Week 10 features an old-school AFC West rivalry as the then-Oakland, now Las Vegas Raiders and Seattle Seahawks had plenty of noteworthy divisional battles in the ‘80s and ‘90s before the NFL’s realignment that pushed Seattle into the NFC. To preview this weekend’s matchup, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends at Field Gulls, and John Gilbert was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Seahawks for Raider Nation.
Q: Sam Darnold has already been ruled out, meaning Drew Lock will make his fourth appearance and third start this season. What’s the difference in the Seahawks’ offense with Lock at quarterback, and what’s the fanbase’s confidence level in him as the starter?
A: In years past, the answer to this would hark back to Pete Carroll’s 2023 comments about Lock making a couple of boneheaded throws. But when Lock has played this season, he has done a phenomenal job protecting the football.
Darnold has missed two full games and only played five snaps in the season opener against the New England Patriots. Yet in spite of that, he is tied with Matthew Stafford for the most interceptions thrown in the NFC.
On the flip side, Lock has five touchdowns and no interceptions while starting twice and playing most of the game against the Patriots. Of course, both of Lock’s starts came against the Arizona Cardinals, and the Arizona defense has done a solid job helping opposing quarterbacks bolster their stat lines this season, so we’ll see what Lock can do against the Raiders.
Q: Jaxon Smith-Njigba is coming off a season where he led the NFL with nearly 1,800 receiving yards and won Offensive Player of the Year. So far in 2026, he’s the first and currently only player to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark while averaging about 10 yards per game more than he did last year. What makes JSN such a tough cover? Any suggestions for how to keep him in check?
A: JSN has simply become a monster. He’s a very smooth and fluid route runner, and at the foundation of his greatness is the simple fact that all of his route stems look the same, making it impossible for defensive backs to anticipate what is coming.
Add in great hands, a phenomenal work ethic and the reality that he is far and away the most dangerous offensive weapon in the Seattle arsenal. It’s a recipe to continue to feed him the ball until defenses can find a way to slow him down.
Teams have tried almost everything to slow JSN down, but a consistent weakness has not yet been found. Jamming him at the line doesn’t stop him. Bracketing doesn’t stop him. Whatever opponents do, he just continues to find ways to get open and keep the offense moving.
Q: Seattle’s rushing attack ranks 18th in yards per game, 25th in yards per carry and 27th in EPA per rush, according to Sumer Sports. Are the issues as simple as the offense missing Klint Kubiak and Kenneth Walker III? Has adding Quenton Nelson helped at all?
A: Losing Kenneth Walker III to the Chiefs in free agency certainly hurt. The two biggest things the Seattle run game has missed for most of the first half of the season were the explosiveness and the ball security that Walker brought to the table.
Yes, he had a style that could be infuriating at times, as he had a tendency to try to bounce so many runs outside looking for the big play. But the simple fact is that he has the burst and speed to create an outsized number of explosive plays, even while consistently finishing in the bottom half of the league in success rate.
During his four seasons in Seattle, Walker fumbled a total of three times on 821 regular-season rushing attempts, while his replacements (Jadarian Price, Emanuel Wilson and George Holani) have put the ball on the ground six times in 195 rushing attempts so far this season.
With that said, Zach Charbonnet is back in the lineup after tearing his ACL in the 2025 postseason, and his presence has been an instant upgrade at the position. Charbonnet is never going to present the big-play threat that Walker brought to the field on every rushing attempt, but Charbonnet is a disciplined back who will follow his blocking, while providing solid pass protection from the backfield in passing situations.
As for Quenton Nelson, so far the trade has produced more excitement and hype than on-field production. Nelson apparently suffered a minor knee injury before the trade and had a procedure to address the issue. As such, with the Seahawks enjoying a bye week after facing off against the Raiders, he likely won’t be back in action again until Week 12 against the San Francisco 49ers.
Q: Imagine you’re Kubiak game-planning for Fernando Mendoza’s first start against the vaunted Seahawks’ defense. How would you attack the defense and give the rookie quarterback his best chance at having success? Keep in mind that the Raiders are one of the few teams that are worse at running the ball than the Seahawks are.
A: Where Kubiak really seemed to excel in Seattle was creating tendencies, or the appearance of tendencies, and then in high-leverage situations making it look like the offense is following that tendency, only to break off for a big play.
So, whatever tendencies the Raiders offense has put on tape through the first half of the season, I expect those tendencies to be thrown out the window at key times within the games as Kubiak looks for big plays.
The reality is that while the Seahawks defense is great, so far in 2026 the Seahawks offense hasn’t shown to be on par with the 2025 group, and between conservative playcalling and Drew Lock battling oblique and elbow issues, it might only take a couple of big plays for the Raiders to play spoilers against the defending champs.
Q: Between Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, Devon Witherspoon, Ernest Jones IV and Nick Emmanwori, Seattle’s defense is filled with studs. If you had to pick one to deem the biggest key or X-factor for the unit, who would it be and why?
A: As cliché as it sounds, there is no one piece that makes the defense tick. What makes Mike Macdonald’s defenses so good is that all eleven players are on the same page, doing their jobs at a high level. All of the big names on defense play key roles, but as a whole the group has enough depth that a single missing piece doesn’t send things off the rails.
With that all said, everything starts in the trenches. So if Williams and Murphy aren’t able to do their thing up front, it leaves the rest of the defense hanging.