The Seahawks made the longest road trip they've ever experienced as a franchise for a regular season game and put on a performance reminiscent of many they've played in the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field.
Russell Wilson tossed three touchdowns and Seattle combined to rush for 155 yards in a 27-3 beating of the Oakland Raiders at Wembley Stadium in London. Frank Clark led a defense that sacked Derek Carr six times and allowed just one late field goal in a thorough drubbing of their former AFC West rival.
It's the second regular season game Seattle has played outside of the United States, joining a 50-17 thrashing of the Buffalo Bills in Toronto in 2012.
The Seahawks have now won three of their last four games and had a narrow two-point defeat against the undefeated Los Angeles Rams last week.
"You can see, we've totally changed," head coach Pete Carroll said. "We should have won last week if we would have handled our business and taken care of it and we would have had four in a row and it would have been obvious that we're on a roll right now. But we can feel it and the players know it and their attitude is fantastic."
Now they go into their bye week with a pair of reinforcements set to return after the break in linebacker K.J. Wright and tight end Ed Dickson.
But first, here are the takeaways from Sunday's victory over the Raiders:
1. Frank Clark is making the most of a contract year.
Clark had 2.5 sacks on Sunday to bring his season total to 5.5 sacks through six weeks. He caused all kinds of problems for Raiders left tackle Kolton Miller before being limited in the latter stages of the game due to illness.
Clark had another sack negated due to a defensive holding penalty by Shaquill Griffin as well. Additionally, he had a would-be strip-sack of Jared Goff last week against the Los Angeles Rams only for Goff to recover the fumble and throw the ball incomplete to wipe out the sack.
In his first three seasons in Seattle, Clark was never the primary pass rusher and always had Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett help draw the attention of opposing offenses. But Clark is producing consistently despite being the Seahawks' primary pass rushing threat.
"Frank has been playing great football," Carroll said. "He's been on it, he's been really aggressive and on the attack. ... Frankie is going great. I'm really fired up about him."
Jarran Reed, Branden Jackson, Shamar Stephen all recorded sacks as well with Quinton Jefferson splitting a sack with Clark.
"That was really the story of the day was our ability to rush the passer and it was great to see those guys get that kind of day," Carroll said.
But Clark has been impressive and has managed to produce regularly despite having more attention on him this season.
2. Seahawks snap 34-game streak without an opening drive touchdowns.
With a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Brown, the Seahawks snapped a 34-game streak spanning over two full years of not scoring a touchdown on their opening possession.
Wilson's touchdown pass to Brown capped a 14-play, 82-yard drive to open the game for Seattle. It was the first time since Christine Michael's 41-yard touchdown run against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3 of the 2016 that the Seahawks got in the end zone on their opening possession.
Seattle's starting offense that day included Bradley Sowell, Mark Glowinski, Justin Britt, J'Marcus Webb, Garry Gilliam, Jimmy Graham, Jermaine Kearse, Luke Willson, Michael, Wilson and Doug Baldwin.
Only Britt, Baldwin and Wilson are still with the team just two years later.
While such a streak isn't necessarily indicative of anything prohibitive from an offensive standpoint, it's obviously better to score than not. It seems to indicate Seattle's offense is becoming much more productive with the uptick in rushing production and the improvement in Russell Wilson's play in recent weeks.
3 Tyler Lockett on pace for a career year.
While Clark is still seeking his new contract, Lockett already got his and is proving to the Seahawks they made a good investment.
Lockett hauled in his fifth touchdown of the year in just six games this season. Lockett's career-high for touchdowns in a season is six, which he achieved as a rookie in 2015. He's on pace to easily set career-highs in all categories. He had 51 catches for 664 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie.
He's on pace for 61 catches, 960 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Lockett only caught three passes for 13 yards on Sunday in London, but he again found the end zone. Seattle's 20-17 win in Arizona was the only time he hasn't reached the end zone this season.
4. Russell Wilson has once again found his peak efficiency in tandem with better rushing attack.
Russell Wilson is beginning to look like the best version of Russell Wilson again.
Wilson completed 17 of 23 passes for 222 yards with three touchdowns and an interception Sunday in London against the Raiders. Even with the interception, Wilson posted a passer rating of 125.4 on the day.
Wilson was also sacked just once, which is a season-best for the Seattle offense.
"I like the way we're playing, the style we're playing with, how physical we're playing," Carroll said. "We ran for a bunch of yards again today and finished the game on offense running the clock out exactly how we love to do it."
After being sacked six times in each of the first two games of the season, Wilson has been sacked no more than twice in any of the four games since.
The return of Seattle's rushing game has coincided with Wilson's improvement. The Seahawks rushed for 155 yards in total against the Raiders with Chris Carson leading the way with 59 yards on 14 carries. Carson, Rashaad Penny, Mike Davis and Wilson all had at least 20 yards rushing.
The successful ground game has paired nicely with Seattle's play-action attack. Wilson has been able to hit big plays in the passing game off play-action and it's helped slow down opposing pass rushes. While Oakland's pass rushers have been incredible benign following the trade of Khalil Mack to Chicago before the start of the season, the run of form for Seattle's offense is becoming a trend.
Early in the season, Wilson was holding the ball too long in the pocket, the Seahawks were struggling to convert on third downs, and opposing defenses were getting frequent shots on Wilson. Seattle was 9 of 13 on third down on Sunday and managed two possessions with at least seven minutes of possession time.
Wilson may not put up gaudy passing numbers playing this way, but the Seahawks certainly appear capable of winning just about every game they play when the offense mixes together like this. Sunday's effort in London marked three games out of four that Wilson has excelled in being efficient and productive for Seattle at quarterback.
That's a really, really good sign.
Photo Credit: LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 14: David Moore of Seattle Seahawks scores a touchdown as Daryl Worley of Oakland Raiders attempts to tackle him during the NFL International series match between Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders at Wembley Stadium on October 14, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)