Mike Davis and the Seahawks hope to rebound in London after a tough Week Five loss against the Rams (photo credit: Associated Press).

Seahawks hope to right the course against the Raiders at Wembley

By Renny Thomas

The NFL comes to England this week, as the Seahawks (2-3) match up against the Oakland Raiders, who have just a victory to their name.  Both teams are coming off of losses to division rivals and hope that a change of scenery to a place as far away from home can help turn things around on this young season.

The Seahawks arrive at Wembley coming off brutal 33-31 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but have plenty of positives that can be carried over into England’s capital.  Russell Wilson was able to put together a fantastic game against a vaunted Rams defense which is impressive on its own, but the most important part was his ability to have this success while remaining in the pocket.

The former third-round pick put up close to 200 yards and three touchdowns almost exclusively from the pocket in front of an offensive line that gave up only two sacks. Against a team with the likes of Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh up front, that is impressive. This has been a welcome trend for an offensive line which gave up six sacks a piece in the first two games, has allowed just four sack combined in the past two weeks.

Part of what has helped the offensive line improve over the past few weeks has been a much more impressive rushing attack led by Chris Carson and Mike Davis.  The two running backs racked up nearly 200 yards this past week against the Rams, both have exchanged 100+ rushing yard performances in their two victories on the season.

The Seahawks defense, on the other hand, was ravaged by the Rams offense.  A defense in transition this year (with the offseason departures of Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor, among others) has had a difficult time adjusting to life after the “Legion of Boom”.  All-Pro Safety Earl Thomas is also lost for the season with a broken leg. The 2010 14th overall pick sat out during the offseason in a bid for a new contract, now it looks as if he will never play for Seattle again.

On the other sideline, the Raiders limp into London with a record of 1-4.  The team has struggled mightily in their first five games, with only a victory in overtime over the Cleveland Browns on the season.  The offense has been inconsistent. Derek Carr has been decent but far from the player he was as a Pro Bowler two years ago. Last week against a tough Los Angeles Chargers defense, Carr put up decent numbers (268 yards and a TD)  but made the crucial mistake of throwing an interception in the end zone towards the end of the third quarter that killed any momentum the Raiders had.

It does appear that Carr is slowly improving on the season as he gets more acclimatised to Gruden’s offensive system, but the Raiders will need much better from the former second-round selection if they plan on contending for the playoffs this year.

Marshawn Lynch has also been very inconsistent on the season.  The 32-year-old running back has just one game of over 100 rushing yard. The former Seattle player’s burst seems to only be available on occasion. He is still viewed as the primary back in Oakland and at his age, that may be a task to heavy for even him to bear.

While the offense has been inconsistent, the defense has not.  It has been bad this year, allowing over 20 points per game on the season.  Trading Khalil Mack has decimated the Oakland pass rush, with the Raiders being the worst team in the league at rushing the quarterback with only 6 sacks on the season.  The lack of pass rush has put a lot of pressure on a young group of defensive backs. Oakland absolutely need to find some way to pressure the QB to get their season back on track.

The Seahawks and Raiders game in London should be a high scoring affair because neither team is all that effective at consistently stopping their opposition.  Both teams will be dealing with a time difference of about 8 hours and in looking at the history of teams playing regular season games in London, this seems to have effected the defenses more than offenses.

Big numbers should be expected from both quarterbacks, as far as yards and touchdowns. Seattle, if they get a victory, can put themselves squarely in the conversation for one of the wild card spots in the playoffs in the NFC.  With the higher incentive to win and better play over the past few weeks, the Seahawks should be able to pull off the win in front of the raucous crowds in Wembley Stadium.