Seattle, WA

Labriola on the loss to Seattle

Published

3 months ago

September 15, 2025

It was the second week of the 2025 NFL regular season, and “September football” was in full bloom across the landscape. Missed assignments, mental mistakes, full-on brain cramps, injuries sometimes in bunches stressing position groups and weakening rosters.

The Steelers were guilty of playing “September football” on Sunday against Seattle in their home opener at Acrisure Stadium, but that wasn’t the only contributing factor in what ended up being a 31-17 loss that dropped them to 1-1. For the second straight week, their run defense and their pass protection were leaky, and one of the truisms about football played at any level and in every month is that games are won or lost on the lines of scrimmage.

From a statistical standpoint, the run defense against the Seahawks was better than it had been the previous Sunday. The Jets rushed 39 times for 182 yards (4.7 average) and 3 touchdowns, and the Seahawks managed 117 yards on 29 runs (4.0 average) and 1 touchdown. Thirteen of the Jets 23 first downs came via the run, compared to eight of Seattle’s 21 first downs; of the Seahawks 29 rushing attempts, 9 were good for no gain or for a loss of yardage.

All of that represented improvement from week 1 to week 2, but there was one visual that overshadowed any and all statistics and left a bad taste when it came to the state of the Steelers run defense.

There was 3:47 remaining in the fourth quarter, and despite all of their September football-itis to that point, the Steelers were still very much in the game. And part of that had to do with their defense. At the time, their deficit was 24-14, with one of Seattle’s three touchdowns having come on a full-on brain cramp when a Seahawks kickoff made it to the landing zone and bounced into the end zone where it was left unattended until George Holani fell on it.

So anyway, that negativity had been absorbed, and at the 3:47 mark, the Seahawks led, 24-17, and were looking at a third-and-goal from the Steelers 19-yard line following a 9-yard sack of Sam Darnold by Jack Sawyer. When Darnold took the next snap and simply handed the ball to Kenneth Walker, it seemed as though the Seahawks were playing for a field goal were willing to settle for a 10-point lead, 27-17.

But then Walker ran to the left, made a move upfield and covered those 19 yards virtually untouched into the end zone for the touchdown that was the dagger. The run defense on that critical play in the fourth quarter of a game whose outcome still was very much up for grabs had failed.

“There’s always an emphasis on (stopping) the run,” said T.J. Watt. “The first note of every single week is ‘smash the run,’ and you guys have heard me say for 9 years we’re always trying to smash the run, and it’s not a lack of trying. Schematically, effort, I don’t know, we’ll have to look at the film, but we need to be better, and we need to look in the mirror, and we need to turn over every stone we possibly can because this can’t continue to happen.”

That touchdown, which made the deficit 31-17, iced the outcome even though the Steelers got the ball back with 3:41 remaining, with all 3 of their timeouts plus the 2-minute warning. That’s because their passing attack was being plagued by consistent pressure on Aaron Rodgers, which didn’t allow for chunk plays through the air.

In fact, the Steelers managed only 3 chunk plays through the air all afternoon: a 65-yarder that was a short pass to Jaylen Warren, with the rest coming via spirited and determined run-after; a 22-yarder to Calvin Austin III on the play before the 2-minute warning in the fourth quarter of a 31-17 game; and a 20-yarder to Pat Freiermuth on a perfectly thrown ball and a nice catch down the right sideline.

Besides those, it was either receivers not getting open or Rodgers running for his life, or some combination of both on the same play.

The Jets were credited with 4 sacks and 7 hits on the quarterback; the Seahawks were credited with 3 sacks and 9 hits on the quarterback. It’s too much, and it has happened two weeks in a row. And while a 3-for-3 in the red zone mitigated the Jets pressure on Rodgers, against Seattle the offense only got into the red zone twice and on one of those turned the ball over on an interception in the end zone that was the most September football thing ever.

“I look at myself first, and if we settle for a field goal, I probably wasn’t effective enough in a situation,” said Rodgers. “But I feel like we had a good couple of drives, defense is playing good in the first half, and we came out and just couldn’t do a whole lot in the third quarter. And obviously the play that took a lot of points off the board was the interception there on the 3-yard line or whatever.”

