Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
A look at which 49ers stocks went up, and which 49ers stocks went down after their first preseason game:
The 49ers opened their 2023 preseason with an dreary 34-7 loss to the Raiders in Las Vegas.
A subpar performance saw plenty of players stocks go down in the first exhibition game of the year, but a handful of players also pushed their stocks in a positive direction.
Let’s take a look at whose stock is rising, and whose stock is falling for the 49ers heading into the second week of the preseason:
Here’s a rundown of how each #49ers draft pick looked in the preseason opener:
The 49ers on Sunday opened their preseason with an uninspired 34-7 loss to the Raiders in Las Vegas. While the loss marked the start of the team’s 2023 preseason slate, it also marked the start of a handful of careers with the team’s rookies making their debuts.
We ran through the performances for each of San Francisco’s nine draft picks (and one non-draft pick) in the 49ers’ first preseason game:
Despite a pair of missed field goals, #49ers rookie kicker Jake Moody has head coach Kyle Shanahan’s full support:
Rookie kicker Jake Moody’s preseason debut with the 49ers couldn’t have gone much worse. He got to attempt a pair of field goals and missed both, but head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t hitting the panic button on the first-year kicker just yet.
Moody did handle kickoffs and did a fine job there. He also connected on his lone extra point try. As for the missed field goals, Shanahan said
“I mean, it’s unfortunate because I know the pressure on him when everyone’s looking,” Shanahan said. “I know he missed those two today, but he’s been great in practice. He’s hit them all. I was just excited to attempt a long one, which was fun until it was missed. But he’s been great. He handles himself well, so no issues here with me.”
Neither of Moody’s misses were particularly close with a 40-yard trying sailing wide left, then a 58-yard try flying wide right.
This was Moody’s first time kicking in an NFL game though and he’s proven in practice he can hit from as deep as 60 yards out. In-game misses in the preseason opener would surely be a bigger problem if Moody wasn’t good in training camp. For now though he’s still getting his sea legs under him in the NFL and he still has the full backing of his head coach.
If the misses continue into the second and third preseason games though, Shanahan’s support could waver.
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Here’s how to watch and listen to the #49ers’ preseason opener vs. the Raiders:
The 49ers on Sunday begin their preseason slate vs. the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
This year San Francisco fans outside the Bay Area will be lucky with two of the club’s preseason bouts being broadcast nationally on NFL Network.
Sunday’s opener vs. the Raiders will be the first game shown on national TV. However, the game will also be broadcast on television locally in the Bay Area on KPIX 5 and CW Bay Area. 49ers broadcasters Greg Papa and Tim Ryan will have the call there.
On the radio, fans can tune in to KGO (810 AM) The Bone (107.7 FM). Bay Area legend Bob Fitzgerald will have the call alongside former 49ers Keena Turner and Donte Whitner.
All preseason games are also streamed live on NFL+ with a subscription. Games will be rewatchable immediately after the game ends on NFL+ as well.
Kickoff from Allegiant Stadium is scheduled for 1:00 pm Pacific Time.
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The backup QB reps were very lopsided toward Trey Lance in the #49ers first joint practice with the Raiders.
There was a notable shift in the quarterback reps for the 49ers first joint practice with the Raiders in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Brock Purdy took all the first-team reps as usual, but Trey Lance got a lion’s share of the second-team reps. He took 19 snaps according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. Lance completed 6-of-12 throws.
Sam Darnold, who’s competing with Lance for the backup job, had just nine reps and completed one-of-three passes. There were no 11-on-11 snaps for Brandon Allen who appears to be firmly in the QB4 slot at this point.
The division of reps in each practice has tended to be more even that that between Lance and Darnold.
It could be that the 49ers plan on starting Lance for the preseason opener and just want him to get a handful of additional reps in practice leading up to the game.
There’s also a real chance the reps are divided the opposite way for Friday’s practice where it’s Darnold receiving a bulk of the second-team reps with Lance pulling up the rear. It may be easier to “split” the reps that way in a joint practice.
A less likely scenario is that Lance has simply pulled ahead of Darnold, but it’s hard to fathom the 49ers coaching staff made that decision without both joint practices and at least one preseason game to go off of.
How the 49ers divide the reps between Lance and Darnold will always tell the story of how the battle is going, so Friday’s practice will be particularly interesting when it comes to how those snaps are dished out.
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Why joint practices with the Raiders matter more to #49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan than the team’s game against the Raiders.
The 49ers on Tuesday will wrap up their last home practice before hitting the road for a pair of joint practices with the Las Vegas Raiders.
San Francisco will then have their preseason opener against the Raiders on Sunday. While the game will draw plenty of eye balls and attention, it’s the practices that have head coach Kyle Shanahan’s attention.
Shanahan on Monday told reporters why he puts more stock into the practices vs. another team than the actual game.
“Yeah, I definitely do because you get to make sure that guys are getting evaluated,” Shanahan said in a press conference. “You do normal plays, you get to put guys in situations. You never know how a game’s going to unfold, what the situations are, who’s in there. Sometimes you get in situations where you can’t do stuff based off of protections and things like that in games. So in practice you get to get everything done and you get to learn a lot more about the guys, to me, than you do in the games.
“Negatives are, it’s always more competitive going against another team, so you want to make sure that there’s no fights. You want to make sure both teams treat each other with respect. And I think us and the teams we’ve gone against have fairly been pretty good about that. And I expect (Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach) Josh (McDaniels) and his crew to be the same.”
