Oakland Raiders vs. Seattle Seahawks: Final Report Card Grades for Seattle
The Seattle Seahawks came out of their tilt with the Oakland Raiders with a 30-24 win, but it was less than inspiring. Though a win is a win, these small victories the Seahawks have managed to pull out over the past few weeks are revealing.
Tight games against the likes of the Washington Redskins, St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers and Raiders (combined record of 9-23-1) have exposed this Seattle team to be just above adequate.
The Seahawks rode to victory on a three-turnover first quarter from the Raiders and the legs of Marshawn Lynch.
The Seahawks found a worthy challenger for bone-headed penalties but still managed to almost double Oakland's five for 69 yards with nine for 65 yards. Overall, the Seahawks came out of the weekend with a much-needed victory but have plenty of work to do.
Final Game Stats
| Oakland Raiders | Category | Seattle Seahawks |
|---|---|---|
| 226 | Total Yards | 326 |
| 189 | Passing Yards | 177 |
| 4.5 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.9 |
| 37 | Rushing Yards | 149 |
| 2.1 | Yards Per Attempt | 3.9 |
| 5-69 | Penalties | 9-65 |
| 3 | Turnovers | 0 |
| 5-15 | Third-Down Conversions | 7-18 |
| 24:45 | Possession | 35:15 |
Quarterback
1 of 10
"Russell Wilson postgame: "I didn't think I played well at all for whatever reason." #Seahawks
— Tim Booth (@ByTimBooth) November 3, 2014"
The play of Russell Wilson since Seattle's Week 4 bye has been hit or miss, and Sunday's game was definitely of the latter category.
Wilson completed 17 of 35 passes for 179 yards, zero touchdowns and two plays that likely should have resulted in interceptions. He also scrambled eight times for 31 yards.
It marks the fourth game of the season during which Wilson has thrown for fewer than 200 yards. He has two games where he finished with 201 and 202 passing yards as well. He had six sub-200-yard performances in all of 2013.
The Seattle passing game has grown stagnant and there doesn't appear to be an end to Wilson's erratic accuracy in sight either. The Seahawks were set up with great field position on back-to-back turnovers and came up with just three points on the drives.
While Marshawn Lynch and the running game were enough to carry the offense for most of this one, there is a clear need for improved execution from the passing game.
Based on the unit's 38.9 percent third-down conversion rate for the game, a lot of the team's success was predicated by Oakland turnovers.
Wilson faced quite a bit of pressure as well, but he has to be able to adjust plays before the snap when the Raiders are showing a blitz and do a better job of throwing catchable balls. It was an all-around poor outing from the young quarterback that the team was able to overcome for the second consecutive week.
Grade: D-
Running Back
2 of 10
Marshawn Lynch would have exploded for an even bigger day if not for penalties. In the end, he still totaled 143 yards in the game, with 67 yards and two touchdowns on the ground to go with 76 receiving yards on five catches.
As a team, Seattle finished with 149 yards on the ground with help from Robert Turbin and Christine Michael. Turbin ran for 35 yards and pulled in one pass for 14 yards while Michael rushed for 16 yards of his own.
Fullback Will Tukuafu had a solid performance in his first game with the team. His performance helped provide the Seahawks running backs with better blocks than Turbin was able to while filling in for the injured Derrick Coleman.
Lynch had two 20-plus-yard runs voided due to a holding penalty and an illegal shift penalty. Otherwise, he likely would have broken the century mark for the first time since Week 1.
The rushing attack was the most reliable part of the offense, but it was still bottled up at times with the passing game struggling.
Grade: A
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
There were no standouts among the tight end and receiver group, and their collective poor outing was not completely due to Russell Wilson's subpar performance.
Marshawn Lynch led all receivers (on both teams) with his 76 yards. Doug Baldwin finished with five catches for 38 yards.
Rookie wideout Paul Richardson was second with three receptions for a measly 12 yards. Wilson completed one pass each to four other targets for the rest of the game.
Jermaine Kearse was able to draw a questionable pass interference call on the Seahawks' first drive to help set up a touchdown, but had just one catch for four yards.
Luke Willson was forced into the starting lineup again and continued to struggle with dropping passes. He had just one reception on five targets for the game. Baldwin cannot be the only reliable target going forward because his usage doesn't force defenders to back away from the line of scrimmage.
Kearse and the rookie receivers have to improve or the passing game will continue to struggle.