Actually, the situation was a third-and-goal from the Seattle 4-yard line in a 14-14 game with 4:17 left in the third quarter. Rodgers threw a dart at Pat Freiermuth in the end zone, only to have Calvin Austin III fly in and try to make a play on the ball. What resulted was a ball tipped into the air and then intercepted by CB Derion Kendrick 7 yards deep in the end zone. Touchback.

“And Cal’s the best kid ever, but he probably should have just stayed in the flat there,” said Rodgers. “He knows it … But Cal’s the best kid and, you know, it sucks because he’s such a great kid, but unfortunately that whole sequence took points off the board.”

A sequence that came later and added points to the wrong side of the board was the aforementioned brain-cramp with 12:46 remaining in the fourth quarter. A 54-yard field goal by Jason Myers had just given the Seahawks a 17-14 lead when his ensuing kickoff bounced in the landing zone and continued into the end zone where it stopped about a yard from the endline. Kaleb Johnson left the ball unattended, and when George Holani was ruled to have covered it in-bounds the Steelers’ deficit instantly grew to 24-14.

“Poor judgment by a young player,” is what Coach Mike Tomlin said about it in his postgame media briefing; a situation that’s covered in practice/meetings “every day of our lives.”

We’re two weeks into the 2025 installment of September football, and pending the outcome of Monday Night Football, there are 12 – and could be 14 – teams with 1-1 records, including the Ravens, Broncos, Lions, and Vikings. And defending AFC Champion Kansas City is 0-2.

“No, it’s week two. Come on. Come on. It’s week 2,” said Rodgers. “I mean, it’s good for us. Last week probably there were some people feeling pretty good because everybody outside the building was talking about how great we were on offense and (scoring) 34 points. That’s the league; you can’t ride the highs or ride the lows. You have to refocus every single week and be a professional, and it starts with practice and the preparation and so we get a chance to reset. Take a look at what we did last week, what worked, what didn’t work from the preparation standpoint. Do better next week.”

Best to start with run defense and pass protection.

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Seattle, WA

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

Published

11 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

The Seattle Monorail has connected the Westlake Center and Seattle Center since 1962, but rising fares could sap local ridership. (Doug Trumm)

Seattle landmarks are woven into the city’s identity: the Space Needle, Gas Works Park, Pike Place Market, Humpy the Salmon. They’re playful, iconic, and accessible to locals and visitors alike. The monorail should belong in that same category. It is a piece of transportation infrastructure history that helps residents move through the city and remark on times gone by. Instead, it is becoming a premium attraction aimed at visitors, rather than a practical option for everyday riders.

Fresh off hiking fares on the nearly-one-mile-long monorail to $4.00, Seattle Monorail Services is getting rid of transfer credits to other transit services in a blow to riders. In early December, ORCA informed riders that starting January 1, 2026, monorail fares paid with ORCA E-purse will no longer receive the two-hour transfer credit. Every ride will require full payment, even if the rider tapped onto another service minutes earlier.

For transit users who rely on transfers to move through the city, this is a step backward. It is also a policy decision that treats the monorail as an exception to regional transit norms — or perhaps not a service intended for use by locals, at all.

Taking the 1 Line from Lynnwood and transferring to the monorail to attend Pride, Seattle Eats, or any number of other events in Seattle Center just jumped from $4 per person to $7 per person. Fortunately, many Climate Pledge Arena events come with monorail cost bundled in the ticket cost.

History of the Seattle Monorail

Seattle’s monorail began as a showpiece, built in 1962 for the Century 21 World’s Fair. The idea wasn’t to serve commuters, but rather to dazzle visitors and move crowds between downtown and the fairgrounds. For more dazzling during the World’s Fair, Seattle Center had rollercoasters, which I, for one, am in favor of bringing back.

The monorail system worked as millions rode it in its first year, and the sleek elevated trains helped cement the city’s Jet Age identity. But the system was never expanded, and the short two-stop alignment was left behind as a novelty once the fair ended.

