RAIDERS TOP 49ERS

RAIDERS GROUND GAME OVERWHELMS 49ERS IN WEEK 3 UPSET

Well, here's what I'll tell you about this one—the Raiders came into this game with a plan, and they stuck to it. One hundred fifty rushing yards might not jump off the page, but when you're running that football consistently and controlling the line of scrimmage, that's football. The 49ers wanted to make this a passing game, and hey, they got their yardage with 190 through the air, but here's the thing: efficiency matters more than volume. San Francisco went 5 for 16 on third down. That's not winning football. You can't sustain drives when you're getting behind the chains like that.

The Raiders understood something critical in this matchup—they didn't need to be perfect, they just needed to be balanced. Seven of fifteen on third down is still solid execution, and when you couple that with a 2-for-3 red zone performance, you're taking what the defense gives you and getting points. San Francisco's zero-for-three in the red zone? That's the ballgame right there. You get down there three times, you've gotta punch it in more than once to win on the road. Those are four, five, six points left on the field.

What should the 49ers have done differently? They needed to establish something early in the run game to loosen up that Oakland defense. Instead, they found themselves in obvious passing situations—88 rushing yards tells that story—and the Raiders' pass rush (two sacks) was able to pin their ears back and rush the passer. Credit the Raiders for understanding this was going to be a smash-mouth football game, and they out-executed their opponent when it mattered most.