Monday Night Football Week 9

[Tinfish]

34-25-1 YTD

OAKLAND RAIDERS @ SEATTLE SEAHAWKS -7
Oakland (2-5, 0-3 away) at Seattle (4-3, 2-1 home) @ 8:30 PM. EST. * NBC

(Sports Network) - The last time the Oakland Raiders won three straight games, the franchise was on its way to an AFC title and Super Bowl appearance.

If the Silver and Black can pick up a third consecutive win on Monday night, when they visit the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field, they won't be any closer to a Lombardi Trophy, though any residual laughingstock status the team accrued during its 0-5 start will be all but washed away.

Just two weeks after their abhorrent 0-5 opening stretch gave rise to speculation that they could become the first 0-16 team in NFL history, the Raiders no longer even possess the worst record in the league. Oakland defied the skeptics by posting back-to-back wins over the Cardinals (22-9) and Steelers (20-13), and will look to keep the era of good feelings going with a win over the defending NFC Champions this week. A victory would give Art Shell his first road win since returning to the franchise after an 11-year hiatus, and would also give Oakland its first three-game winning run since taking four straight prior to a Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers in 2002.

Seattle, meanwhile, carries a two-game losing streak into Monday's game. The Seahawks dropped back-to-back contests to the Vikings (31-13) and Chiefs (35-28), and enter Week 9 in a tie atop the NFC West along with St. Louis. Monday will mark the Hawks' fifth straight game without Pro Bowl running back Shaun Alexander (cracked bone in left foot), and its second in the absence of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (sprained knee).

SERIES HISTORY
The Raiders hold a 27-22 advantage in their all-time regular season series with the Seahawks, including a 31-17 home victory when the teams last met, in 2002. The Hawks have won the last three matchups between the clubs played in Seattle, including a 34-27 decision in the last such matchup, in 2001. Oakland's most recent win in Seattle took place in 1998, at the Kingdome. The Seahawks and Raiders met twice a year when both resided in the AFC West from 1978 through 2001.

In addition to the regular season series, the franchises have met twice in postseason play, splitting a pair of meetings. The then-Los Angeles Raiders were 30-14 winners in the 1983 AFC Championship at the Coliseum, while Seattle returned the favor with a 13-7 home victory in an AFC First-Round Playoff the next year. Prior to last season's run to the Super Bowl, the 1984 game had marked the Seahawks' most recent postseason victory.

Shell was 9-2 against the Seahawks during his first tenure with the Raiders (1989-94). Seattle's Mike Holmgren is 4-4 in his career against the Raiders, including 3-4 since coming to the Emerald City in 1999. The only head-to-head matchup between Holmgren and Shell occurred in 1993, a 28-0 victory for Holmgren's Packers at Lambeau Field.