of symbolism. Dan Wilson, surrounded by smoke that he will step down when this year is done, took out one of the team’s top prospects in favor of their half-measure rental.

As any individual game goes, however, Tuesday’s was unremarkable. Logan Gilbert pitched well but got saddled with a loss because the offense died down aside from one run. The team squandered its chances with runners in scoring position. From the 10-foot view, it isn’t meaningfully different from the other losses; in the story of how the M’s went from one to 82, it is only valuable as a milestone.

The 10,000-foot view shows us that this was part of an inexorable pattern. The M’s would often chalk up such games to bad luck, but now there is no ignoring even for Wilson: it wasn’t bad luck.

“We were just waiting for it to turn around, and it never quite did,” Gilbert said. “It’s on us. At the end of the day, that’s the reality of it. We need to be accountable and know that we have to execute better. Things have to change. We have to have those conversations and figure it out.”

The Washington Huskies recently received a new commitment, landing combo guard Tayshawn Comer from Nevada. A fifth-year senior, he will provide ample competition for the backup point guard spot for a team with only one true floor general on its roster in Ryan Beasley.

This is a notable signing considering the Huskies already had a full roster at 15 players. While most players have already officially signed, Boris Tisma and Wini Braga are the only two international additions who reportedly have not. This likely means one of them has been unable to get cleared by the NCAA in time to play this November.

It would be an unfortunate turn for Washington, as both Tisma and Braga projected to be heavy contributors.

The 2026 Mariners are one of - if not the - most disappointing teams in franchise history. With the 2025 version being just a few innings away from its first World Series berth, expectations were rightfully sky-high this year. And yet the team has completely face planted.

But there are a few positives to glean from 2026.

The main story of this gut-punch year has been the massively disappointing offense in Seattle. Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor, and Julio Rodríguez are the main culprits in dragging the offense down when they should be the ones lifting the team to higher heights, as none of them have an OPS above .700 in a year where the league average for OPS is .720. Even with the park factors in play for these Mariners, all of those well-paid stars have been below league average.

One player, however, has met and even exceeded expectations: Randy Arozarena is putting together the finest season of his eight-year career. His .278 average, .852 OPS, and 148 wRC+ all are career highs over a full season, while his 25 homers are just two shy of his career high he posted last season. With 11 games remaining in 2026, there’s still a solid chance he can surpass that benchmark, too.

During the heat of the NFL season, as Jadarian Price already has learned in the early stages of his rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks, there isn’t much free time away from grinding on the practice field along with other work duties.

But while Price acknowledged that he hasn’t had much of a chance to check in on how his former Notre Dame teammates have done so far beginning their journeys in the league and has spent most of the little extra time he has resting and watching movies, he and top-five pick Jeremiyah Love have had a Week 2 date with the Cardinals in Glendale circled since the schedule first came out in May. After spending three seasons in a backfield timeshare as the primary backup behind Love in South Bend, the two first round picks will collide as starters for their new teams for the first time in a key early season NFC West battle on Sunday.

“That will be special,” Price said on Monday as Seattle began preparation for its divisional opener. “We even talked about it, how we want to maybe swap jerseys or something if we can. Cause it'll be a very special moment. I know a lot of Notre Dame fans, and Notre Dame people will look forward to that moment, so we’ll definitely get a picture."

Highlighted by a bullpen that has been running on fumes for most of the second half of the season, Emerald City Spectrum reporter Callaghan Bluechel goes over how the lack of roster depth and overall indecision led the 2026 Seattle Mariners season ending in dreary fashion, likely to finish with a sub-.500 win percentage one year after making the AL Championship Series.

After their longest break between regular-season games, Gonzaga women’s soccer (3-4-1) responded admirably after two straight losses. Playing arguably their most complete match yet, the Zags handed Creighton (3-3-1) a 3-0 defeat in Omaha to notch their first win in three weeks. It was the first career shutout for junior goalkeeper Sydney Head, who had come close to achieving that feat several times this year. Earning the nod as GU’s starter in net, Head has improved over the team’s first eight games and made two saves during the victory.

Tasked with a difficult nonconference schedule, the Bulldogs have battled adversity early in the year, specifically on crazy in-game swings. It was a point of emphasis during Gonzaga’s nine-day break since its last match, and it was particularly significant early in this victory, knocking off a hot Bluejays squad.

“Being able to respond from big moments…and give each other energy from those defensive efforts is something we build our momentum from, and we did just that,” head coach Katie Benz said.

The Zags had to wait even longer to play, as Morrison Stadium’s surrounding area experienced lightning strikes that delayed the start of the match by an hour and five minutes. And when things finally got going, Gonzaga dealt with that aforementioned emotional adversity within the opening 10 minutes.

Seattle Storm forward Dominique Malonga scored a team-high 21 points for France in a 97-79 loss to the USA in the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup final on Sunday, Sept. 13, in Berlin.

The World Cup came down to the clear-cut top-2 teams, but France was still overall outclassed by Team USA. However, as they had many times during the nine-day tournament, Malonga and former Storm star Gabby Williams carried France.

Malonga finished with 21 points (8 of 12 FG), six rebounds and one steal in the loss. Williams totaled 20 points, three rebounds, seven assists and three steals.