Postgame Analysis: 49ers vs. Raiders
Posted by on October 17, 2010 – 6:48 PM
Shawntae Spencer summed it up the best following the 49ers 17-9 win over the Oakland Raiders.
“The mentality in practice, the locker room and throughout our building is that we can’t lose any more games,” the seven-year veteran cornerback said. “We have 10 left and we’re behind. We take them one at a time, but it’s a different sense of urgency that we have to continue to have.”
That urgency showed in the second half of Sunday’s win over Oakland as Alex Smith connected with Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis on touchdown passes that helped the 49ers win their first game of 2010.
Here’s a closer look at some of the highlights from the win.
Highlight Reel: The offensive play of the game was Smith’s 32-yard touchdown to Michael Crabtree. The unit had just been hit with an intentional grounding penalty, but Smith responded with a perfect pass to Crabtree on second-and-20.
“I feel like the sky’s the limit for us,” Crabtree said. “All we have to do is take one step at a time and that game right there is evidence. I’m looking forward to next week.”
Linebacker Manny Lawson deserves the honors for best defensive highlight for his diving interception in front of tight end Zach Miller. Lawson made a great play to turn and defend the deep route and laid out to prevent the long completion and give the ball back to the 49ers offense.
Standout Stat: In two red zone possessions, the 49ers defense was able to hold the Raiders to two field goals. The missed opportunities to score touchdowns proved costly as the Raiders failed to visit the end zone at any point of a game they lost by eight points.
“That’s something that we pride ourselves on,” Spencer said. “If we can continue to do that, we’ll always be in the ballgame.”
Put it in Perspective: Getting the first win under their belts has given the 49ers even more confidence. It is also encouraging to see Frank Gore have his best game of the season with 149 yards rushing on 25 carries after he fumbled twice against Philadelphia.
After last week’s game against the Eagles, Mike Singletary said the toughest opponent for his team was the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers didn’t beat themselves on Sunday as they were able to protect the football and forced two turnovers on defense.
“If you don’t turn the ball over, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win,” linebacker Takeo Spikes said on a day in which he led the 49ers with six tackles.
“We’re going to have a 24-hour rule with the win as well as we had with the losses. We ain’t looking back. There’s no looking back, none.”
Tags: Alex Smith, Manny Lawson, Michael Crabtree, Shawntae Spencer
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25 Responses
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By Mr.niner on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
Good victory niners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and to you Singletary you have big Balls to keep Alex Smith in the game. He still didnt look good but no turnovers, so he did alright but not good enough to have faith in him for the rest of the season. Stop baby sitting him coach!!!! this is the NFL, Professional football and hes no professional.
By Irvin on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
It was a much needed win!! I hope we can continue this little momentum into our game, next week.
By niner fan on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
Wow! I am so happy! The niners won. They needed this game! This game is very special because they beat the RAIDERS!!!!
By 9erforever on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
Congrats Niners on your first win!
For one game the offensive play calling was aggressive and creative. You have Crabtree, Davis, and other good receivers. Use them equally as Gore between the tackles and keep the opponent’s D guessing. Give Gore a break for a play or two…see what Dixon did on his touchdown run negated by a holding call.
For one game the defense played smart, aggressive D for 60 minutes, with but a couple of lapses.
Special team gaffs, 9 players for a field goal attempt and 12 players on a punt return, are inexcusable in the 6th game of the season!
Is this a beginning or just a one game fluke????
By way2sicc on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
baby steps is all it takes. no turnovers and if we can now eliminate penalties we can really get a win streak together. i tought alex did agreat job hangin in there. he just needs to keep being consistent now. bad percentage but no turnovers is huge and im sure he’ll keep getting better. lets get them panthers next week.
By Frank Almeida on Oct 17, 2010 | Reply
trade Alex Smith and a 2nd or 3rd or 4th round pick for michael vick. vick is benched for the rest of the season anyways. be a smart coach singletary. this will allow you to keep your job because we will win. we need a QB that can scramble and throw.
By Thedogg on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
It was not a good game, Smith looked terrible in the first half and Gore couldnt get it going. I still say”Get A.Smith out of there”. We look worse then the Deadskins. We need to use Westbrook more often too.
By Thedogg on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
We shouldve Smoked the Raiders, we have a talented team, just no one to QB us. Singletary needs to make a better game plan, stop running Gore up the middle and use the other 2 running backs mix it up a little. we’ve lost our finesse, our swag and thats ASHAME…
By JR Baca on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Haven is cheering for the 9ers, a few mistakes but we won our first, press on guys, let’s win the rest, good job!
By L. R. Llewellyn on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
6 years of Alex Smith is enough, get rid of him. Sunday’s game was a bit of luck, now people will say he’s back, I don’t believe in it or him. We need a quarterback who is a professional that know’s how to lay the game, Alex is not the answer.
