Team Grades: 49ers Do Very Little Right In Loss To Raiders
By Jerrell Richardson
For the second straight week the 49ers were completely outplayed by their opponent, and suffered an embarrassing loss. The difference this week, though, was that the opponent was not the defending Super Bowl Champs, but instead the one-win Raiders. With the offense stuck in neutral, the defense had several breakdowns, and even the special teams failed to hold up their end of the bargain. In a game that they had to win, and figured to win, the 49ers were shocked, losing to the Oakland Raiders 24-13.
Offense: F
Colin Kaepernick had a game he would soon like to forget. He completed 18 of 33 passes for 174 yards, one touchdown, and two costly interceptions. He never looked comfortable in the pocket and was sacked 5 times. He spread the ball to 6 different receivers, but had no consistent target and several delay of game calls against him. However, he was not the only one who had a bad day. In fact the only 49er who showed up was Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick targeted the wide out 14 times, and even Crabtree had a relatively quiet day, with just 56 receiving yards on his team high 9 catches.
The teams only touchdown was an 8 yard pass to Bruce Miller that was just as much about a blown coverage than anything else. The faults of the passing game are not a complete shock though, as they have been ranked near the bottom of the league this entire season when throwing the ball. What is a shock is the inability of the running game against a suspect Raider front.
It’s hard to blame Frank Gore on the offensive struggles. In fact, the game calling has to be called into question quite a bit. San Francisco was in this game until the very end, so how Gore averaged over 5 yards per rush, yet was handed the ball only 12 times is unacceptable. Carlos Hyde had only 2 carries, so it’s not as though they were giving Gore a breather. As a team, the 49ers rushed for 97 yards on 18 attempts, but 3 of those attempts and 26 of those yards came from Kaepernick, and only one was a designed called run. So in 4 quarters of a close game, the 49ers decided to call only 15 running plays?
Defense: D
The 49ers defense had allowed 24 or more points just 3 times before this Sunday, and picked the worst time possible to do it for the 4th time. Oakland had one of the worst offenses in the league heading into this game, but were able to do just enough on the ground to balance their passing attack that looked like it was carving up the usually sound 49er secondary, but in reality, the Raiders passing game was going after the San Francisco linebackers.
Derek Carr looked nothing like a rookie, completing 22 of 28 passes for 254 yards and 3 touchdowns. He took what the defense gave him, looking to the middle of the field to do most of his damage. While 7 different Raiders caught a pass, when Carr dropped back to pass, the ball was either going to Mychael Rivera or Marcel Reece. Both the tight end and fullback caught 7 passes while no other Raiders caught more than 2 balls.
Chris Borland again led the team in tackles with 14, but it can’t be ignored that he continues to be less than impressive in pass coverage, as the 16 receptions by the Raider tight ends and fullbacks were most of Carr’s completions and more times than not his responsibility in pass coverage. Antonie Bethea and Dontae Johnson chipped in 7 tackles a piece, but there was no consistent pass rush to help out the secondary. As a unit the defense had their worst performance of the season.
Special Teams: C
No 49er loss would be complete without at least one specials teams’ mishap. For most of the game the special teams played well, but failed them late. Andy Lee averaged over 50 yards on his 4 punts, and for the first time all year, return man Bruce Ellington made an impact. He had 92 kick return yards and on his lone punt return had a nice 23 yard return.
However, what the team really needed was Phil Dawson to keep them in the game late with a 47-yarder, but he sailed the kick left. Dawson did hit his 2 other attempts, and had another wiped away by a penalty, but missed the one that would have kept them in striking distance. While the final outcome was more than 6, and the first was not on Dawson, the bottom line is that the special teams left 6 points off the board, which could have meant the difference in a game this close.
Time To Panic
All San Francisco needed to do to keep their playoff chances alive was beat a team with one win. Not only did they lose to the Oakland Raiders, it was far from competitive. The defense kept them in it for a while, but the inability of the offense to score coupled with the inability of the defense to keep Oakland out of the end zone was too much for the reeling 49ers. This loss most likely ended any chances the 49ers have of making the playoffs, but they have to quickly forget about it, as they are still not out of it, and up next is a Seattle Seahawks team that will have no problems really embarrassing the proud but reeling 49ers.
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Jerrell Richardson is a Bay Area native who due to a college career at San Diego State University has grown an appreciation for all things sports related in California. His heart will always remain in San Francisco though where he currently resides and covers everything from the San Francisco 49ers and Giants to the San Jose Sharks and California Bears Baseball team. Jerrell is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. His work can be found on Examiner.com.