Inside The Huskies

Good, Bad and Patient for NFL Huskies on Sunday

Trent McDuffie ended an interception drought with an end-zone pass theft.

Dan Raley

Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie (22), the former Husky, celebrates his first NFL interception against the Cleveland Browns.
Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie (22), the former Husky, celebrates his first NFL interception against the Cleveland Browns. / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

For former University of Washington football players turned well-paid NFL employees, Sunday was all about the good, the bad and the patient.

Addressing the latter category first, Trent McDuffie, clearly one of pro football's elite cornerbacks, ended a 52-game stretch from Montlake to the professional stage without an interception when he pilfered a Jameis Winston pass in the end zone during the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs' 21-7 victory over the Cleveland Browns on the road.

In his third NFL season, the 5-foot-11, 193-pound McDuffie ran step for step with the Browns' Michael Woods II before turning at the last second to make his first NFL interception from his knees, even with Woods yanking his face mask hard and getting away with it.

Meantime for the feel good, wide receiver Jalen McMillan didn't have a defender around him when he hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield for the first points in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 40-17 rout of the Los Angeles Chargers on the road. This was one of the rookie's 5 catches for 75 yards.

While McMillan came up with his fourth TD reception of the season, and third in two weeks, this one was especially meaningful for the Fresno, California, native. Returning to his home state for the first time as a pro, he played in front of 30 friends and family members, many of whom made the 225-mile trek from the San Joaquin Valley for the game.

Unfortunately, not all of the NFL news on Sunday involving former Huskies was as uplifting as those two.

Jake Haener, a UW quarterback before transferring to Fresno State in 2019, made his first NFL start for the New Orleans Saints and it did not go well.

In their 20-19 loss to the Washington Commanders at home, coming after a failed two-point conversion attempt, the Saints scored zero points and managed only 38 net yards in the first half, their fewest in a half since 2002. Haener completed just 4 of 10 passes for 49 yards and threw an interception.

This prompted the New Orleans coaching staff to give Haener, a second-year player, a quick hook at halftime in favor of rookie Spencer Rattler, who brought the Saints back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to make a game out of it.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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