Week 10 is upon us. This week the Raiders welcome the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks who, in many ways are just as dominant as they were last season. Don't let their record fool you. They may sit at 5-4 on the season, but their last three of those losses came against teams that have a combined record of 21-5.
Raiders causes for concern vs the Seahawks
1. NFL's number one defense
From the furnace into the fire for the Raiders. A week after facing a dominant defense against the 49ers, they now face the number one defense in the NFL. The Seahawks and their ‘Dark Side’ defense have allowed the fewest yards in the league (2198). That includes the number one pass defense and the second best run defense in terms of yards per attempt allowed (3.4). They’re also fourth in the league in points allowed, giving
up an average of just 18 points per game. You simply can’t find a tougher defense in the league.
2. Familiarity with Klint Kubiak system
The Seahawks are, of course, the reigning Super Bowl champs. And they won that Super Bowl with Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak as their offensive coordinator and Raiders OC Andrew Janocko as QB coach. Now, Kubiak can certainly try to use that knowledge against his former head coach, and certainly turnabout is fair play. But it seems to me it will be easier for Mike MacDonald to take advantage with his talented defense than Kubiak with his newly assembled Raiders offense.
3. Offensive Player of the Year playing like it
We’re nine games into the season and Jaxon Smith-Njigba has ALREADY gone over 1000 yards. The fourth-year receiver leads the NFL in receiving yards (1036) and receiving touchdowns (nine), putting him well on the way to another OPOY award at this rate. He is simply unstoppable, not that the Raiders defensive backs have stopped much lesser talented receivers.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: 3 causes for concern for Raiders Week 10 vs Seahawks
