Alright, welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders' 2nd NFC West matchup vs. the defending Super Bowl champs and former AFC West rival, Seattle Seahawks where the Raiders scratched and clawed back into the game in the 2nd half, but their 3 turnovers early on overwhelmed them at the end of the game as they fell to the champs 24-30.
0-8 and counting. This is probably one of the games we should've had. You consider the offense of the Seahawks, you see that they are too inconsistent. The defense did its job to exploit that, but as usual, bad teams find ways to lose and the Raiders committed costly turnovers, costly penalties and they let another opportunity squander to shock the experts and shock the NFL world to get that long lost W on the column against a good team, especially against the defending champs in their own house.
The Positives
Defense. Our offense couldn't get going early on and that put the Raiders in a massive hole. As bad as the defense is for the whole season, they've been playing a lot better. I think the personnel is starting to gel with Tarver's over the top defensive schemes, they've shown up and kept this team alive. Like I said, take away the Lynch TD's, which were capitalized on penalties, the defense kept Seattle's offense in check, allowing just 9 points on 3 field goals by Hauschka. The defender who stood out to me, 2nd year cornerback D.J. Hayden. I'm sure a lot of us are still pissed off that McKenzie reached for him early on two years ago in the draft. He's missed the first half of the season, but he showed some strides today. He almost had two picks that were unlucky: one where he could've taken it to the house and the other to keep the Raiders alive in the 4th. He had those two penalties, but you can't help his emotion to be on that field full time. He was rusty, but he showed great flashes of being that cover corner McKenzie envisioned out of him.
Mychal Rivera, 8 receptions, 38 yards, 2 receiving TDs. Rivera has sucked the last few games, he almost had a fumble this game. That took me back to his Week 2 fumble against the Texans and I was about to blow up, but luckily it bounced out of bounds. Rivera provided that security blanket for Carr this game. The rest of our receivers were held in check by Seahawks' LOB secondary or half of them since Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman played and Byron Maxwell and Kam Chancellor were out. Rivera's numbers may not be impressive, but he made critical plays to keep the Raiders alive.
The Negatives
Turnovers. Those turnovers hurt. I'll run you back to a couple, two of them were on Carr, a pick six to Bruce Irvin and another pick to Sherman and the fumble by Carrie on the kickoff that bounced into Hauschka's hands. Those proved to be a really big difference in this game and the Raiders shot themselves in the foot for that. Carr will make those kinds of rookie mistakes, especially playing on the road with a deafening crowd in the 12th man. A lot of Carr skeptics will call him out for that, but these are the growing pains we're going to endure until we surround Carr with a stellar running game and a #1 receiver that can make plays catch after catch.
Conclusion
Well this Halloween weekend blew. The Lakers lost twice, at home against the Clippers, on the road against the Warriors, and today the Raiders lose a tough one in Seattle. I'm not even 21 yet, but that kind of result makes me want to drink (I'm 20 btw). Anyway, it was going to be tough playing against that 12th man and the Raiders felt their presence, but they kept their head in the game. However, there are no moral victories in the NFL. I sound like a broken record saying that because the Raiders have come up empty the last few games dating back to last season. The Raiders have the Broncos next. It's another daunting task because unlike the Seahawks' offense, the Broncos know how to finish a drive with a TD thanks to Peyton Manning and his command of the offense. With the Raiders 0-8, it's likely that fans won't give a sh*t in attending games at the Coliseum. Let's hope that's not the case and sell that Denver game out for next week. If sold out, I'll see you guys for that game.
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