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Flat 3rd quarter sends Raiders reeling into 38-17 loss to 49ers
Head coach Klint Kubiak was roughed up this past Sunday by some former colleagues as his new club fell under .500 once again.
Kubiak’s Las Vegas Raiders were whacked by the San Francisco 49ers, 38-17, Sunday, Nov. 8 from Levi Stadium in Santa Clara in the team’s second straight road game. The first-year head coach served as San Francisco’s passing game coordinator in 2023.
“When you turn the ball over five times, you’re not going to win ever,” Kubiak said. “Didn’t do a good job stopping them in the first half and then turned it over five times in the second half.”
After starting the season 3-0, the Raiders have now lost five of its last six games as the club now sits at 4-5 on the year.
Things don’t get any easier and the road doesn’t get less familiar for Kubiak as the defending champion Seattle Seahawks are due to visit Allegiant Stadium Sunday, Nov. 15.
Kickoff is slated for 1:05 p.m.
“You’ve got to start the game a lot faster,” Kubiak said. “You’ve got to go toe-to-toe in the first half so the second half doesn’t feel like a throwing-fest.”
Las Vegas originally had a golden opportunity coming out of halftime, looking to cut into an 11-point deficit. However, the team’s play in that third quarter did the exact opposite as the hole got even deeper.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins fumbled the first snap of the half and promptly tossed an interception that was taken back the other way for six points as his team slipped behind by 18 points.
“Looks like we fumbled the exchange,” Kubiak said. “Tried to pick it up and make a play and obviously, their guy made a play. It started with the exchange. When you fumble the exchange, you’ve got to eat it and go to the next down.”
Even after rookie safety Treydan Stukes secured his second interception of the season, the Raider offense couldn’t do much with it. Tight end Brock Bowers fumbled for the second time in his career to end that next drive. Both fumbles have come in the last five weeks.
Las Vegas’ defense stood again when it turned away the San Francisco offense after quarterback Brock Purdy was stuffed on a 4th and 1 run up the middle. Fellow tight end Michael Mayer would fumble the ball away next as the Raiders just couldn’t get anything going in the first 15 minutes after halftime.
“Disappointing day,” Cousins said. “Felt like there were plays out there to be made. Felt like our defense did a nice job in the second half getting us the ball back, creating some turnovers, getting turnovers on downs. Special teams gave us short fields so it’s disappointing not to capitalize on those opportunities and cut the lead that they had.”
The 49ers went on to add more points to the board in the form of a 37-yard touchdown reception. To make matters worse, Cousins was intercepted on the first Las Vegas possession of the fourth quarter as well.
In the loss, Cousins went 22-for-32 for 216 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. His final pick of the night came on the team’s final possession of the game.
The 38-year old now has eight interceptions this season after throwing just one over the last four weeks. In six second half possessions, the Raiders scored once while throwing three interceptions and fumbling the ball away twice.
“We’ve got to go back and look at every single one of them,” Kubiak said. “When you’re in position to throw the ball every down, starting in the second quarter, you’re going to throw interceptions.
“We have to find balance in our team. That’s not a new topic.”
Bowers didn’t haul in his second catch until after halftime but caught three straight passes from Cousins during an effort that saw him record a game-high 111 yards on a game-high seven catches.
San Francisco capped its performance with a field goal following that second interception from Cousins. That scoring play came on the 12th play of the drive, something that the home team did often throughout the victory.
Running back Christian McCaffrey scored on the ground during the 49ers’ first possession of the game. On the next drive, Purdy found 37 yards through the air on the first play and then the team followed that up with 10 more yards on a run on the very next play.
After an 18-yard run pushed San Francisco into the red zone, it sat at 149 total yards through the first 12-plus minutes of the game. Purdy went 17-for-25 in the win with 232 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
“Credit to them,” Kubiak said. “They executed, we didn’t.”
Through the first two drives of the game, the 49ers racked up 164 total yards (94 rush yards) and two touchdowns on 25 plays. At that time, the team had 13 first downs versus just 11 total plays for the Raiders.
McCaffrey ended the night with 87 total yards and two touchdowns on 20 touches overall.
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