Seahawks rally past Raiders, 23-21

OAKLAND, Calif. — Jeremy Lane sat before the game and Thomas Rawls ran during it.

Otherwise, there was little memorable about Seattle’s preseason finale at Oakland Thursday night, as the Seahawks rallied to beat the Raiders, 23-21

Seattle trailed most of the game but scored three times in the fourth quarter to take control.

The Seahawks grabbed the lead when defensive end Ryan Robinson returned an interception of a Connor Cook pass 42 yards for a touchdown to put Seattle ahead 9-8 with 10:29. The ball pretty much fell into Robinson’s hands after Cook threw a hurried pass on a bootleg as he was hit by Seattle linebacker Eric Pinkins.

The Seahawks (3-1) went for two and didn’t get it.

The Seahawks added a 5-yard touchdown run by Troymaine Pope to make it 16-8 to cap a 63-yard drive propelled mostly by running from Pope and Alex Collins, who added the final Seahawks TD on a 1-yard run. Oakland’s George Atkinson returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for the final touchdown.

In what was Seattle’s first game since San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem last Friday protesting the treatment of people of color, Lane followed suit, sitting throughout a performance of the song by saxophonist Mike Phillips.

Lane then took his usual spot at cornerback during Oakland’s first series and then retreated to the sideline for the rest of the game, as did most of the rest of the team’s starters, the usual routine for a final preseason game.

Taking the field just after Lane left it was Rawls, who had not played since last Dec. 13 when he suffered a broken ankle as well as dislocated ligaments in a game at Baltimore.

Entering on a series that began at Seattle’s 14, Rawls got two carries.

On his first carry, Rawls got the ball out of I-formation but the Raiders got good penetration and Rawls was hit for a 1-yard loss.

On his second carry, Rawls was able to peck his way through the left side for 8 before he was tackled by former Seahawk Korey Toomer.

Rawls came out on third down in favor of C.J. Prosise — who is the team’s designated third-down back.

That was all Rawls played.

But that was enough for Seattle to feel good about how Rawls enters the regular season having made an on-time recovery from a devastating injury that ended a fabulous rookie season in which he rushed for 830 yards and 5.6 yards per carry.

Christine Michael, who got the start, had two carries for no yards on the first series before also taking a seat for the rest of the night, having long ago earned a spot on the team and likely to complement Rawls once the regular season begins on Sept. 11 against Miami.

But after the second series, it was almost nothing but backups for each team, and the to-be-expected sloppy play ensued from there.

There were 10 punts in the first half with the Seahawks moving past midfield just once and never threatening to score.

The Raiders (1-3) scored in fitting fashion when Seattle backup quarterback Trevone Boykin was hurried while attempting to throw from his end zone and was called for grounding, officially ruled a safety and giving Oakland a 2-0 lead.

That’s where it stood until the third quarter, when each team got a field goal.

The Raiders added another early in the fourth quarter to make it 8-3.

Fourth preseason games are mostly a final showcase for players attempting to make the team. But highlight performances were especially hard to find on offense much of the night as the Seahawks had just 138 yards through three quarters, and just 40 yards rushing on 16 carries — 21 coming on two scrambles by Boykin.

Boykin, though, had trouble consistently moving the offense early, completing 6 of 12 passes for 59 yards through three quarters.

Jake Heaps played much of the third quarter and was 4 of 6 for 27 yards before Boykin returned in the fourth quarter.

Seahawks rally past Raiders, 23-21