By KDB on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Alex you have HUUUUGE NUTS to hang in there with some of these fans that don’t understand the game very well booing you, and played very well given all of the B.S. you have had to deal with. You have made mistakes but you have performed very well, OMG the team has mnmade HUUUGE mistakes but like 125 yards of penalties yesterday, ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
Great job on being the #1 QB in the NFL in the Red Zone-WOW, if people would just let you play and knew the game like Vernon Davis says, you got game.
I will ride you the entire season and into next season with a entire NEW COACHI and new SYTEM from a real coordinator.
WHERE ARE YOU JIM HARBAUGH before Dallas get’s you!!!!
By Caveman on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Overall performance of the defense was outstanding. The linebackers did a fantastic job on the run game and covering the Raiders tightend. I will say that Campbell had a bad game and made poor decisions which makes a defense look good. Offensively, we had our best outing on turnovers. Finally, there weren’t any. That single statistic is the biggest reason for our victory. Play calling was much better overall, and we have to continue to integrate different looks and include more players to spread the ball around. No team in the NFL wins with one go to guy and we have too much talent on the team to have so much emphasis on Gore. Fifteen to twenty touches is plenty if you’re crafty about when to hand him the ball.
I was extremely happy to see Smith make good decisions when in trouble (i.e. take the sack when needed, throw the ball away when necessary). He was more conservative in the first half, but we stayed in the game because of it. Time management is better but still needs work as does the entire teams mental game causing penalties.
Special teams overall great! I’m so happy we really have a quality return guy in Guinn.
Let’s go team, practice hard and work on details. When in the actual game, be confident and take ownership of your responsibilities. Today the whole team played like that. We need that intensity every week.
By martinez on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
it only takes the first win to get it going . now lets go niners finish the season strong and win our division.lets make some noise in the playoffs
By miner49er on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
yessss finally get a win…let see how smith can do with this win and now on the road..i said it before and ill say it again dixon need to be more involved in the game..we see what he can do…staley had to hold….this victory meant lotsss for the niner faithful…come on smith lets get the “W’ rolling
By 49ersmexico on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
guauu !! Niners win,,, let´s go!!
By romes on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
we actually win and the fans whine more then ever, most of you dont deserve to call yourselves the 49er faithful. disgraceful, stand up and support your team instead of being negative all the time
By 49er fan in new orleans on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
more westbrook. 8-2 to finish the season
By nick zeroteli on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
9er faithful from Jersey here so I dont really get to watch the games that arent on national tv, so first things first I dont really know how we are playing certain games aside from the highlights and blogs. I will say that firing Raye was a big first step because the team is extremley talented. Singeltary may be a great motivator but as far as Xs n Os hes horrible. Mike johnson does not have enough credentials to be considered a reliable OC. In my opinion we are a better team when they let Smith do the play calling (dont all jump down my throat at once) Smith has showed some elite qb skills at times, but has also showed that he is prone to making mistakes. Its not fair to say he is the #1 problem because in my opinion its the coaching staff and the front office as a whole. Singeltary is afraid to take chances. His style of football might have worked in 1985, but its 2010. With gore crabtree and davis we have to take wayyyyyy more chances throwing the ball downfield and getting the ball to gore in the flats (where i think hes the best at ). All in all the 9ers are a heck of alot better then 1-5. The schedule is fairly easy and each and every single game is absolutely winnable. Time to buckle down i say we stcik with Smith n if the season continues to go downhill we take a big loook at the staff and completely blow it up. How do u feel about that 9er faithfuls???
By Brian on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
good for all you,your first win…..happy you did it @ home very very happy for you the team and most of all Alxe great game keep it up young man.
By niners4ever on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
great win over raides if they had a good QB they would
of won luckly both QB’s suck that show we have a great
team but on the real side looking ahead please dont wait for alex to play good when you see what thousands
of niner fans see take him out and put in carr we are to far behind to wait to see if he’s going to have a good game man i’m i the only one that can see and tell
if alex is going have it on game day a few plays alls
it takes if fans mean anything make the right choose.
By missouri 9er on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Great first win!!!! Defense played stronger while the offense started the game looking a little timid but turned it up in the second half. NO TURNOVERS was key to this game as it has been our achilles heel the first 5 games. Hopefully this will give the team a much needed confidence boost and some momentum!! GO GET’EM NINERS!!!!!!!!
By 9erforever on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Hey niners4ever,
How ironic with the names. Your predisposition on Alex Smith is way too apparent. With a good OC, he’ll change your mind.
Great coaches make good QB’s look great; good players at all positions for that matter.
Go Niners!
By cris hardy on Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
eiEither we win all of the games and smit becomes what he was suposed to three year s ago or we loss them all and ge andrew luck. in next years draft.
By PETERD on Oct 19, 2010 | Reply
Just imagine how much better we would have been without 11 penalties/143 yards and stupid mistakes — too many, too few on the field, for example.
Two bad calles against us too: that was a safety for sure, and that was NOT intentional grounding.
By Jay on Oct 19, 2010 | Reply
Congrats to the team for the first win just in time, I gotta give props to coach for sticking with Alex when everyone else is booing, knowing he could get it done. And Im glad the defense finally showed up to play defense lol! Now if they can just fix the Oline Playoffs are more than doable