Instant Analysis of the 49ers' 38-17 Win Over the Las Vegas Raiders

The 49ers just beat the Raiders 38 17. That's the good news. The not so good news is that stud rookie defensive tackle Grayson Halton carted off the field with less than four minutes left when the Niners were up by 18 with a brutal lower leg injury and an air cast on his lower leg, maybe broken something. So doesn't look I mean, he might miss the rest of the year, but let's go back to the good stuff. This is a game that the Niners, I mean, if you could just say, oh, it was the Raiders. It was the Raiders. You know what? The Raiders are better than the Falcons, and the Falcons beat the Niners because Kyle Shanahan didn't trust his young players, Kalen Black, Jordan Watkins. He went in the bye week. He was honest with himself, it looks like, and came back this week and actually featured his young guys. That was the big difference in the game. Jordan Watkins, the leading receiver for the Niners, Kalen Black, the leading rusher for the Niners. In the fourth quarter with, I mean, the game on the line. Shanahan repeatedly went back to his two young guys, the two most explosive players in the offense and was rewarded. They're really good. You can't just keep forcing the ball to Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle all season. It's not going to work. So that's a great sign for Kyle Shanahan and the Niners offense going forward. The not so good, I mean, the defense rose up, forced a bajillion turnovers, made Kirk Cousins look awful, but they never sacked him, which is a little alarming because they never sacked Michael Penix a couple of weeks ago and DeForest Buckner played in this game. Nick Bosa played in this game. You thought that they would put him down. I thought they would put Kirk Cousins down four times, zero times. So you're looking, it's like the Niners right now are definitely good enough to beat the Raiders, but are they the best team in the league like we thought they were a month ago? No. They're not, and the trade deadline's a couple days away, and maybe what they need is a pass rusher, because right now, I mean, do you really want to trade for a veteran wide receiver and just give Jordan Watkins less playing time? You want to take playing time away from Kalen Black? Maybe what you need is another pass rusher to really complete this defense. Maybe the Raiders are finally willing to give up Max Crosby. I mean, their defense sucks. They suck. What are they holding on? Why does he even want to be on that team? Maybe offer Michael Williams in a first round pick I don't think the Raiders want Michael Williams, but there's got to be a pass rusher the Niners can get. And now that Grayson Halton's out for maybe the entire year, they really need another pass rusher because Bosa didn't look like Bosa, and Buckner didn't look like the Buckner I remember. Still, though, huge win. The Niners only have one loss this year, and they get to face the Cowboys next week, and they might be worse than the Raiders.