Raiders vs. 49ers: 5 players to watch for San Francisco in Week 9
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers host the fellow one-win Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football, and Niner Noise previews the matchup by looking at these five players.
Well, this Thursday Night Football contest between the 1-7 San Francisco 49ers and the visiting 1-6 Oakland Raiders might wind up being the worst prime-time matchup in recent memory.
The good news, however, is one of these teams will get its second win of the season. Barring a tie, of course. Boy, wouldn’t that be something?
Anyway, both the Niners and Raiders’ 2018 campaigns have gone completely awry, as head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad has been beset by a slew of injuries to key players and underperformance from others thought to be key components. Meanwhile, head coach Jon Gruden has put far more effort into clearing out his roster and staking hopes for the future rebuild with the team’s eventual move to Las Vegas.
Like it or not, this is the storyline for what will be the final “Battle of the Bay” between these two historic franchises.
The short week will make things tough on both teams, but especially for San Francisco on the injury front. This quick turnaround will likely prevent a number of injured players, who otherwise would be ready to go on a regular schedule, from suiting up in Week 9. Case in point, quarterback C.J. Beathard suffered a wrist injury in last week’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Should he be unavailable for the game, 2017 undrafted free-agent QB Nick Mullens would get his first ever start (and first ever regular-season snaps) — a possibility Shanahan pointed out earlier this week.
Whoever starts will obviously be a player to watch. But let’s look at five others Niners fans will want to pay attention to Thursday night.