The Seattle Seahawks first-team offense took the field for opening drive of their final pre-season game against the Oakland Raiders and boy howdy did they look good. Quarterback Russell Wilson made it look easy leading the Seahawks on a 4-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that featured two completions of more than 20 yards. At that point, things were looking pretty good for the defending Super Bowl Champions but alas the pre-season is all about the depth of a team.
On Thursday night, the Seahawks depth looked weak as they fell to the Oakland Raiders 41-31 to finish the pre-season at 2-2. Raiders projected second-string quarterback Derek Carr looked like a polished veteran against the Seattle defense as he finished the game 11-of-13 for 143 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The rookie out of Fresno State led the Raiders on four scoring drives in the first 17 minutes of the ballgame.
If there is anything positive that can be taken away by Seattle fans it is that the play in the second half was a drastic improvement over that of the first. They outscored Oakland 10-6 while outgaining them 211-91. The defense also forced the Raiders off the field on five of their six third down attempts after only forcing them off one time out of seven in the first half.
The most important thing about the fourth pre-season game though is getting a good long look at the second and third-string players battling for one of those final roster spots. Terrelle Pryor has had the most question marks surrounding his name going in to the final week considering Pete Carroll's track record of only keeping two quarterbacks on the roster.
Pryor took a majority of the snaps under center in front of his former team finishing 11-of-17 for 134 yards and a touchdown. He finished the pre-season completing 21-of-39 for 281 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. While those numbers may not be the best, it looks as though he should earn a spot with the Seahawks for 2014.
One of the luxuries that Carroll has possessed in the past few seasons was full-back Michael Robinson, who played quarterback in college at Penn State. Robinson was listed as the emergency third-string QB during his time with Seattle. Carroll does not have the luxury of Robinson on the roster this year which should open up that spot for Pryor.
The Seattle Seahawks return home to CenturyLink Field to open the 2014 NFL Season on NBC against the Green Bay Packers. Fans should make sure to arrive early because there will be many pre-game festivities to check out including the unveiling of the Seahawks Super Bowl Championship Banner before kickoff.