Raiders – Stop the Titans in the red zone for their second win

The Oakland Raiders defeated the Tennessee Titans 17-10 in a close game on the road that was decided by the final play.

Titans Quarterback Marcus Mariota attempted to throw for the end zone to tie the game up, but his effort came up short.

This was a much needed win for Oakland after their crushing loss the week before to the Atlanta Falcons. Oakland’s defense has been called into question leading up to this game and rightfully so, after giving up an historic 961 total yards and 69 points through the first two games.

They redeemed themselves a bit in their win as they only allowed 10 points and forced 3 turnovers. It was an impressive outing considering how terrible they have played previously.

One of the reasons why they performed better was the debuts of rookie safety Karl Joseph and linebacker Corey James.

No one on the defense had more tackles than these two, with Joseph having a team high 10 tackles and James with 7 tackles. He is a much better player than Keith McGill, the player whose spot he stole, as McGill would constantly miss tackles and give up deep pass plays.

Deep pass plays were not even a feature of the Titans offense, which just goes to show the improvement. It is just a matter if they can remain consistent throughout the season. The offense of the Raiders looked dangerous. Quarterback Derek Carr really has the offense going, but he was being let down by his receivers this game.

Constant drops were the main issues stalling their drives.

Drops were an issue of this offense last season as well. Other than that and some penalties this offense is poised to be top 5 this season. Eyes will still be on the defense next week as they take on the Baltimore Ravens.

49ers – Continue struggle against Seahawks

The San Francisco Forty-Niners were not as fortunate as the Raiders as they were pummeled by the Seattle Seahawks 37-18. Two garbage time touchdowns made the score more respectable, but they were down 24-3 at halftime.

At that point, the Forty-Niners should’ve put in Colin Kaepernick at quarterback. That position is holding back the team from lack of productivity.

The Seahawks offense looked explosive from the moment the first offensive drive started. The drive was capped by a Christine Michael 41 yard touchdown run only a minute into the game. It was all downhill from there for San Francisco.

The Forty-Niners haven’t had much success against the Seahawks the last few years, especially in Seattle. They definitely weren’t going to with Blaine Gabbert at the helm.

It is only a matter of time before head coach Chip Kelly benches Gabbert in favor of Colin Kaepernick. Colin can’t be worse than Gabbert and they might as well see if Colin can kick start the offense given his history.

When you have Gabbert as your starting quarterback, defenses will just continue to load up the box reducing running lanes for Hyde. The lack of wide receiver talent also handicaps this team, so it’s not all on Gabbert.

The only bright spots on this Forty-Niner team are All-pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman and running back Carlos Hyde. These two consistently produce numbers, but they can’t carry the load alone.

The hope is that first round pick DeForest Buckner can grow into a dominant pass rusher. He hasn’t made any explosive plays yet, but hopefully he can put his stamp on this team soon to ease the load off of Hyde and Bowman.

Can both of these players get help and bounce back next week when they take on the Dallas Cowboys?