Seattle actually tried to scale that vision into real transit. In 1968 and 1970, voters were asked to approve the Forward Thrust plan, a regional rapid transit system combining tunnels, elevated lines, and stations across the city. Both measures earned a majority, but Washington law required 60% voter approval to issue bonds. The transit proposals failed, and the federal funds earmarked for Seattle were redirected to Atlanta (where only a simple 50% majority vote was required), funds that ultimately seeded MARTA.

Meanwhile, Seattle spent decades without rapid transit, and the monorail became a relic of a future that never materialized. Fortunately, Seattle eventually invested in light rail and continues to do so despite financial hurdles.

But before light rail buildout, Seattle made one more attempt to turn the monorail into a network. From the late 1990s through the mid-2000s, voters backed the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority, which pursued the elevated “Green Line” from Ballard through Downtown to West Seattle. The citizen-led program struggled with escalating costs, uncertain financing models, and political backlash.

After five public votes, the project was dissolved in 2005 without breaking ground. What remained was the original 0.9-mile segment. Still iconic, still beloved by tourists, but functionally unchanged since the Eisenhower era.

Recent fare hike

In 2024, the City and the contracted operator of the monorail announced another round of fare increases. Adult fares rose from $3.50 to $4.00, a 14% jump in a single adjustment.

The monorail fare hike was much steeper than those on other transit services in the region. King County Metro buses moved from $2.75 to $3.00, a 9% increase. Sound Transit’s Link light rail standardized fares at $3.00 regardless of trip distance, in a win for long-distance commuters. Even in larger cities with higher living costs, like New York and San Francisco, transit fares remain lower at around $2.85–$2.90 for metro service. The monorail is now one of the most expensive local transit rides per mile in the country.

For many riders, fare increases alone would be frustrating but manageable. Seattle transit often requires combining services: a bus from a neighborhood, a train downtown, then the monorail to a shift at Seattle Center or an event at Climate Pledge Arena. The regional ORCA card system has long made this a possibility. Riders are given a two-hour transfer window so multiple trips are counted as part of the same journey rather than priced separately.

That saving grace is about to end with the end of monorail transfer credits in 2026.

The monorail has always been an unusual piece of infrastructure. The city owns the physical system, but operations are handled by a private contractor. That arrangement gives the operator strong incentives to raise revenue, while riders are left without the protections and policies that apply to publicly-run transit service.

The argument for ending transfer credits is that monorail operating costs have risen, and maintenance is essential to preserving a historic system. That is a reasonable concern. Transit infrastructure requires investment, but charging riders twice within two hours, once for a bus or train and again for the monorail, does not preserve the system; it discourages the very people who use it most consistently. The monorail should not be the transfer exception.

Ridership rebound

“But Sam hardly anyone takes the monorail anyway. Why does it matter?” I hear you say. Despite its short route and just two stops, the monorail sees real usage. The Seattle Times reported that the monorail hit its highest ridership in over a decade in early 2023. Buoyed by Seattle Kraken hockey fans, the monorail recorded 533,000 rides in the first quarter of 2023, 150,000 more than during the same period in 2022, and over 100,000 more than in the same four months of 2019. That’s about 4,000 rides per day.

In 2023, the monorail carried nearly 2.1 million passengers and in 2024 approached 2.2 million trips, offering a strong indication that, given the right circumstances, the monorail serves a concrete transit need, not just occasional tourists.

Admittedly, other transit lines get far more ridership. In 2024, the region’s six ORCA transit agencies delivered about 151 million trips, up from roughly 134 million in 2023, a 12% increase. Within that total, Sound Transit alone logged 41.5 million trips in 2024, up by more than 4 million from 2023 (about an 11% year-over-year increase).

The Link light rail system operated by Sound Transit carried 30.8 million passengers in 2024 and averaged about 90,050 weekday riders system-wide. Recent months have seen ridership climb even higher: as of May 2025, Link weekday boardings exceeded 112,000, a 23% increase over May 2024.

