Photo credit: @Raiders
By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor
Russell Wilson threw three touchdowns and the Seahawks held a depleted Raiders team to just 185 yards of total offense in Seattle’s 27-3 victory on Sunday in front of announced London-record crowd of 84,922 at Wembley Stadium, many being pro-Seahawks as Seattle’s “12th Man” traveled across ‘The Pond’ cheering on their team — even though the Raiders were designated as the home team.
Now at 1-5 and heading into the a much needed bye week, its clear that the Raiders have plenty of work to do.
Check out my three takeways from the Silver and Black’s ugly loss to the Seahawks (3-3) in Week 6:
Oakland’s offense was held together with gum and duct tape
With injuries along the offensive line with guard John Feliciano leaving the game with injured ribs and being already without veteran tackle Donald Penn (on injured reserve with a groin injury) and guard Kelechi Osemele, rookie tackles Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker were devoured by an intense Seattle pass rush for most of the day, which didn’t bode well for Derek Carr.
The Raiders’ franchise signal-caller did complete 23-of-31 passes for just 142 yards, but was under siege the entire game as he was sacked six times. Whenever he dropped back to pass, Carr was almost immediately met by a Seattle defender.
Carr left the game with 8:52 left in the fourth quarter after apparently injuring his left arm on the last of the six sacks by defense tackle Jarran Reed on third down. Carr immediately grabbed his upper left arm after sitting up before being medically evaluated by the training staff.
Even if Carr had time to throw, Carr didn’t have his best wide receiver in the game in Amari Cooper, who was lost for the game after suffering a concussion on a nasty hit from Seahawks strong safety Bradley McDougald in the second quarter.
Cooper ran a drag route over the middle of the field and attempted to catch a loss pass from Carr, before McDougald led with his shoulder resulting in the hit, that also showed the players made helmet-to-helmet contact was made.
No penalty was called.
Reserve wide receiver Seth Roberts, who replaced Cooper, left the game too with a concussion and didn’t return.
Roberts finished with five catches for 31 yards.
Backup running back Jalen Richard led the team with seven catches (on 8 targets) for 48 yards, largely due to Carr having to get the football out quick and relying on check-downs to running backs.
Early in the game for Oakland, it appeared that the Raiders wanted to get starting running back Marshawn Lynch more involved in the game, touching the football four times on Oakland’s first drive of the game (three runs and one pass), but the former Seahawk only managed one yard.
Lynch finished the game with 17 touches for 59 yards of total offense (13 carries for 45 yards and 3 catches for 14 yards) against his former team. Oakland only managed just 79 yards rushing in the game.
Oakland’s offense lacked fluidity and explosion in mustering just three points on Sunday. In the last two games, the Raiders have scored just 13 points combined after rolling up 45 points against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4.
Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense made life difficult for Raiders’ defense
The former Super Bowl MVP engineered a 14-play, 82-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard touchdown thrown from Wilson to wide receiver Jaron Brown that staked Seattle to a 7-0 lead on the Seahawks’ first drive of the game in the first quarter.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, it was the first time that the Seahawks scored on their first offensive possession in a game since Week 3 of the 2016 season against the San Francisco 49ers, spanning 34 games. It was the NFL’s longest scoring drought for any team without a scoring touchdown on its opening possession.
Wilson completed 17-of-23 passes for 222 yards with three touchdowns and one interception to Raiders’ cornerback Daryl Worley after trying to force a pass to wide receiver Doug Baldwin, who was double-covered.
On top of his touchdown throw to Brown, Wilson threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver David Moore in the second quarter, and a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tyler Lockett that gave Seattle a commanding 27-0 lead in the fourth quarter.
Seattle was nearly flawless on third down, converting 9-of-13 opportunities. By the same measure, the Raiders only converted 4-of-12 third downs.
Running back Chris Carson rushed for 59 yards on 14 carries for Seattle, while rookie running back Rashaad Penny added 43 yards for Seattle who racked up 369 yards of total offense on the day. Seattle held the edge in time of possession, holding onto to the football for 31:26 to Oakland’s 28:34.
If it weren’t for head-scratching penalties by Seattle (8 for 64 yards) to Oakland’s (5 for 38 yards), the Seahawks could’ve really embarrassed Oakland in the United Kingdom.
Rookie Arden Key recorded his first-career sack in the game and linebacker Tahir Whitehead led the Raiders in tackles with six total (4 solo).
Key along with linebacker Bruce Irvin seems to be taking the loss, well per their comments to the media postgame.
“We lost, but I got a beautiful wife I get to go home to… I’m going to try to make some babies man,” Irvin said to reporters after the game.
“I mean, we came in and we got our ass whooped,” Key said. “Like there’s no way around it. We got our ass whooped from the first whistle to the last whistle. So we just gotta remember that and come out fire next week and continue to come out with fire.”
Sebastian Janikowski scores nine points against former team
Janikowski, who joined the Seahawks in the offseason after 17 years with the Raiders, did his part in defeating his former team Sunday, knocking down both of his field goals — from 44 and 26 yards — and all three of his extra points.
UP NEXT
Seattle faces the Detroit Lions on Oct. 28 on the road after a bye week, while the Raiders will host the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 28, also after a bye week.
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