SEATTLE — Mike Holmgren loves offense.

He revels in designing plays and meticulously schooling his quarterbacks. He takes pride in developing intricate, renowned playbooks that are larger than his family photo album. And that's big — the Holmgrens have four daughters and four granddaughters.

So when the coach who has spent the last 36 years doing little more than glancing at his teams' defenses ripped into the Seahawks' tacklers and pass defenders following the third loss in four games last week, nothing more had to be said.

"I already said my piece to the players and the coaches," Holmgren said with a deadpan expression and head tilting down. "Now, the healing process begins."

The Raiders wouldn't mind being so wounded heading into their game Monday night in Seattle.

Sure, the Seahawks are 4-3 and not even a shadow of their defending NFC champion selves. Since beating woeful Arizona (1-7) last month, Seattle's defense has allowed the Giants, Bears, Rams, Vikings and Chiefs an average of 380 yards and 32 points per game. Even journeyman backup quarterback Damon Huard lit up the Seahawks for his first 300-yard passing game of his 10-year career.

But Seattle remains tied with St. Louis atop the sickly NFC West. And the Seahawks at least have the comfort of knowing it will get back injured league MVP Shaun Alexander and Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in the next few weeks, to help ease the obviously crushing burden on the defense.

"Yeah, we have a chip on our shoulder," Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu said.

The Raiders have a boulder. Even with a two-game winning streak, they are 2-5. They have the worst offense in the league. They are 4-26 on the road and 15-40 overall since appearing in the 2003 Super Bowl. It's the worst stretch of Raiders football since owner Al Davis arrived to be Oakland's coach and general manager.

"We're seven games into this thing and we have some issues," quarterback Andrew Walter said.

Yet Oakland has won twice — somehow.

The Raiders had five turnovers, but managed to underwhelm the Cardinals, mostly because they are still the Cardinals. Then the Raiders had 98 total yards of offense last week, with Walter providing 17 yards passing.