O-Line? More like a woe-line, amirite? 🥹

I’m not sure how good Damien Lewis is as an offensive lineman.

I know he was better than either of the guards Seattle started on Sunday, though. And after that debacle of a first half, I feel compelled to revisit the question of just why Seattle watched as Lewis signed with the Carolina Panthers as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason.

In fact, for all the time we’ve spent blaming Pete Carroll and his defense for the Seahawks plateauing, it’s possible that Seattle’s refusal to pay for continuity along the offensive line has at the very least contributed to Seattle becoming high-centered as a good-but-not-great team.

But first, let’s take a quick look around Seattle sports:

• Unfortunately, absconding to the Big Ten has sapped some of the enjoyment that I usually get from patronizing Coug fans in the week leading up to the Apple Cup. I feel so bad about the way Washington left the Cougs hanging that I almost feel like we deserve to lose Saturday’s game. Almost. Thankfully, I came to my senses by the end of this week’s column for The News Tribune. 

• In what is essentially a very slow tease, NBA commissioner Adam Silver provided the clearest timeline for the potential expansion on Tuesday when he told reporters it was something “we plan to address this season.” It sounds as if the NBA has – at the very least – concepts of a plan to quote a phrase that was used in Tuesday’s presidential debate. Earlier this summer, Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell said last month the Sonics were “closer than ever” to returning in a statement recorded by Chris Daniels of KOMO.

• First, the Mariners lost Luis Castillo to a hamstring. Then they lost a chance to pick up ground on Houston, losing 7-3 to San Diego as Manny Machado hit a two-run homer off George Kirby in the sixth and then knocked in a couple more runs with a seventh-inning single. Machado’s homer made him the Padres’ career-leader in that category so you can actually buy offense in free agency. Huh. Imagine that.

  Seattle remains 4.5 games behind the Astros in the division and are 4 games behind the Twins in the wild-card standings.

The Seahawks need to start paying money to keep their offensive linemen.

That is the primary lesson that I took away from Seattle’s season-opening victory over Denver. Well, that and the fact that Bo Nix is not currently capable of competently quarterbacking an NFL offense. (Also: if you think I’m a little proud of that phrase “currently capable of competently quarterbacking” you’re completely correct.)

The Seahawks offensive line stunk on Sunday. Especially in the first half. Geno Smith was sacked on Seattle’s first play from scrimmage. He was harassed on the second play, a defender grabbing hold of his leg as he released a pass that was picked off by linebacker Alex Singleton.

In the second quarter, Denver was awarded a safety because one of Seattle’s guards – Anthony Bradford – was flagged for holding while he was in the end zone. Later in that same period, the Broncos earned a second safety because Seattle’s other guard – Laken Tomlinson – didn’t manage to get any of his 320 pounds between Zach Allen and running back Zach Charbonnet, who wound up tackled before he could get out of the end zone.

 Now Seattle had given up exactly two safeties in its previous 101 regular-season games combined. When it gave up its second in a single period, it occurred to me that Seattle had let Damien Lewis – by all accounts a competent starting guard -- walk in free agency over the offseason.

He signed a four-year, $53 million deal with Carolina, whom he started for on Sunday in New Orleans. 

There was not much hand wringing over Lewis’s departure at the time largely because the Seahawks offensive line wasn’t all that good with Lewis last year so how much worse would it be without him?

Spoiler alert: significantly.

The Seahawks need to reconsider their approach to the whole position group.

To be more specific: They need to start weighing the value of keeping a guy who is at the very least competent if not good against the cost that comes from starting over at that spot.

For 10 years now, we’ve watched as Seattle consistently chooses not to spend the money to re-sign the offensive linemen they draft and develop. 

And every time the Seahawks let one of those linemen walk – whether it’s James Carpenter, J.R. Sweezy, George Fant, Ethan Pocic or (now) Lewis – we nod our collective head at how the team that’s signing that player is overpaying for a guy who is – at best – a serviceable starter.

And then the next season begins, and Seattle takes a step back as it cobbles together a lineup of off-brand veterans like Tomlinson and young players it has drafted, hoping it can get to some level of competence in the first couple months of the season.

Can the Seahawks try paying to keep a couple of dudes? Just as an experiment? To see if it might work better?

