TERRY MOSHER

JOHN FULLINGTON (77)

 

North Mason’s John Fullington, a 6-5, 310-pound offensive lineman, has been moved from the New Orleans practice squad to the Saints’ 53-man roster for Sunday’s NFL game at Tampa Bay.

Fullington has spent the past two seasons on the Saints’ practice squad and had a good chance to make the active roster after a strong training camp. But a calf injury set him back and he was waived on Sept. 2, but was resigned to the practice squad after he cleared waivers.

His activation may be an inclination the Saints will keep him active for the post-season – the Saints will win the NFC South with a win over Tampa Bay, giving them a home field game in the first round of the playoffs and a loss to Tampa Bay and a Carolina win over Atlanta would push the Saints to the No. 5 NFC playoff spot and a road game in the first round.

The Saints like Fullington because he can play either tackle or guard and he adds needed depth because starting left tackle Terron Armstead will miss the game at Tampa Bay with a thigh injury.

To make room for Fullington, the Saints waived tight end John Phillips.

In less bright news, the Pac-12 bombed in the football bowl season. Nine conference teams went 1-8 with Utah getting the sole win, a 30-14 victory over West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Washington (10-3) put on a brave fight in the Fiesta Bowl, falling behind early against Penn State and then putting on a rally that pulled them with a touchdown a chance at the end of maybe force tie. But the Nittany Lions held on for a 35-28 victory that showed once again this bowl season that Big-10 teams were much more physical than teams from the Pac-12.

The loss moved coach Chris Petersen’s record as Washington head man to 1-3 in bowl games (the Huskies won the 2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl). But the Huskies have a lot of talent coming back, including defensive tackle Greg Gaines who said after the loss to Penn State that he would return for his senior season, and could be even better next season.

On the Husky basketball court, the surge of the team with first year coach Mike Hopkins continues. The Huskies went to Los Angeles and Friday upset USC in their Pac-12 opener. That win put the Huskies at 11-3 going into Sunday’s game at UCLA. The game will be shown on the Pac-12 Network starting at 5 p.m.

As for the Seahawks, they have a chance to make the playoffs if they beat Arizona at home Sunday and Atlanta loses at home to Carolina.  But the game against the Cardinals won’t be easy. They have given up just 27 points in the last three games, and 20 of those points came in 20-15 loss to the Washington Redskins.

If this is the last game of the season for the Seahawks, it may also be the end of the Legion of Boom. Richard Sherman will be coming off a season-ending Achilles injury and Kam Chancellor is on injured reserve with a neck injury that could be enough to end his career. But even healthy and ready to play, those two will cost the Seahawks $23 million next year, $13.2 million to Sherman and $9.8 million to Chancellor and the common thought is that the team won’t be able to keep both.

On top of that, safely Earl Thomas, one of the best in the business, let it be known after last week’s Dallas game that he wouldn’t mind playing for the Cowboys if he is “kicked to the curb” by the Seahawks. He’s probably not going to be kicked to the curb, but airing that statement in public can be unsettling to a team, to say the least.

It’s sad that money often dictates if a team can keep a player, even a pro-bowl caliber won like Thomas, Chancellor or Sherman, but that is the nature of the league’s salary cap. To make room under the cap, teams routinely cut pro bowlers in favor of younger and less expensive players.

So it goes in the high finance that is the NFL.

Okay, I’m outta here. It’s been a good Christmas season so far, and hopefully it’s been for you too.

Be well pal.

Be careful out there.

Have a great day.

You are loved.