Shanahan is showing his preference for practices in the way he’s operating for the preseason opener. He said the starters will get all their reps in practice before sitting out the game. This is the same tactic he used last year after joint practices with the Vikings in Minnesota.
Any key players who struggle in the joint sessions could see some unexpected game action, but it’s more likely than not that practice performances give Shanahan and the coaching staff enough info to move forward with their roster building without putting players in harms way for an exhibition game.
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Don’t expect many #49ers starters on the field for the preseason opener on Saturday.
Don’t expect the 49ers starters to play much in their preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday told NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe and Steve Mariucci that the team won’t play its starters in Vegas in part because of the two joint practices before their game.
“Very little,” Shanahan said when asked how much the starters will play. “I mean usually when we go scrimmage a team we’re much more into the scrimmage than the game. So, we’ll see how the two practices go, but going off our history we try to play our starters as much as we can in those two practices and then keep them out of the game.”
This follows what the club did last year after two joint practices with the Vikings before the second preseason game. Most of the starters got plenty of reps in the two days leading up to the contest and rested during the game.
While sure starters might sit, other key players should get plenty of playing time. There are players trying to win jobs and depth charts to sort out. There’s also a chance a player who might be on track to sit out winds up playing some snaps if they don’t perform well in the joint practices.
All eyes either way will be on quarterbacks Trey Lance and Sam Darnold as their backup QB battle rages. Whether Brock Purdy plays to knock some in-game rust off remains to be seen, although Shanahan on Monday told reporters in a post-practice press conference that he doesn’t anticipate Purdy playing.
The 49ers and Raiders are scheduled for a 1:00pm Pacific Time kickoff on Saturday from Allegiant Stadium in Vegas.
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Some takeaways from a thriller of a 49ers win in Las Vegas:
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The 49ers probably expected to walk into Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and cruise to a victory over the Raiders and first-time starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham. They did walk into Allegiant Stadium, but they did anything but cruise in a nail-biting 37-34 overtime win.
While the game didn’t look like the dominant performances we’ve seen from the 49ers through most of their nine-game winning streak, it did teach us a few things about the club and offer a handful of takeaways with both short and long-term implications.
Here are six of those takeaways:
The 49ers found a new way to win a game. Nicholas McGee covered what San Francisco’s come-from-behind victory meant (@nicholasmcgee24):
Plenty went wrong for the 49ers in Week 17 as they were unexpectedly drawn into a shootout with a Raiders team playing a quarterback making his first start in Jarrett Stidham. However, San Francisco can take great solace — not only in winning a 37-34 overtime thriller — but in how the Niners found a way to finish on both sides of the ball when faced with adversity.
Neither rookie QB Brock Purdy nor San Francisco’s vaunted defense had received much of a test of late, but both were given stern examinations in an absorbing contest.
The defense will see plenty of room for improvement after giving up 500 yards of offense in a game that saw Davante Adams make a series of remarkable plays against the 49er secondary.
San Francisco’s pass rush also struggled to get home on pressures despite going against a Raider offensive line that has long since been seen as a weakness.
A defense that has become renowned for ruthlessly killing teams off could not do so after the 49ers took a 34-27 lead with 2:17 remaining in regulation on running back Jordan Mason’s touchdown run, giving up a 67-yard touchdown drive on three plays.
Yet after kicker Robbie Gould had missed a 40-yard field goal, sending the game to overtime, the defense delivered the save, defensive end Nick Bosa playing the role of closer as he varied up the speed of his rush and pushed Raiders left tackle Kolton Miller into Stidham, whose deep pass fluttered into grateful arms of strong safety Tashaun Gipson. Gipson’s return set up a chip-shot game-winner for Gould.
On the biggest series of the game, San Francisco’s most important defensive player stepped up. There has never been any doubt about Bosa’s proclivity for delivering when the spotlight is at its most intense, but the first close game of Purdy’s time as the starting quarterback represented a fact-finding mission into his ability to produce in such situations.
Purdy endured an up and down performance that saw him record a Completion Percentage Over Expectation of minus 4.7, according to rbsdm.com.
But, when asked to deliver a game-winning drive after the Raiders tied things up at 34-34, Purdy confidently put the 49ers in position to emerge victorious with a kick by authoring a seven-play, 52-yard drive during which he leant heavily on wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Yes, Purdy was fortunate his last throw to Aiyuk, a deflected wobbler the 49ers’ top wideout leapt to claim on a contested catch, was not intercepted, but he otherwise demonstrated impressive poise with the game on his shoulders.
By helping the 49ers overcome a 10-point third-quarter deficit and then delivering a drive that should have clinched the game, Purdy went a long way to answering the questions about his capabilities when put in the kind of pressure cooker he will likely face in the postseason.
The Niners will require a substantially better effort from the defense to make any progress in the postseason. San Francisco, though, already has enough information about its defense to know their Week 17 performance was likely an anomaly and received a reminder as to the closing ability of Bosa and Co.
It is the critical new information on offense, with Purdy proving he can keep the team afloat when the defense struggles and excel in the clutch, that will be most pertinent to the 49ers. This was a win that brought reasons for both concern and optimism, but the Niners can have increasing confidence they have the quarterback and the defense to finish the job in the close games that will surely come in January.
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WATCH: Drake Jackson gets 1st-career INT vs. Raiders.
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The 49ers defense came up with a big stop early in the fourth quarter against the Raiders. Kerry Hyder Jr. got his hands on a throw by Raiders QB Jarrett Stidham to bat the ball into the air. Rookie DL Drake Jackson, who was inactive last week, leapt into the air to haul it in at the Las Vegas 42 with the 49ers trailing 24-21.
