Oakland Raiders Film Room: Week 9 (SEA)

Nov 2, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) is pressured by Oakland Raiders linebacker Sio Moore (55) and cornerback T.J. Carrie (38) at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Yes, Oakland still doesn’t have a win. Despite an amazing defensive effort and a second half surge, turnovers and broken tackles contributed to a tough loss in Seattle. Sure, it’s disappointing to go another week without a Raiders victory. However, if the primary focus is to look at long term potential for this team there’s lots of excitement and enjoyment to be had. Much of that was on display is Seattle as Oakland repeatedly found ways at times to both shut down the Seattle offense and move the ball against its Legion of Boom-led defense.

With an insanely tough schedule looming Oakland’s hopes for more than a couple wins are slim. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Oakland hasn’t exactly been getting destroyed week after week. The Miami and Arizona games were tough, but those don’t look as bad considering Arizona still has only one loss and Miami currently ranks 3rd overall in DVOA. Otherwise, Oakland has managed to give New England, San Diego, and now Seattle a run for their money. With that taken into account it seems that Oakland might not actually be as bad as their record suggests. Clearly they have major issues to deal with. They’re still near the bottom of the league in Adjusted Line Yards (a metric describing the efficiency of their run blocking), but they’re currently 3rd in Adjusted Sack Rate (metric to measure pass protection). Derek Carr still looks like a rookie, but Khalil Mack is already looking like a Pro Bowler.

The worst thing that could happen for the franchise right now is for the team to suddenly get a bunch of wins and knock themselves out of a high draft pick. Another off-season with a full set of valuable draft picks could pay long term dividends in gold for Oakland. Add that potential young talent to the group of already developing young talent on the team and Oakland just might be something to be reckoned with for years to come.

This game against Seattle highlighted some of the young players that can be pillars of the Raiders in the coming years. DJ Hayden is slowly getting back into form. TJ Carrie has proven himself to not only be a solid corner, but a legitimate threat in the return game. Khalil Mack is a beast, with Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranking him the 3rd best overall outside linebacker in football. TE Mychal Rivera has shown that when he catches the ball he’s a huge asset to Derek Carr and the offense.

The young players did great against Seattle, and that’s exactly what you want to see out of the future stars of your team. Let’s watch it unfold on the game film.