Raiders swept out of preseason in Seattle

New head coach Hue Jackson came into Seattle determined to get his first win, but he would leave without it. A 20-3 loss at the hands of the Seahawks sent the Raiders out of the preseason 0-4 and the typically upbeat new coach feeling the sting of loss yet again.

Those who would like to put a positive spin on the loss as well as the other three Raider losses this preseason, are quick to remind you “it’s just the preseason.” But as Hue Jackson said last week in practice, “Preseason games don’t count, but they do matter.”

With that in mind, it does not look good for this team to be winless while getting outscored by their opponents 101-44 and putting up just three points in two of those contests. That is something a more established team can shrug off. Or a more established coach. Not a team with a first year, first time head coach and looking back at nine years without a winning record.

Regardless of the significance of the game, every team and every coach wants to win. It could be a scrimmage in practice and they want to win. There is a lot more to build from by moving the ball down the field and putting up points.

The Raiders did not move the ball efficiently in this game and did not put up points. On top of that, they didn’t stop the Seahawks from moving down the field either.

On their first drive of the day, the Seahawks had the ball for over five minutes and moved the ball 65 yards to the Raider 15 yard line. A timely interception by Tyvon Branch held them out of the endzone and the Raiders were able to escape the early surge to hold the Seahawks scoreless.

The Raiders took over on their own 25 yard line and were able to get a couple of first downs on a 16 yard catch by Richard Gordon, a short catch by Jacoby Ford, and a 16 yard run by Michael Bush. But the drive was stunted by a false start penalty on Khalif Barnes followed by a blitz that was not picked up. Sebastian Janikowski then lined up for another of his long field goal attempts. This time it was from 53 yards out, and this time it missed wide left.

The Seahawks would take over in good field position and throw a 43 yard bomb on the first play to set up their own field goal to go up 3-0. That would be the final series for the Raiders’ defensive starters. The offensive starters came out for the next drive but it went nowhere.

This is when we see the enormous drop off between the Raider starters and backups. The Seahawks second team offense torched the Raiders’ second team. Backup Charlie Whitehurst (who, to be fair, probably should be the starter) drove the Seahawks right down the field to score a touchdown. That drive was helped greatly by a fluke pass defended by Joe Porter that landed in the hands of Seahawk runner Leon Washington, who took it 32 yards to the Raiders 15 yard line. Three plays later, they were in the endzone.

Due to their inability to score, the Raider first team offense was kept in the game for one more series.

“I wanted them to play,” said Jackson. “At that point in time in the game, we did some things that were very uncharacteristic of us, just in an assignment standpoint. It was nothing huge, I just wanted them to score… I think I need our offense to be executed. For the most part we did some good things. But we didn’t do them good enough. We’ve got to score. That’s how I got this job. I have got to get this team in the end zone.” 

This time they were working against the Seahawks’ second team defense. They were able to move the ball down the field in large part from 15 yard catches by Darrius Heyward-Bey and Derek Hagan. But they fell short again from poor blocking up front and would settle for a Janikowski field goal from 34 yards out.

Despite the Seahawks keeping their first teamers on the field much less time than the Raiders, they still had nearly twice as many passing yards than the Raiders (174 to 94). They were also 6 of 8 on third down attempts. The only area where the Raiders were better was rushing yards. They held the Seahawks to just 29 yards rushing in the first half, though the Raiders could only muster 39 yards of their own. With the Seahawks having their way through the air, they weren’t running much.

The second half was when it got really bad. The Raiders started with a five play drive that ended with a sack. Then the Seahawks’ offense had the ball for 7:11 minutes, driving it to the one yard line. There was a little good news to be had when the Seahawks went for it on 4th and one at the 3 yard line and were stopped for a turnover on downs.

Then after another ugly Raider possession that had Kyle Boller running for his life and once getting sacked, the Seahawks got the ball in great field position. A couple of short catches and a Joe Porter pass interference call later, and the Seahawks had another field goal to go up 13-3.

On the ensuing punt, Seahawks return man Walter Thurmond III couldn’t field the punt and the Raiders recovered to give them the break they needed. But they could do nothing with it. Yet again, poor blocking by the offensive line ended the drive after just four plays.

The Seahawks would score one more touchdown on the day thanks in large part to a missed tackle by Joe Porter on a short catch that resulted in a 28 yard gain and a 21 yard pass interference call on Chimdi Chekwa. The Raiders were unable to respond on offense and were downright hapless.

The futility of this Raider team showed on the face of Hue Jackson just as it had after last week’s 40-20 home loss to the Saints. The losses have taken their toll on the head coach. The last full day of practice this week, he was admittedly angry. And watching them play, it is easy to see why. 

As much solace can be put in the fact that the Raiders have a lot of players not in the game, the lack of depth behind those players is a tremendous concern. Even so, the starters have not been making  the plays they had hoped.

Yes, it is just the preseason. But there are still deep concerns in the linebacking corps, secondary, and offensive line — all of which are areas the Raiders were concerned about coming into camp.

The next game does count. It will come in ten days on Monday Night Football in Denver against the rival Broncos. The game that the Raiders used to own and have not in recent seasons. They didn’t have a game on Monday night last season. They will have ten days to try to figure out how to remedy some of the glaring problems.

Hue is hoping his first win as the Raiders’ coach comes when it counts AND when it matters most — in Denver, on Monday Night. But he and his players will have to shake off being swept out of the preseason first.

The final roster cuts are due in by 1:00pm Pacific time tomorrow. The Raiders will have 26 cuts to make which means most of the guys who played in the second half of this game will not be with the team come this time tomorrow. Other teams will also be cutting a lot of players so we could see the Raiders cut more than the 26 required in order to sign a few castoffs from other teams.

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