I was ready for some Wednesday Night Football ... and, eventually, so were my Seahawks

Wednesday Night Football turned out to be a lot of fun.

My Seahawks opened defense of their championship against the same Patriots team they vanquished in the Super Bowl seven months earlier. I decided I wanted to watch the game with like-minded knuckleheads, so I picked a popular Seattle sports bar. Robbie, bless her heart, joined me for the festivities (perhaps out of obligation). 

The banner was raised at Lumen Field and the crowd was going wild … until the fifth play from scrimmage, when quarterback Sam Darnold got sacked and then limped off the field. Uh-oh. His backup, Drew Lock, played pretty well in the first three quarters given the situation, but the Seahawks kept shooting themselves in the foot with dopey penalties - including two for unnecessary roughness that kept Patriots drives alive.

Our heroes fell behind 10-0 entering the fourth. That's when the defense turned the game around, intercepting star New England QB Drake Maye not once, not twice, but three times. 

The first pick, an acrobatic juggling grab by Nehemiah Pritchett (who was playing only because of injuries to other defensive backs), prevented the Patriots from adding to their lead. The second, a superb anticipatory play across the middle by safety Julian Love, set up the Seahawks’ only TD - a nice 4th-down pass by Lock that the amazing Jaxon Smith-Njigba turned into a 45-yard score. And the third, a leaping grab in the end zone by cornerback Josh Jobe with 21 seconds left, sealed Seattle’s 13-10 victory.

That final pass by Maye was reckless, as the Patriots had the tying field goal in the bag, but I actually had turned to Rob right before the play and said: “I hope Maye gets greedy and throws it up for grabs in the end zone.” Thanks for listening, Drake!

The atmosphere in the bar was good throughout and was absolutely bonkers in the fourth quarter, as the Seahawks made one great play after another. I don’t think Robbie enjoyed it quite as much as I did, though, as the ultra-loud TV commercials blared throughout the joint and forced her to stick her fingers in her ears. There also was one wackadoodle who was bouncing around as if he had snorted too much coke, and Rob was concerned he might fall into us. But I thought it was a blast.

I admit that I might not have had those great vibes if my heroes had lost, though!