Seahawks should defeat Raiders for one big reason

The Seahawks travel to London to play the Raiders on Sunday. Seattle is 3-3 and Oakland is 1-4. Seattle should win and here is why.

The Seahawks could easily be 4-1. They aren’t, of course, because they are 2-3. But we all knew this team was going to be a little worse than in years past. Yet, the truth is the Seattle football team is better than expected.

Seattle could have beaten the Rams this past Sunday. If not for a few mistakes in the last few minutes of the game, they would have. And the Seahawks led the Broncos in week one in the fourth quarter.

But Seattle in those weeks one and two losses had not found its offensive identity. Seattle failed to run the ball and was missing key pieces along the offensive line. That issue appears fixed now and the last three weeks Seattle has controlled the game with their running game.

Three straight weeks Seattle has had a ball carrier go for over 100 yards in a game. Chris Carson has done it twice, weeks three and five. Mike Davis ran for over 100 yards in week four. Carson is 15th in the NFL in rushing yards, and that is only because he missed a game. He should be higher. Both Carson and Davis are in the top 25 of the league in yards-per-attempt.

As Luke Allen pointed out, Seattle’s offensive line has made itself into a good unit. Not average. But good. Since D.J. Fluker came back from injury in week three, Seattle has been a much better football team. Because before Seattle simply didn’t do these kinds of things:

Sure, Fluker was called for a hold late in the fourth quarter which pushed Seattle beyond field goal range. 12s all know it was a crap call. But the way Fluker responded post-game was great.

And if a team wants to run the ball, and the Seahawks do, that team needs players with a bully mentality. That mentality needs to go from the offensive line to the running backs. With Seattle, it does.

And guess who can’t stop the run? That would be the 2018 version of the Oakland Raiders. Oakland is 28th in the league against the run in yards given up per game with 127.2. The Raiders are 27th in yards-per-rush at 4.9 yards a carry. And Oakland is 28th in touchdown runs-scored-against with six.

(To be fair, the Seahawks are close to Oakland in those first two categories. But Seattle is just 13th in touchdowns runs given up with four.)

The simple fact is, Seattle should have started the season running the ball. They didn’t have Fluker then, though, but now they do. The Seahawks have proven the last three weeks that should they run they can do so successfully and put themselves in a position to win. To win on Sunday against the Raiders, Seattle needs to give Chris Carson and Mike Davis the ball. A lot.