This was a relatively comfortable yet strangely unsatisfying 30-23 victory. Seattle sputtered on offense and had a day to forget on special teams. A banged up defense again generated some pass rush and flashed some 2013 form in the secondary — even it was far from a flawless display.

The injury situation is incredible right now. Kam Chancellor, Russell Okung, Max Unger, Byron Maxwell, Bobby Wagner, Zach Miller and Jeremy Lane are all missing. Seattle fielded its fourth choice center. Valuable backups like Jeron Johnson are also out. This team is decimated and any kind of win was going to be valuable today.

With no depth remaining its no surprise the special teams play is suffering. Seattle uncharacteristically gave up some big gains, they had a punt blocked for a touchdown and Steven Hauschka missed a field goal. They nearly gave up an onside kick at the end when Cooper Helfet let the ball slip through his grasp. Without the quick thinking of Jermaine Kearse the Raiders would’ve had the ball at midfield with a chance to drive for the win.

Seattle must get healthy to restore some order. They can ill afford special teams play like this and against St. Louis.

Offensively it was just a sluggish day from start to finish. Russell Wilson never got into a rhythm. For every good play he seemed to have 2-3 bad ones. He dodged two major bullets — a dropped interception by D.J. Hayden and a near pick-six by the same player. The Raiders did a great job containing the bootleg right with Khalil Mack. It’s no shock the pass protection suffered at times missing the starting left tackle and center. James Carpenter also left the game with a bad ankle.

The Seahawks can’t revert to a conventional passing offense for situations like this because everything about them is so unconventional. It’s a great dilemma. Wilson needs movement — he needs to get out of the pocket. It also puts a great strain on the offensive line — half the time they don’t know what he’s going to do. Sometimes he encourages pressure because he’s so mobile and quick to bolt. When he’s not having a great day the passing game just suffers. There’s not really a solution other than feeding Marshawn Lynch, which in fairness they did today.

Justin Britt is not playing well recently. Today he just looked lost. On one key pressure he allowed two rushers off the edge a free run to Wilson. Luke Willson chipped and went downfield, Britt clearly didn’t have a grasp on his assignment and it was costly. Just one example, there were several. They might need to consider adding extra protection to his side next week with the continued absence of Zach Miller.

Luke Willson, for all his great athleticism and ability to find the right spot, has hands of stone. I counted four catchable drops today. It’s hard to criticize him too much a week after he scored the game winning touchdown. But those big plays are too sporadic — his general play more hindrance than help. The Seahawks are crying out for a big target in the passing game and the player with the most potential to provide it can’t make consistent, basic grabs.

Whatever happens the rest of the way it’s stating the obvious to say Seattle absolutely must prioritize getting a tall receiver or tight end who can act as a go-to target. Attacking the perimeter all the time with shorter receivers isn’t always effective. Wilson needs an outlet he can deliberately over throw or challenge to high point a tough catch and work the middle.

This could be the most important addition next year. Seattle does not have enough difference making size at receiver. They have two big stars on offense — Lynch (who is reportedly on the way out) and Wilson. You cannot pay Wilson $100m and then expect miracles minus Beast Mode. Even if they draft Todd Gurley next April they need to make sure the investment at quarterback is not a total waste. Lynch was the best player on the field today and more specifically the best receiving target. If the focus is drifting towards the QB he’s going to need an equally effective running back and better weapons. I like Kearse but he had one catch on seven targets today for a grand total of four yards.

On a positive note I thought Alvin Bailey had a decent game at left tackle. If they weren’t so intent on pushing Britt at right tackle you could probably make a case for starting Okung and Bailey at the two spots.

On defense it was good to see Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett continue their recent upturn in form. Richard Sherman finally got a catchable ball for his first interception of the year and Bruce Irvin made an outstanding play on the pick six.

The Seahawks will get a tough game against the Giants next week. Eli Manning is running the type of offense that has started to hurt Seattle. They better hope for some good news on the injury front this week.