Ballers & Busters: Raiders preseason Week 1 vs 49ers
Sunday the Raiders took the field for the first time since the end of last season. And just as they did last preseason, there wasn’t much in the way of starters on the field.
Yeah, unlike years ago when the starters would at least play a series in the opener, these days they don’t see the field at all, making the preseason games all about the hopefuls proving themselves to try and earn a roster spot.
With that in mind, here are the standouts among those who took the field against the 49ers.
Ballers
QB Aidan O’Connell
The rookie balled out for three quarters. He completed 15 of 18 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. And two of his three incompletions were drops. Very impressive first impression for the fourth round pick out of Purdue.
DE Jordan Willis, DE Isaac Rochell
The two of them shared a sack on third down to force the 49ers into a three-and-out to open the game. And then they were both forces on the outside the rest of their time on the field.
Willis had a pressure on the next drive that also resulted in a three-and-out and then Rochell had a pressure that helped lead to a sack on the 49ers third consecutive three-and-out to start the game.
Willis ended consecutive drives to end the first half. With a run stuff for no gain on 4th down and then a QB hit that resulted in a bad pass to send the two teams to the locker room with the Raiders holding a 14-7 lead.
The first 49ers possession of the third quarter had Rochell wreaking havoc on them. He got in the backfield to disrupt the play on a one yard run, then had two run stuffs for no gain.
TE Cole Fotheringham
Fotheringham was all over the place. First and foremost, he was the team’s leading receiver with 71 yards on five catches. Knowing that his best chance of making the roster will be with his special teams work, he had a tackle on a punt return as well. And for good measure, he had a couple of run blocks that led to good yardage too.
LB Curtis Bolton
The first tackle of the game was Bolton on the opening kickoff. Late in the third quarter, he came in at linebacker and made a impact there too. He laid the hit that forced the fumble for the Raiders’ first takeaway of the day. Then he ended Sam Darnold’s day with a couple blitzes that both led to incompletions and a 58-yard field goal attempt that missed wide right.
DT Neil Farrell Jr
With the score still tied at seven apiece late in the second quarter, the 49ers lined up to go for it on fourth and one. Jordan Willis would get the run stuff at the line, but it was Farrell who filled the gap to make it possible. Farrell was there again on fourth and one early in the third quarter to stuff Sam Darnold on his QB sneak attempt for another turnover on downs.
DT Adam Butler
On consecutive plays late in the first quarter, Butler got into the 49ers backfield. The first time, Trey Lance managed to escape, though he was only able to scramble for two yards. The next play Butler got pressure again, this time he wrapped up Lance for the sack. Butler later had a run stop as well.
S Roderic Teamer
As Roderic “Special” Teamer is want to do, he made a play as a gunner on special teams, stopping the return man for no gain at the 14-yard-line. He also had a couple assisted tackles in the pass game as well as the run game.
Honorable Mention
CB Sam Webb — Was in the right place when his receiver couldn’t get ahold of a pass and he picked it off and returned it to the two-yard-line.
RB Sincere McCormick — had two touchdowns in the game; one on the ground and one through, both from two yards out.
LB Amari Burney — Had a pursuit sack and made a great read on a pass over the middle to nearly pick it off.
Busters
S Jaquan Johnson
The 49ers only touchdown drive of the day featured Johnson’s deficiencies as a tackler. First by missing a tackle on a 16-yard catch and run, then by getting driven past the first down marker on a seven-yard catch. Later in the second quarter, he missed a tackle on a 21-yard catch and in the process got 15 yards tacked onto it for leading with his helmet. Just poor tackling technique all around by Johnson. If it weren’t for the time ticking away in the second quarter, that likely would have been a scoring drive as well.
WR Tre Tucker
Aidan O’Connell had just three incompletions in the game. Two of them were Tucker drops. The first was the bad one. It should’ve been an easy catch on third down close to the sticks. Instead of was a punt. The second one, Tucker appeared for a moment to have made a fantastic diving grab up the left sideline. O’Connell threw a great pass, but Tucker knew all along it was not a catch as he had let the ball go through his arms and trapped it on the turf.
The rookie receiver would finish with just one catch for 15 yards through the air. They also tried to showcase his speed on the ground, but he managed just three yards on an end around.
CB Azizi Heard
Sam Darnold was picking on Heard from the moment he came in the game. The USC alum decided the UCLA alum was going to be his beating post.
First Darnold made the best throw of the game by any QB on a pass up the right sideline that was plucked out of the air by Ronnie Bell who had gotten jus behind Heard. The play went for 38 yards. Heard would give up two more catches on the next three plays that went for seven yards and 15 yards. It was only by switching to the ground that the drive was stopped.
Heard did manage to recover the fumble that Curtis Bolton forced. Then on the next drive, he was targeted again to give up a 16-yard catch.
T Justin Herron
Starting at left tackle in the game, Herron gave up a run stuff for no gain on the first drive and then a sack to none other than Clelin Ferrell on the second drive. It was the only sack the Raiders OL surrendered in the game.
