NFL Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders’ Valiant Effort vs Seahawks Not Enough To End Winless 2014

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By @Kevin_Saito

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

And the nightmare continues.

A painfully slow start and several very notable miscues doomed the Oakland Raiders to their eighth consecutive defeat to start the 2014 NFL season. Though they showed some life and some fight in the second half, in the end, it was too much Beast Mode and too much Russell Wilson for the Raiders to overcome as they fell 30-24 to the Seattle Seahawks.

The Raiders aren’t a team that can afford to let themselves get into a hole to begin with. But with Derek Carr having arguably his worst performance as the starting quarterback, Oakland did just that. The Seahawks dominated early, but the Raiders showed some life and fight, getting themselves back into a game that looked to be over at halftime. But in the end, the mistakes, bad habits and deficiencies that have haunted the Raiders all season reared their ugly heads to stop the late rally and lead them to yet another defeat.

For the second consecutive week, the Raiders’ defense dropped sure interceptions, including a pick that would have been a sure touchdown. Though the defense held Marshawn Lynch to just 67 rushing yards and Wilson to a less than stellar day (17-of-35, 179 yards, no TDs and a 63.9 QB rating), they couldn’t prevent them from making plays when they needed to be made — most specifically, on third downs. Though they held Seattle to less than 50 percent (7-of-18), the defense gave up some big conversions at bad times, which allowed Seattle to control the ball as well as the clock. For the game, Seattle won the time of possession battle 35:06 to 24:54.

For his part, Carr looked less like the quarterback who shredded the Seattle defense in the preseason and more like a rookie quarterback playing in one of the most difficult places to play. Carr’s day was a less than sterling 24-of-41 for 194 yards, two TDs and 66.5 QB rating. But it was his three turnovers, two picks and a fumble on a sack, which cost Oakland dearly. His two late touchdowns were a nice touch and prevented his stat line from looking worse, but Carr had a big hand in helping dig a hole too big for Oakland to climb out of.

The Raiders showed some fight in making the final score as close as it was, but that’s nothing more than cold comfort. The Raiders are a team that cannot afford to get off to the terribly slow start they got off to, cannot afford to dig themselves such an enormous hole and cannot afford to make the mistakes they made all day — and all season.

Oakland played hard yet again for Tony Sparano but walk away once more with nothing to show for the effort. That seems to be Oakland’s theme for the 2014 season.

Kevin Saito is a fiction writer, sports junkie, history nerd, and NFL contributor to www.RantSports.com Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or on Google

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