The Seahawks got off to a blistering start on their first drive against the Raiders Friday night, moving down the field 80 yards in four plays and just under two minutes to go up 7-0. On that drive, Russell Wilson's only, he went 3-for-3 for 77 yards, including a beautiful redline pass to Jermaine Kearse down the right sideline, then followed that up later with a nice seam route to Luke Willson for a touchdown.
The Raiders, led by rookie Derek Carr, responded with a very strong drive of their own, at one point extended by a great Denarius Moore one-handed catch on third down, and scored a counter touchdown to tie the game.
It would go downhill from there.
Bryan Walters fumbled the subsequent return, and on the next play, Phillip Adams gave up a long go-route touchdown pass up the sideline. He looked back for the ball like Hawks' DBs are taught, but he slowed up and the play was longer than he had expected -- Derek Carr first looked left before re-setting and throwing right. By the time the pass had been thrown, Moore had was two lengths ahead of Adams for an easy TD.
These back-to-back plays violate two of Pete Carroll's biggest tenets -- never give up the ball, and never get beat deep. All of a sudden, the game was 14-7.
The Seahawks' next drive was no better -- it included a fumbled snap by Tarvaris Jackson, a holding penalty, and a play where Paul Richardson looked like he didn't know what was going on. A 3-and-out, followed by terrible punt coverage and a huge return, and all of a sudden, after a deflected pass ended up in a Raider's hands in the endzone, it's 21-7.
The Seahawks would continue to stall and the Raiders would build up their lead. Derek Carr ended up going 11-for-13 for 143 yards and three touchdowns. He looked calm and poised, he played well in the pocket, looked off Seattle safeties, and his third touchdown, a bullet to the back shoulder of Denarius Moore, was a thing of pure beauty. Latavius Murray ran well against the Seahawks first-and-second units early on and seemed to find some nice creases for big gains.
Tarvaris Jackson could not get anything going at all, finishing 2-for-4 for 19 yards passing. Robert Turbin struggled as well, running the ball 4 times for 11 yards. The first half was something to forget, but there were of course a few positives to take away.
Here are some notes, and we'll surely break down the game in further detail this week.
- Paul Richardson showed well, grabbing several nice catches, including one that was negated by a penalty. He finished with two catches for 16 yards but did some good things, like this:
- A nice interception by Kevin Pierre-Lewis deep in Raider territory was unfortunately called back due to a hands to the face penalty on Greg Scruggs.
- DeShawn Shead played well to my eye, including extensive time at cornerback, where he looked more comfortable than he has at safety in limited action. He had a pick six on a deflected pass by Phillip Adams, so that was a big highlight. Shead also deflected a long pass to the endzone that would've been a touchdown if he hadn't gotten his hand on the ball.
- After getting burnt for a touchdown early, Phillip Adams recovered nicely and played some good coverage. He's got a shot at the roster.
- Terrelle Pryor struggled for the most part, but his final statline wasn't too shabby -- 11-for-17 for 134 yards and a long touchdown pass to Phil Bates. I don't think Pryor helped himself too much in this one though -- he had a couple of off-target slant throws on third downs and had a few fruitless scrambles end up out of bounds and at our around the line of scrimmage.
- B.J. Daniels looked pretty exciting though, which begs the question whether there's a spot on the roster for him. Daniels finished 5 of 9 for 71 yards passing, with a touchdown to Bryan Walters, who took the quick pass on the right, scooted past two defenders and into the endzone.
- Walters, who fumbled early, battled back and had a relatively impressive game, with three catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. He returned five kicks and averaged 27 yards per return (pretty good), and returned two punts, one for 13 yards. Walters' value on special teams could honestly earn him a spot on the roster, and he looked good out there with the offense as well.
- The Seahawks' second-team defensive units struggled in all phases - coverage, tackling, gap integrity. It was an eye-opening night that the team will surely learn from.
Injury notes:
Cassius Marsh hip injury early on, and Kevin Pierre-Louis left with a hamstring injury. Otherwise the Hawks emerged relatively unscathed, which is great news. Hopefully the Marsh and KPL injuries aren't severe.
The preseason is over. Next up, the Green Bay Packers.