Seahawks allow 41 points, fall hard to Raiders in preseason finale
The Seattle Seahawks kickoff the NFL’s regular season next week, but they might have been caught looking too far ahead when they visited the Oakland Raiders on Thursday night.
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Outplayed early in the game, the Seahawks’ defense was lit up in Northern California, allowing 41 points while digging themselves into too deep a hole for the offense to get out of. Seattle had a late comeback bid but ultimately came up short as the team fell to the Raiders 41-31 in both teams’ preseason finales.
The Seahawks finished the preseason 2-2, undefeated at home and winless on the road.
Luckily for them, Seattle returns to the Pacific Northwest for the NFL’s opening day on Sept. 4.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, much like it appeared the Seahawks did in Oakland.
The Seahawks started that game flying high with a four-play, 80-yard drive that took fewer than two minutes to complete. Russell Wilson completed all three of his passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, including a 44-yard strike to Jermaine Kearse on the first play of the game.
The drive was what Seahawks fans have expected from their starters, but unfortunately the lead didn’t last long.
Led by rookie Derek Carr, the Raiders scored 21 points in the next two and a half minutes to take a commanding 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
At the start of the second, Carr threw his third touchdown pass of the game, his second to Denarius Moore, and Seattle found themselves down 28-7.
Carr finished the night 11-for-13 for 143 yards and three touchdown passes, a strong statement by the rookie to be Oakland’s Week 1 starter.
Seattle’s defense put the Seahawks back on the board in the middle of the second quarter when DeShawn Shead took a pick-six 54 yards for a big touchdown.
The Raiders scored another touchdown before Terrelle Pryor hit Phil Bates with seconds left in the half and the teams headed to the locker room with Oakland up 35-21.
In the third quarter, Giorgio Tavecchio converted a 47-yard field goal to make it a 38-21 affair. The points were the only scored in the quarter.
The Seahawks made things interesting in the fourth. Steven Hauschka booted a 27-yard three-pointer to narrow the Raiders lead to 38-24 early before B.J. Daniels led the team down the field midway through the quarter capped by a touchdown pass to Bryan Walters to make it a 38-31 game.
But a failed onside kick gave the Raiders the ball with great field position and Tavecchio kicked another field goal to make it 41-31.
Oakland finished the game with 353 total yards, 229 of which came through the air, and 21 first downs. They were also 3-for-3 scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
The Seahawks didn’t play terribly on offense, but they didn’t start playing really well until late in the game and the lack of defense came full circle to hurt the team as a whole.
Seattle had 406 total yards and 19 first downs but neither were not enough to counter the team’s defensive woes.
Seattle also showed poor discipline, getting called for 12 penalties for 95 yards.
Thursday night’s preseason finale served as a last-chance opportunity for a lot of Seahawks to lock their place on the team’s final 53-man roster, which is due to the league by Saturday afternoon.
Seattle currently has 75 men so, unfortunately, 22 players played their last game in a Seahawks uniform.
For everyone else, the preseason is over and the focus is now on the real deal — the regular season.
The Green Bay Packers want to spoil the Seahawks party next Thursday, when Seattle will raise a championship banner for the first time in the franchise’s history.