O’Neil: With win over Raiders, Seahawks prove they’re not bad
Oct 14, 2018, 1:56 PM | Updated: 2:25 pm
(AP)
The Seahawks ran the ball on each of the first seven plays during a game that became immediately notable for the fact that Seattle scored a touchdown on its opening possession for the first time in more than two calendar years.
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They ran the ball on each of the final seven plays of the game, not including the final two kneeldowns by quarterback Russell Wilson as the Seahawks ran out the clock on a game that should be remembered for just how one-sided it was.
Seahawks 27, Raiders 3 – and don’t bother calculating the exchange rate from London. This game wasn’t even that close.
Seattle’s first and final possession told you everything you needed to know about this one. The Seahawks started with seven straight runs in a touchdown drive that ate up the first 7 minutes, 36 seconds of the game. They didn’t pass on any of the final nine plays, either, as their last drive consumed the final 8:25.
In between, Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns while the Raiders ran exactly one play inside the Seattle 20. That one red-zone play resulted in a 6-yard sack of Derek Carr by Shamar Stephen, which was fitting in a way. The Seahawks sacked Carr six times in the game, 2.5 of those getting credited to Frank Clark.
The Raiders crossed midfield only twice in the first half and only a 41-yard field goal by Matt McCrane with 8:25 left in the game was all that kept the Seahawks from recording their first shutout since blanking Chicago 26-0 back in September 2015.
This was an absolute whupping. The Seahawks gained twice as many yards as the Raiders, 369 to 185. Seattle lost more yards to penalties (64) than it gave up to Oakland’s Marshawn Lynch on the ground (45).
Doug Baldwin caught six passes for 91 yards. David Moore, Tyler Lockett and Jaron Brown each caught a touchdown pass for the Seahawks, who will come back from England 3-3 with a week off and a schedule that’s about to turn in Seattle’s favor. After playing at Detroit on Oct. 28, Seattle will play six home games over the final nine weeks of the season.
More than anything, the Seahawks showed definitively that they are not a bad team. That doesn’t mean they’ll wind up being good, but they’re not bad.
They’ve beaten Dallas at home, won an ugly game against Arizona on the road and put an unambiguous walloping on the Raiders over in England. And of their three losses, they’ve had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter of each of those games.
As the Seahawks hit their bye week, you can start to think that maybe – just maybe – the Seahawks could turn out to be pretty good this season.
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