Seahawks stand pat at trade deadline, keeping the passing game on Jaxon Smith-Njigba

The Seattle Seahawks did not make a trade before the NFL deadline. That means the offense that takes the field in Las Vegas on Sunday is the one they will ride into the second half of the season, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is still the center of it.

According to Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Chris Allen, Seattle was linked to Jacksonville receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and looked into a deal for Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. Neither move happened. Allen thinks passing on Josh Downs made sense because he would have overlapped too much with Smith-Njigba. He also argues that what Seattle really lacks is a receiver who can stretch the field. Smith-Njigba is one of only three wide receivers with a target rate above 30 percent, and he leads the league in both yards per route run and first downs per route run. The rest of the room trails well behind him. Allen has Cooper Kupp at 0.91 yards per route run and Tory Horton at 1.07, and Horton has drawn only three targets of 15 or more air yards.

The quarterback situation adds to the strain. Sam Darnold has been out with a quad injury, and Drew Lock has been starting while dealing with a sore elbow. Lock then hurt his oblique in last Sunday's 17-3 win over Arizona, The Spokesman-Review reported. He finished 19 of 28 for 175 yards and a touchdown. NBC Sports reports that Lock was limited again in practice Thursday and that coach Mike Macdonald expects him to start against the Raiders. Yahoo expects Darnold and receiver Rashid Shaheed back after Seattle's Week 11 bye.

What it means for Las Vegas

The Seahawks are 5-4 and have won two of their last three. In both of those wins, against Kansas City and Arizona, they held the opponent to three points. In between, Chicago beat them 34-17. Seattle has scored 202 points and allowed 162 for a plus-40 differential, but three of its four losses came by three points or fewer. Those were the defeats at Washington and Denver and the home loss to San Francisco. The Seahawks are 1-2 on the road, and their only road win was a 31-7 rout at Arizona.

The matchup points toward the ground game. Allen notes that the Raiders allow a league-high 132.1 rushing yards per game. He also notes that Seattle's pass rate over expectation fell to minus-8.9 percent in Zach Charbonnet's second game back. With Lock still nursing two injuries, expect a lot of handoffs and short throws, plus heavy use of AJ Barner at the goal line.

The market makes Seattle a clear favorite. On this site's board for the game, which tracks 12 venues, Novig has the Seahawks favored at -264 on the moneyline and the Raiders at +257. On the spread, Seattle is a 6.5-point favorite at -102 and Las Vegas is +6.5 at even money. The total is 40.5, with the over at -104 and the under at -102. On the moneyline, Novig's two sides add up to roughly half a percentage point of margin. The sportsbooks' hold on the same market runs from 3.5 to 5.0 percent. On the spread, their hold runs from 2.9 to 5.0 percent.

A total near 40 fits a team whose defense has carried it lately while its offense runs through one receiver and a quarterback who is not fully healthy. Seattle chose not to add help at the deadline. For now, the passing game depends on whether Smith-Njigba can keep producing at this level.