Seahawks absolutely maul Raiders with a complete team effort

The Seahawks dismantled an overmatched Raiders team in London to even their record at 3-3. Seattle is clearly a much better team now.

The Seahawks looked good in a tough loss to the Rams last week. They looked even better with an easy win over the Raiders today. How easy, you ask? We knew you’d ask; that’s why we’re here. With the exception of a couple of unlucky bounces, it was like taking candy from an ill-tempered little doll. Yes, that’s a Jon Gruden reference. We’ll get to Chucky later.

First, what did Seattle accomplish on offense? Well, Russell Wilson turned in another solid performance. Solid like granite, that is. He connected on almost 74 percent of his passes and three scores. He was picked off once, but that was on a ball that bounced off his receiver’s hands. That really needs to be a different stat. Anyway, Wilson is now on pace for 35 touchdowns on the season versus 11 picks. Sounds a lot like last season’s 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

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Who got the ball? Basically everybody. Doug Baldwin finally had a Doug Baldwin game. He lead all receivers with six catches for 91 yards. When it came to touchdowns, Wilson spread the wealth. Tyler Lockett, Jaron Brown and David Moore all got into the end zone. By the way, that’s five scores for Lockett already. That extension sure looks smart, doesn’t it? Brown is fitting in nicely, and Moore is showing that his preseason heroics definitely translate to the regular season.

Seattle’s running game continued to shine, as the Seahawks pounded the Raiders with a three-headed attack. Actually make that four heads, as Wilson had six carries himself. Chris Carson led the way again. He had 59 yards on 14 carries. Rashaad Penny showed he was no longer the forgotten man in the backfield. He added 43 yards on just nine carries, and had two catches for 27 yards. Mike Davis, the hero of the Cardinals game, didn’t exactly disappear. He chipped in 21 yards on six carries and snagged a catch as well. Overall, Seattle ran 37 times and piled up 155 yards against Oakland.

Seahawks dominated on the defensive side of the ball

On defense, Seattle throttled the Raiders. The hyped “revenge” game by Marshawn Lynch fizzled, as he had 45 yards on 13 carries. at that, he was much more effective than David Carr. The former wonderboy of the NFL was 23-31 for just 142 yards. The Seahawks defensive line took Oakland’s lunch money AND called all their moms bad names. Led by Frank Clark and his 2.5 sacks, Seattle put Carr down six times in all. Clark now has 5.5 sacks on the season. I think now would be a really good time for an extension, don’t you?

I’d be doing everyone a grave disservice if I didn’t mention the play of Bradley McDougald. He was great as a supersub in 2017, filling in for both Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor as needed. When Chancellor went down, the dropoff wasn’t nearly as bad as expected. McDougald has absolutely established himself as a team leader this season. He’s covering the field like Earl’s best student, and delivering hits like Kam programmed with all his best shots.

Okay, that’s a bit overplayed, but not by much. I expected big things from McDougald when Seattle first signed him, but I didn’t expect he’d be this good. Amari Cooper knows, though. Ask him, when he’s out of hospital. For the record, that’s a clean shot. Raider fan may not like it, but Raider fan was happy they got Jon Gruden back. Clearly, Raider fan struggles with critical thinking skills at times.

Speaking of critical thinking skills, here’s your weekly dose of Russell Wilson magic. Same ol’ Russell.

Seahawks had an advantage: a bad coach on the other side

Most people expected the Seahawks to win this one. After all, it’s not like the Raiders have a good coach (told you we’d get back to Chucky). Jon Gruden was a head coach for 11 years before getting snapped up from the booth for his ridiculous ten year contract. He had four good seasons in those 11. His overall record was 95-81, a .540 winning percentage. His Super Bowl win for Tampa Bay  came by beating the team he had just left the previous season. I think he was pretty familiar with the Raiders personnel, don’t you? After that, Gruden had just one season that was more than a game over .500 in his next six seasons. Yeah, he’s worth $100 million, alright.

Including that Super Bowl run, Gruden was just 57-55 with the Buccaneers. There’s a reason he spent the last nine years as a broadcaster. I liked him in that role. As a coach, not so much. Frankly, anyone stupid enough to think he didn’t need Khalil Mack on his defense deserves to see his team shredded on the field. And anyone stupid enough to give a slightly better than mediocre coach the biggest contract in league history deserves a bad team, too. Chucky really didn’t need that no-trade clause in his contract. I doubt Mark Davis will get as much as a color rush jersey in trade.

Back to a good team. Overall, the Seahawks were very efficient on offense. After the ridiculous spectacle of going 0-10 on third down against the Cardinals, things looked bleak, despite the win. Since then, they’ve been very good. Seattle was 7-12 on third down versus the Rams, and converted 9-13 today versus the Raiders. Offensively, the Seahawks look very dangerous. Spectacular, no, but they’re grinding out yards, sustaining drives, and turning those yards into points.

On defense, they’re tough and opportunistic. Don’t forget that Oakland came into this game ranked sixth in offensive yards. The Raiders averaged 411 yards per game in their first five games, and they played both the Rams and Broncos. Against Seattle, they had just 185. Yes, the Seahawks are looking good right now, despite the rough early start. The season is far from over.