» RAIDERS FALL TO SEATTLE IN LONDON GAME
LONDON — One of the major pregame storylines didn’t turn into much by the time the night was over — Marshawn Lynch’s first game against his former team.
Seattle eventually won 27-3, and Lynch had just 45 yards on 13 carries — with 28 coming after Seattle already led 20-0.
Not that Oakland didn’t try early. On Oakland’s first possession, the Raiders handed the ball to Lynch three straight times. The result was just one yard and then a punt.
“We got the ball, we wanted to run three consecutive times, we wanted to get Marshawn going,” Oakland coach Jon Gruden said. “We ran three different types of runs and all three of them were rejected. We wanted to get him in the game. We wanted to get him established. That was the beginning of the game, and then after that, we were trying to make a first down and survive. It wasn’t pretty.”
Indeed, Lynch had just 10 carries the rest of the game as the Raiders couldn’t get anything going against the Seattle defense.
The Raiders were hamstrung by a makeshift offensive line that includes two rookies at tackle and had Oakland going with a thirdstring guard after an early injury to Jon Feliciano.
Stopping Lynch “was a point of emphasis,” said Seahawks defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson.
Dominating up front turned out to be the key to stopping Lynch, he said.
“They were beat up and young and we know we had to take advantage of that,” Jefferson said. “There are not too many weeks you get to play against a young offensive line like that, so we knew we had to pin our ears back and be a big factor in it.”
Said Seahawks safety Bradley McDougald: “Marshawn is one of the best to do it and he’s still dangerous. He can get loose at any moment. You’ve really got to play him the whole way down to the ground. There were a couple of times today, (there were) four, five or six guys jumping on him, all around his legs and he’s not going down. So you’ve really got to finish him off. To hold him to 45 yards is just a credit to the entire defense, all 11 guys.”
What Lynch thinks about it is unknown. Lynch didn’t talk to the media at-large afterward but did give a brief interview to a radio reporter from Spain in which he said he hopes to get to Spain soon and maybe meet some of the women there.
Norton Jr. topples former team
Ken Norton Jr. served as the Oakland Raiders’ defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2017.
On Sunday, he helped conquer a familiar foe.
Norton’s Seahawks defense limited Oakland to 185 total yards and a measly 3.3 yards per play. Quarterback Derek Carr threw for just 142 yards, was sacked six times and coughed up a pair of fumbles. Running back Marshawn Lynch was held to just 45 rushing yards on 13 carries.
It was a dominant effort, and Seattle’s first-year defensive coordinator had something to do with that.
“He’s bringing the excitement back into this game,” said cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who contributed three tackles in the win. “It’s awesome. You can feel the energy from him. As a coach, he makes it seem like he’s playing out there — like he’s actually there with you.
“It feels good to have a coach like that, with the energy and the vibe. He brings so much to this team.”
Maybe not as much as Norton would like, however.
“You can see how he used to be when he played,” Griffin said of Norton, who played linebacker for 12 seasons in the NFL. “I remember he told me at practice one day, ‘You know what, Shaq? I’ve always got one more play. If they need me — if they call my number or my name — I’ve got one more play in me.’
“You can see he’s so passionate about it and it only makes you want to play harder for a guy like that.”
It’s also worth mentioning that Norton’s defense managed six sacks against a Raiders offensive line coached by former Seahawks assistant Tom Cable.
Broncos could be on the road to a coaching change
DENVER — First, they dealt with the weather. Now, it's the whether.
The spiraling Denver Broncos, who suffered a 23-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in bitter-cold conditions Sunday, now have to decide whether they keep Vance Joseph as coach.
A Thursday night game at Arizona figures to be a critical factor in that decision for a team that has lost four in a row and just made history the wrong way. The Broncos are the first NFL team torched by 200-yard rushers in consecutive weeks, yielding a careerhigh 208 to Todd Gurley on Sunday.
John Elway, Denver's president and general manager, on Monday said the defense has gotten "very soft" and implored the Broncos to approach Thursday’s game like "we're fighting for our lives."
Joseph, asked by reporters if he took that to mean he's fighting for his job, said, “Absolutely.”
“And that’s every coach in this league every week,” he continued. “If you don't feel that way, you're missing something. If we were 5-1, I would feel that way. That doesn't motivate me. I'm already motivated to win games and to fix our football team.”
In one-plus seasons under Joseph, the Broncos are 1-9 on the road, losing those nine games by an average of 16.6 points. The Cardinals are 1-4.
Joseph will find a sympathetic soul in Arizona, albeit one who doesn't want him to win. Cardinals offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was canned from that same position by the Broncos last year.