Moore: Seahawks will battle their injuries more than the Raiders

Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor is one of four players questionable in addition to six players out for Sunday's game vs. Oakland.

You can make a great case for an easy Seahawks’ win over the Raiders. It’s a matchup of the Super Bowl champions against a winless team.

And the champs are playing at home, where they have lost only two games in the last three years.

Las Vegas oddsmakers favor the Seahawks by 14 points, down from 15½ earlier in the week.

It would be great to see the Seahawks roll to a double-digit victory and look like the dominating team we saw at times last year. It could happen this week with an inferior opponent coming to town.

But injuries could be a big equalizer. Byron Maxwell, Malcolm Smith, Zach Miller, Jordan Hill, Jeron Johnson and Bobby Wagner are out. Kam Chancellor, Max Unger, Steve Schilling and Russell Okung are questionable.

Most troubling to me – Okung with a calf strain and Chancellor with a groin injury. They are new to the injury list, though both have appeared to be playing at less than 100 percent for some time now, especially Chancellor.

The offensive line has already struggled without Unger and Miller. Unger might play against the Raiders, but if he doesn’t, and if Schilling can’t make it either, the Seahawks are down to third-string center Patrick Lewis. If Okung can’t play, Alvin Bailey will start at left tackle.

Maybe the Seahawks will be able to withstand those injuries and still be effective. But I wonder about that. The Raiders aren’t terrible defensively, ranking 17th in the NFL. Their rush defense is 26th, allowing 130 yards a game, but they gave up only 39 yards on 25 carries to Cleveland last week.

If the Seahawks don’t have Chancellor and Johnson, they’ll be down to DeShawn Shead at strong safety. Without Maxwell, they’ll go with Simon at right cornerback and use Marcus Burley as their nickelback. Derek Carr might find some room downfield with two backups in the Legion of Boom.

I’m told and reminded over and over again that you can’t draw anything from one game and relate it to another, but I still find it strange that the Seahawks struggled to beat Carolina 13-9, and four days later, the Saints smacked the Panthers 28-10.

I’m not convinced the Seahawks are all the way back. I’m also not sold on their receivers. And with so many injuries, I’m guessing they’ll sputter their way to a sloppy win in a tightly contested game.

Prediction: Seahawks 20, Raiders 14.
Season record against the spread: 2-5.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.