49ers, Raiders season similarities continue on Christian Kirk TD catch

Share

The longer this NFL season goes, the more similar the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders' seasons seem to become.

Entering Sunday, the Raiders had one win. The 49ers currently have one win over teams not from Oakland.

Derek Carr connected with Jared Cook for the first score of Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, marking the seventh time this season the Raiders scored first. The Raiders were 1-5 in the previous six instances, which is tied for the most losses in the NFL when scoring first this season.

Care to guess which team they're tied with?

That would be the one located in Santa Clara, as the 49ers entered their Week 11 bye sitting at 2-8 on the season, dead last in the NFC West.

In the week prior to defeating the Raiders, the 49ers lost a winnable game at Arizona in which they saw their opening-drive lead vanish in the blink of an eye, thanks to a 75-yard touchdown connection between Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen and wide receiver Christian Kirk. That rookies' score gave Arizona a 7-6 lead, and San Francisco trailed for the remainder of the contest.

Guess what happened Sunday after the Raiders scored on their opening drive?

After the Cardinals tied the score with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Rosen to reciever Larry Fitzgerald, the 49ers-Raiders similarities continued.

In the final minute of the first quarter, facing a third-and-5 from their own 41-yard line, Rosen found Kirk on a screen pass, and the receiver promptly slipped a tackle before breaking free for a 59-yard touchdown reception to give the Cardinals a 14-7 lead.

Now, unlike the 49ers, the Raiders didn't trail for the remainder of the game. A 5-yard TD pass from Carr to Brandon LaFell with 8:20 remaining in the first half knotted the score at 14.

That remained the score at halftime, leaving the Raiders just two quarters away from matching the 49ers' win total.

Can they avoid a similar fate in Arizona and overcome a Rosen-Kirk quick strike on their way to victory? They have one half to get it done.

Contact Us