Grade: F
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The Seattle offensive line made a triumphant return to being a strong run-blocking unit but was beaten on several occasions when the Raiders blitzed. There were still too many pre-snap penalties, including back-to-back false start calls late in the game that turned a 3rd-and-7 into 3rd-and-17.
Injuries continued to pile up, as James Carpenter went down again, forcing Garry Gilliam into the game.
Though Russell Wilson did experience some pressure, the problem was with receivers not getting open quickly enough on several plays as well.
Wilson was sacked just once in the game but was hurried on several dropbacks as well. Wilson was also hit on six plays, and there were four plays resulting in a loss of yards in the game.
This was a solid performance by a makeshift group that continues to recover from injury. The unit is till missing Russell Okung and Max Unger.
Grade: C+
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Seahawks managed just one sack on Derek Carr's 41 dropbacks and didn't seem to struggle with getting after the rookie quarterback for much of the game. Cliff Avril had the sack and came close on a couple other plays, but everyone else was nowhere to be found.
Michael Bennett had one of the worst facemask penalties I've seen, yanking Carr down by the helmet appendage without ever grabbing him in any of the more acceptable areas to sack the quarterback.
Carr threw two interceptions, but they were more due to poor decisions than any Seattle rush.
When it came to stopping the run, it was a return to the unit Seattle showed itself to be through the first three weeks of the season. Oakland totaled 37 yards in the game on 18 totes and had a largely ineffectual ground game throughout the day.
Grade: B-
Linebacker
6 of 10
Bruce Irvin made a huge play early in the game to give the Seahawks their second score of the day, picking off a pass and returning it 35 yards for a touchdown. He finished the day with three tackles and did a great job of helping to contain any attempts to run the ball outside of the tackles.
K.J. Wright enjoyed a return to his normal position of weak-side linebacker, leading the team in tackles with 12 and registering a pass defensed.
Mike Morgan, Brock Coyle and Kevin Pierre-Louise each made their own contributions throughout the game.
However, tight end Mychal Rivera accounted for both of Oakland's offensive touchdowns in the game. Both came on one-yard receptions that gave the Raiders an opportunity to make a comeback in a tightly played game.
With that said, one of those plays appeared to be the responsibility of safety DeShawn Shead.
Grade: B+
Secondary
7 of 10
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr decided to test Richard Sherman early with a back-shoulder throw to his receiver. Sherman read the play perfectly, pulled the ball in for an interception with one hand and returned it 22 yards.
The offense was only able to muster a field goal despite starting on the Oakland 18-yard line, but the points proved valuable.
The Raiders finished with 194 receiving yards but never could complete a long throw that their offense has grown to rely upon. Mychal Rivera made eight receptions in the game for 38 yards, but Darren McFadden led the team in receiving yards with 47 on four catches.
None of Oakland's receivers were able to create space for Carr to throw the ball to with any consistency. Even with Kam Chancellor out of the lineup, the secondary seemed to continue to progress toward being the No. 1 unit it was a year ago.
Grade: A
Special Teams
8 of 10
The Seattle special teams unit has continued to struggle since the loss to the St. Louis Rams, this time having a punt blocked and recovered for a score and allowing several long returns.
T.J. Carrie had a 42-yard return at a key point in the game to set up an Oakland touchdown after fumbling the ball earlier in the game.
Paul Richardson and Doug Baldwin had some nice returns of their own on kick and punt returns. Steven Hauschka missed a field goal and Jon Ryan shanked a field goal. Having some of these issues from time to time is okay, but the weekly gaffes are becoming a nuisance for an underwhelming offense.
Grade: C+
Coaching
9 of 10
New week, same story. The offense has proven itself to be an albatross on a team with an elite defense that is only getting better. There are not enough playmakers on the offensive side of the ball with the trade of Percy Harvin and the offseason departure of Golden Tate.
A young group of receivers is continuing to grow within the offense, and a once-strong special teams group has had several lapses of late.
Seattle is lucky to have gotten through the rough part of its schedule early but doesn't have much time before big division games against the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.
Grade: C+
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | D- |
| RB | A |
| WR/TE | F |
| OL | C+ |
| DL | B- |
| LB | B+ |
| DB | A |
| Special Teams | C+ |
| Coaching | C+ |
| Cumulative Grade | C+ |
This week's matchup with the winless Oakland Raiders was an opportunity for the Seahawks to differentiate themselves from the mediocrity of the NFL. They failed to pass the test and do not appear to be on par with the 2013 version of themselves.
Barring a return to form on the offensive side of the ball, this team is looking like a 10-6 or 9-7 team and in danger of not making a return to the playoffs.
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