It sure seemed to in 2012 and 2013 when the Seahawks’ offensive line was among the most expensive in the league. Left tackle Russell Okung was playing on the deal he’d signed as the No. 6 overall pick in 2010 before the rookie wage scale was implemented. Center Max Unger was playing on an extension he’d signed in 2012 after Seattle had re-signed both Breno Giacomini and Paul McQuistan to two-year deals.

Now people complained about Seattle’s offensive line that year, too. That was before we realized that Russell Wilson was going to take some sacks given his tendency to hold onto the ball.

The Seahawks extended Wilson’s contract after the 2014 season, which tightened the budget. That was the same offseason when Unger was traded to the Saints, and while I’m not going to say the Seahawks have never recovered, they have spent much of the past 10 years following a very specific pattern: 

• Draft a lineman with an early pick.

• The people who follow the team (like me) will then make a bunch of noises about how the Seahawks are finally dedicating the resources to find a long-term fix.

• The lineman may generate some initial excitement as different Football People proclaim the Seahawks “got a good one.” I remember hearing that about Lewis. However, I also remember hearing it about Germain Ifedi, too.

• If the lineman gets hurt as a rookie – which often tends to happen – there will be expressions of disappointment because the Seahawks finally had the right guy only to have him get hurt.

• After four years, the offensive lineman will be eligible for free agency.

• When he signs a significant contract with another team, no one will bat an eye because the Seahawks haven’t been all that good with him.

• The Seahawks will draft a lineman with an early pick and the people who follow the team (like me) will then make a bunch of noises about how the Seahawks are finally dedicating resources to find a long-term fix.

Lewis embodies this cycle fairly perfectly right down to the fact that after he left as a free agent, the Seahawks drafted a guard — Christian Haynes — in the third round. I’m sure we’ll see him before too long.

Now in fairness to the Seahawks, Lewis became very expensive. The Panthers are on the hook for at least half that $53 million. He’ll count $4.9 million against Carolina’s cap this year, $14.6 million next year.

Tomlinson will cost $1.2 million this year.

Here are the offensive linemen the Seahawks have chosen in one of the first three rounds of the draft since John Schneider became GM:

• Russell Okung, 1st round, 2010

• James Carpenter, 1st round, 2011

• John Moffitt, 3rd round, 2011

• Justin Britt, 2nd round, 2014

• Germain Ifedi, 1st round, 2016

• Rees Odhiambo, 3rd round, 2016

• Ethan Pocic, 2nd round, 2017

• Damien Lewis, 3rd round, 2020

• Charles Cross, 1st round, 2022

• Abe Lucas, 3rd round, 2022

• Christian Haynes, 3rd round, 2024

Here are the offensive linemen the Seahawks have re-signed after their rookie deals expired: Britt and Pocic.

• Britt played three positions his first three years and became a Pro Bowl alternate in 2016, signing an extension that kept him in Seattle for the next three season.

• Pocic signed a one-year deal to stay in Seattle in 2021, and the Seahawks let him walk the following year. He went to Cleveland where he’s now in his third year as the starting center.

Being judicious about re-signing linemen has paid dividends, too. Tampa Bay never got the return it was expecting when it signed J.R. Sweezy to a five-year, $32.5 million deal in 2016, and I’m not going to tell you that re-signing Lewis would have prevented all of the problems we saw on Sunday.

It would have prevented some of them, though. And after watching Seattle cycle through offensive linemen for the past decade, I do believe the Seahawks need to invest in continuity up front and build something that’s more sustainable than what we’ve been watching.

The Seahawks’ reluctance to re-sign its veteran offensive linemen has proven too costly in other ways.

And with that, I will dismount my soapbox and return you to your regularly scheduled programming, which this year includes the Apple Cup on Saturday. In fact, while we were watching the Sunday night game between the Rams and Lions, NBC aired a promo stating that Washington State vs. Washington would be airing on Peacock.

“Isn’t that the Apple Cup?” my wife asked me.

“Yup,” I said.

“Why isn’t the Apple Cup being played on Thanksgiving?” she asked.

“Because they ruined college football,” I said.

I wasn’t entirely serious. I wasn’t totally joking, either.