The Seahawks head to Las Vegas this weekend to face the Raiders, who are led by first-year head coach Klint Kubiak. The former Seahawks offensive coordinator got the Raiders off to a quick start, winning his first three games as a head coach, but they have lost five of six since then. In addition to looking to right the ship, the Raiders will also be turning to rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who is making his first start after Las Vegas traded Kirk Cousins to the Vikings this week. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are looking to build off a strong showing in last weekend's win over the Cardinals that improved their record to 5-4, allowing them to head into their bye week with a little momentum on their side.

Here are five things to watch when the Seahawks face the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

1. Does their past history together give either Mike Macdonald or Klint Kubiak an advantage over the other?

On their way to a Super Bowl title, Mike Macdonald and Klint Kubiak worked together to turn the Seahawks into a championship team, and they also called plays against each other in practice. All of that means that Macdonald has a lot of familiarity with how Kubiak designs and calls an offense, but on the flip side of that, Kubiak knows how Macdonald's defense operates better than just about any opposing coach in the league.

So who does that familiarity benefit?

The way Macdonald sees it, it's less about who knows the other better, but rather about who can adjust as the game goes on to what the other is doing.

"It feels like a divisional game," Macdonald said. "It feels like the first divisional game of the season. We know each other, but we also know that we are different. It's not the same, but there's also a familiarity, but you also don't have the foundational understanding of what they already decided to do, so that you have the opportunity to react. That's the best comparison that I can make.

Asked about Kubiak's offense, Macdonald added, "There are a lot of parallels. To their credit, they've evolved. They're building it around the people that they have and they're doing it at a high level. I respect how they operate obviously and they have great people and good players. They're moving the ball and putting up a lot of points."

2. Can Seattle's Dark Side defense make life miserable on Fernando Mendoza in the No. 1 pick's first NFL start?

By trading veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins this week, the Raiders also began a new era with No. 1 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza taking over at quarterback.

The Seahawks know Mendoza is talented—you don't win the Heisman, a national title and become the No. 1 overall pick without being really, really good—and there is also the challenge of having almost no tape of the Raiders offense with Mendoza at quarterback, but Seattle's defense will also go into the game confident knowing that they have allowed the fewest yards and passing yards, and fourth fewest points, of any team in the NFL this season.

"It's a bit challenging because you have no tape on him," defensive tackle Byron Murphy II said. "You don't have too many tendencies or some of his weaknesses. As far as what I've seen on tape, the guy, number one draft pick, he can make all the throws. As a unit, as a defense, especially as a defensive line, we can get after this guy, especially in the passing game. We have to rush as one, be on one accord and our communication has to be at a high level. We can get after him."

Macdonald also knows how to make life difficult on any quarterback, and especially a rookie, which means if Mendoza is going to have much success, it would be an outlier performance.

Since Macdonald became Seattle's head coach in 2024, the Seahawks have faced four rookie quarterbacks, Denver's Bo Nix, Chicago's Caleb Williams, Tennessee's Cam Ward and Minnesota's Max Bosmer, and Seattle has come out on top in all four games. Two of those rookies, Nix and Bosmer, were making their first career start, while two, Williams and Ward, were No. 1 picks.

In those games, the rookies had only one touchdown with seven interceptions, and they averaged 4.5 yards per pass attempt, per Nex Gen Stats, the lowest for any defense with a minimum of 100 pass attempts by a rookie. League wide, rookie quarterbacks have averaged 6.5 yards per attempt since the start of the 2024 season. Also per Nex Gen Stats, rookies have a 29.9 percent success rate against Macdonald's Seahawks, compared to 40.9 against the rest of the league.

3. Do Zach Charbonnet, Jadarian Price and the Seahawks run game build off the momentum from last week's showing?

Running backs Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price returned from injury for Seattle's Week 8 loss to the Bears, but they were closer to all the way back for last weekend's game against the Cardinals, playing more snaps and getting more touches. The result was a spark for Seattle's offense and running game that is cause for optimism for the offense moving forward.

Neither player put up huge numbers, but both were effective and were a big part of the team's success, with the duo accounting for 164 of Seattle's 295 total yards, including 77 rushing yards for Charbonnet and a team-leading 54 receiving yards for Price on four catches.

"Absolutely, and I still think that they're building momentum," offensive coordinator Brian Fleury said when asked about feeling the effect those two backs had on the offense. "It's been nice to see them gain a little bit of confidence, both in the concepts that we're running, and just in their readiness to be ready to go out and carry the load, both of them. I think we're just going to see that continue to grow."

And there could be opportunity for Price and Charbonnet to get going against a Raiders defense that ranks last in the league in rushing defense (151.2 yards per game), total defense (385.4) and points allowed (29.8).

Yet even if the Seahawks are able to move the ball on the Raiders, they know they can't take that defense lightly, especially not given Seattle's turnover issues this season. The Seahawks, whose 14 turnovers are tied for the seventh-most in the league, will need to make sure ball security is on point against a Raiders defense that has 14 takeaways, tied for fourth most in the NFL, including seven fumble recoveries, which are tied for third most.

4. Will Nick Emmanwori once again limit the production of an elite tight end?

With the Cardinals in the red zone trying to score a touchdown on fourth down to make it a one-score game, Gardner Minshew threw to All-Pro tight end Trey McBride, but Nick Emmanwori was there to break up the pass. It was the only time Minshew targeted McBride on eight plays with Emmanwori covering him, per NFL Next Gen stats, a number that indicated just how well Emmanwori had one of the league's best tight ends, and Arizona's top target, blanketed. Earlier this season, Emmanwori also was in coverage on eight snaps against another of the league's top tight ends, San Francisco's George Kittle, and on those plays, Brock Purdy was 1 for 1 for minus-1 yard.

In coverage this season, Emmanwori has allowed 19 receptions for 121 yards on 27 targets, again, Next Gen Stats, and his 4.5 yards per target allowed is the lowest among Seahawks defensive backs this season (minimum 10 targets).

Those numbers, of course, are particularly relevant this week because the Seahawks are facing another of the league's best tight ends, who already has 658 yards and six touchdowns on 48 receptions despite missing two games early in the season, and who has three 100-yard games this season, including a 111-yard, one touchdown outing against the 49ers last week.

Emmanwori's versatility means he'll be doing a lot more than just covering Bowers on Sunday—he does lead all NFL defensive backs with 17 pressures when he rushes the passer—but when he does cover one of the league's top tight ends, the Seahawks will feel good about that matchup.

"It does a lot when Nick's out there balling, and he's doing his job, and he's covering," linebacker Ernest Jones IV said. "I mean, it eliminates a guy in a sense. It puts us at an advantage, so we're going to go out there and play good defense. He's not going to be responsible for that matchup in totality. That's a good tight end, so we can't put all that on him, so we'll all have our hand in making sure we can do our best with him."

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5. Can Seattle's offense start faster and get back to being explosive?

The Seahawks have been a little bit up and down on offense, but thanks to some playmakers in the run and pass game, including the league's leading receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, they have also managed to be a pretty explosive group. That wasn't the case last week despite an overall solid showing in a win, with the Seahawks winning despite not having a single play of 20 or more yards.

The Seahawks will try to change that this weekend against a defense that has struggled at times to stop big plays. Per Next Gen Stats, the Raiders have allowed at least one explosive play, defined as a run of 10 or more yards or a pass of 15 or more yards, on a league-high 58.2 percent of drives this season. On those drives featuring at least one explosive, Raiders opponents have reached the red zone on 61.4 percent of possessions, with 52.6 percent of those drives ending in touchdowns.