Oakland Raiders: Second Quarter schedule breakdown and predictions

Seattle Seahawks (at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, England)

It seems to go without saying that the Raiders, as it pertains to playing in the NFL’s International Series, haven’t traveled well. Oh, they Raider Nation has been out there, representing in force for all of their games abroad. The team though, just hasn’t played particularly well outside the borders of the U.S.

In 2014, playing in Wembly Stadium, the Raiders were absolutely waxed 38-14 by a Dolphins team that wasn’t exactly a powerhouse. The Raiders managed to snag a 27-20 win over the Houston Texans in Mexico City in 2016 – a Brock Oseweiler-led Texans team who would later beat them in the first round of the playoffs.

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And playing again in Mexico City last season, Tom Brady, Brandin Cooks, and the New England Patriots ran roughshod over the Silver and Black, posting an easy 33-8 win.

So, this year, the league figured to do it all again and send the Raiders back across the pond to square off with Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks.

After a decent run that included one Super Bowl win and an appearance in a second one – that could have been a second straight win had Pete Carroll elected to hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch when he was in prime Beast Mode shape – Seattle wound up out of the playoffs last season after a disappointing 9-7 finish to the campaign.

That down year has led to some wholesale changes to Seattle’s roster and coaching staff. The offense though, again led by Wilson and receiver Doug Baldwin, might be a better than last year’s fifteenth-ranked unit as the running game looks to be rejuvenated with the addition of Rashaad Penny.

If Penny can get off like he did at San Diego State, it will take some of the pressure off Wilson and allow him to make the plays he did when the Seahawks were perennial playoff contenders.

The defense though, is a big question mark. Carroll and his staff have torn down what was one of the league’s more dominant defenses for a while and restocked it with plenty of new faces. Whether those new faces will fit within the Seattle system and this defense can be as dominant as it used to be remains to be seen.

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The Raiders will also get their first look at their former legend, kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who landed with Seattle after Oakland said goodbye to him after eighteen remarkable, Hall of Fame-worthy seasons.

Seattle has a lot of questions that still need to be answered on both sides of the ball, before we can know if they’re getting their feet back under them or not. As of now, given the lack of playmakers on the roster, the answer might be that Seattle will struggle.

Seahawks: 20 Raiders: 31