4 reasons Seahawks vs. Raiders could be a sneaky great NFL London game

London has seen a lot of stinkers over the years.

There were four games overseas in 2017 — two at Wembley Stadium and two at Twickenham Stadium — and none were decided by fewer than 17 points.

With the 2-3 Seattle Seahawks and 1-4 Oakland Raiders meeting at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, there aren’t many fired up for the next installment in the NFL International Series. But you should be.

Here are four reasons why the Seahawks and Raiders may provide more entertainment than you think:

For the past two years, the Raiders and Seahawks have finished their preseason slate with a matchup against each other. But Lynch didn’t play in either one. On Sunday, the game actually matters and Lynch will be on the field, facing his old team for the first time.

Lynch played in six seasons for the Seahawks and gave them not one, but two of the most memorable rushes in franchise history.

Unsurprisingly, there are still many fond memories of Lynch in Seattle.

“I have tremendous respect for that guy and it’ll be fun playing against him,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “I like playing against guys I like.”

Raiders coach Jon Gruden knows what Lynch meant to the Seahawks — and what he means to his current team.

“He was the heart and soul of that team. In a lot of ways he’s the heart and soul of the Raiders right now.”

Even at age 32, Lynch is still bringing it. He’s averaging 4.3 yards per carry and 66.2 yards per game — not much different than his career averages of 4.3 yards and 70.3 yards. Expect to see a healthy dose of Lynch against a defense he’d love to have a good day against, and one that would love to stop him.

“Never got a chance to tackle Marshawn,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “He talked a lot of trash, so we get to finally go against each other. It’s going to be fun.”

Maybe he’ll even get a carry on the 1-yard line.

So far Gruden’s tenure in Oakland has given more silly quotes and reasons for Raiders fans to be frustrated than actual production on the field.

He’s said he’s not as overpaid as Tom Cruise and that he’s “not going to rely on GPSes” and other technology as coach. So drop him in London and there’s a good chance that he’ll give us some more gold.

Gruden might not be in the best mood, though. Even before getting on the plane, he said he spent more time worrying about the flight to the United Kingdom than he has about the Raiders’ goal-line offense:

All I ask is that we get a chance to hear Gruden attempt a British accent, please.

Lynch has always been hilarious, and he’s parlayed that into a globetrotting NFL ambassador role in recent years. He spent his one year of retirement climbing mountains in France with Bear Grylls, sharing Skittles with people in Scotland, and riding camels in Egypt.

So there was nobody better than Lynch to learn a little British slang before the trip across the Atlantic.

I, for one, pray that we hear a “Bob’s your uncle” in a postgame interview — although, hoping for Lynch to say anything might be wishful thinking.

On the more serious side, the loser of this game might be toast, if they’re not already. The Raiders are already four games behind the undefeated Chiefs and the Seahawks are three behind the undefeated Rams.

Plenty of teams start slow before climbing back into contention, but if the Raiders lose, they’d drop to 1-5 — a record teams are able to turn into a playoff season just 1 percent of the time. Getting to 2-4 would give them a 9 percent chance and if the Seahawks improved to 3-3, they’d have a 37 percent shot.

The Raiders and Seahawks have their backs against the wall and absolutely have to get a victory when a winnable matchup presents itself. That alone makes the Week 6 game in London an interesting one.