The experts went 21 for 21 on the San Francisco 49ers last week, and a 38-17 final made every one of them look sharp. Their confidence carries straight over to the Seattle Seahawks, who own 18 of the 19 straight-up picks in this week's roundup.
The predicted scores tell a quieter story. With Drew Lock filling in for the injured Sam Darnold, the national predictions average out to roughly 23-14. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio has Seattle winning a 16-9 rock fight, and only one national pick has the Raiders reaching 20 points.
The Raiders Wire staff went 4-0 for Seattle, with an average score of 25-17.
NFL.com and ESPN expect a grind
NFL.com's five analysts all landed on Seattle, with Jeremy Bergman at 16-13, Brooke Cersosimo at 23-20, Gennaro Filice at 24-10, Bobby Kownack at 20-13,
and Dan Parr at 21-14. Bergman admitted the quarterback switch nearly gave him second thoughts.
"Usually, Seattle starting its backup quarterback (Drew Lock) would give me pause to be so assured of a Seahawks victory," Bergman wrote.
Seattle's defense talked him out of it, and he summed up the matchup with a line built on both teams' famous nicknames.
"In short: Dark Side > Black Hole," Bergman added.
ESPN's trio of Pamela Maldonado (24-16), Aaron Schatz (24-17) and Eric Moody (27-17) also backed Seattle in the network's Week 10 guide. The network's Football Power Index puts Seattle's win probability at 73.9%.
CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated nearly sweep
The CBS Sports panel went 6-1 for Seattle, with Pete Prisco at 24-16 and Dave Richard as the lone vote for the Raiders. Sports Illustrated's MMQB staff went 7-1 for the defending champions, and Mike Kadlick is the only one of the eight picking a Raiders win.
SI betting writer Ryan Gilbert has the widest margin in this roundup at 30-13. He would rather lay the points with Seattle than bet on a low total, a sign he expects Seattle to pull well clear.
The points bring out a few believers
Bleacher Report's experts sided with Seattle 6-1 against the spread, with Ian Hanford as the lone voice taking the Raiders and the 6.5 points. FanSided's Cody Williams picked Seattle to win but still took the Raiders to cover.
The Athletic's Vic Tafur also likes the Raiders with the points, and he pointed to how far the line moved after the quarterback change in Las Vegas.
"This point spread jumped up 3 points after Kirk Cousins was traded," Tafur wrote, via Seahawks.com.
Seahawks Wire sees desperation
The Seahawks Wire pick in this week's Behind Enemy Lines has Seattle escaping 24-21, matching Cersosimo's and Bergman's three-point margins among the closest calls on the board. Its reasoning centers on urgency, with Seattle needing a win more than a Raiders team still rebuilding.
Picking Seattle is the easy call this week, and almost everybody made it. The bigger question is whether a Raiders defense that has bled points since early October can drag Sunday into the slow, grinding game the experts expect.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders vs. Seahawks expert picks lean Seattle in a low-scoring affair