For the monorail, much of that boost came from event traffic. With the arrival of the Seattle Kraken hockey franchise and the rebound in concert and arena events at Climate Pledge Arena after the 2020 pandemic, a notable portion of fans used the monorail (or other transit) to avoid heavy traffic and gridlock around Seattle Center. Now, with a new Professional Women’s Hockey League hockey team and the FIFA World Cup on the horizon the entire city’s infrastructure needs to be ready, with transit running at peak efficiency to handle the load. Mega events act as a canary in a coal mine, stress testing our transportation network.

But the monorail’s renewed popularity and potential to help shoulder the load during World Cup games doesn’t mean its pricing should shift even further toward tourists. If anything, high ridership underscores its value as part of a functioning public-transport network.

Possible solutions

Unlike most transit systems in Washington, the Seattle Center Monorail is not a drain on the public purse. The monorail’s operations are uniquely funded through fare revenue rather than taxpayer subsidies, and even returns money to the City of Seattle annually under a concessions agreement. That revenue covers day-to-day operations, and equipment upgrades, an almost unheard-of arrangement in U.S. transit.

But the monorail’s success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Its elevated track and supporting pylons occupy the public right-of-way along 5th Avenue and Belltown corridors, forming a permanent footprint above some of the city’s most heavily used streets. Riders may not feel it, but the system relies on the city’s public infrastructure and airspace to operate.

Seattle’s broader goals like reducing car dependency, cutting emissions, and encouraging public transit depend on regional coordination. Breaking fare integration works in the opposite direction. If the monorail is truly a civic asset, it should align with the rest of the city’s transportation policies.

There are realistic solutions. The City of Seattle can require that the monorail restore ORCA transfer credit as a condition of its operating agreement. The City can tie future fare increases to best practices other agencies typically follow, such as conducting public outreach, publishing a cost-benefit analysis noting ridership impacts, and providing a public forum to debate the tradeoffs.

Most importantly, Seattle leaders can treat the monorail as part of the transit network rather than an isolated, revenue-dependent attraction. None of these changes require a huge funding infusion or an expansion of the system (even if I think it would be cool if they expanded the monorail). They simply require prioritizing residents over ticket revenue.

I ride the monorail more than most living in Lower Queen Anne/Uptown. It avoids traffic, provides a distinct view of the city, and remains one of Seattle’s most recognizable transit experiences. It should not be reserved for tourists or special occasions. Public transportation should be priced to serve the public. If it brings joy while doing so, that is even better.

Samuel Ross

Samuel Ross is a Seattle based public servant, returned Peace Corps volunteer, and self-described nerd. He works to promote sustainable development backed by mixed-method research. All opinions expressed are his alone and do not reflect attitudes of any organizations he is affiliated with.

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Seattle, WA

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

Published

23 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

SEATTLE – A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions. Winds continue through this evening, but will ease into Thursday morning. Landslide risks remain high through the end of the week with very saturated soil.

A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure. Heavy rain is creating extreme flooding forecasts, which could break the current levee or dike structure below Sedro-Woolley. This could cause inundation in areas like Burlington and Mount Vernon, then along to Skagit Bay. This is an alert to “Get Ready,” because if the levees break, they will release a sudden torrent of water.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure.

Rain totals reached one to over two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Rain totals reached one to two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day. Showers will still be around Thursday, but will not be as heavy as the past several days. We could also see snowfall at the higher mountain passes and peaks, mainly above Stevens Pass.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely. Linger showers continue Friday with drier skies by Saturday. A few showers are possible Sunday, with another round of showers into next week.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely.

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The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologists Claire Anderson and Ilona McCauley, and the National Weather Service.

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Seattle, WA

UPDATE: Crash on westbound West Seattle Bridge

Published

2 days ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

UPDATE: Crash on westbound West Seattle Bridge

11:23 PM: Beware if you’ll be heading westbound on the West Seattle Bridge any time soon – that two-car crash is right in the middle of the westbound lanes near midspan. No serious injuries reported.

11:56 PM: Not cleared yet; SDOT crews are in place east of the collision scene, to warn traffic to go around it by using the outside westbound lane.

12:35 AM: They’ve just reopened all westbound lanes.

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