Lynch, Seahawks Hold Off Raiders, 30-24

SEATTLE (AP) -- Before there was a chance for his teammates to celebrate, Marshawn Lynch had already sprinted off the field and to a spot on the Seattle Seahawks bench.

No need to make a big deal about his second touchdown with the Seahawks on their way to a needed victory.

Lynch rushed for two first-half touchdowns, Bruce Irvin tipped and intercepted Derek Carr's pass and returned it 35 yards for another score and the Seahawks beat the Oakland Raiders 30-24 on Sunday.

After a tumultuous previous month, the Seahawks (5-3) won their second straight behind a strong first half, three field goals from Steven Hauschka and a defense that made Carr look like a rookie for much of the afternoon.

Not all was perfect for Seattle. Russell Wilson struggled through one of his worst passing games and the Seahawks failed to capitalize on numerous chances to rout the winless Raiders.

Seattle led 24-3 at halftime only to see the Raiders score on a blocked punt for a touchdown and two Mychal Rivera TD catches to pull within six in the final minutes.

Hauschka hit field goals of 30 and 41 yards in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 13, but Oakland had one final chance when Carr hit Rivera on his second 1-yard TD with 1:52 left. Sebastian Janikowski's onside kick was misplayed by Seattle's Cooper Helfet, but Jermaine Kearse fell on the loose ball and Seattle ran out the clock to hand the Raiders (0-8) their 14th straight loss dating to last season.

Lynch finished with 67 yards rushing and another 76 receiving, but the day could have been far more productive for Seattle's bulldozing back. Lynch had gains of 43, 20 and 11 yards on either runs or passes called back by penalties. He scored on a 3-yard run on Seattle's opening drive, carrying Oakland defenders and teammates into the end zone. His 5-yard run at the end of the first half gave the Seahawks a 21-point lead that seemed plenty comfortable at the time.

Wilson was 17 of 35 passing for 179 yards, just the fifth time in his career with a 50 percent completion rate. Carr was 24 of 41 for 194 yards.

In between Lynch's TDs, Seattle got turnovers to bounce its way. Irvin tipped Carr's pass intended for James Jones, located to the ball in the air then beat Carr to the pylon for his first career touchdown. Later in the first half, Richard Sherman got his first interception of the season, getting better position than Andre Holmes on a back-shoulder pass and pulling in the pick with his left hand. T.J. Carrie also fumbled a kickoff that Hauschka recovered.

But Seattle's offense never moved with efficiency, despite outgaining the Raiders 326-226. Part of that was the number of starters out for Seattle, including left tackle Russell Okung and strong safety Kam Chancellor. Patrick Lewis made his first NFL start at center, but the bigger problem for the Seahawks was inconsistency in the pass game.

Wilson hit his first two throws then missed six straight. He finished the first half 10 of 18 only to start the second half 2 of 7.

Oakland got a spark from its special teams when Denico Autry blocked Jon Ryan's punt on the first possession of the second half and Brice Butler recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. It was the first punt block for a touchdown against Seattle since 2003 and the second for Oakland in the past two seasons.

After another brief possession by the Seahawks, Carrie returned Ryan's punt 27 yards to the Seattle 30. Carr hit Darren McFadden for 23 yards and on fourth-and-goal at the 1, Rivera hauled in a pass at the back of the end zone to cut Seattle's lead to 24-17.