NFL: Oakland Raiders Have Some Shining Moments in Loss to the 49ers

This past Saturday, the Oakland Raiders traveled across the Bay to meet the San Fransisco 49ers. The outcome was not what the Raiders had in mind, but I did see a couple of moments that stood out during the game.

I will start with our wide receiver group. Denarius Moore had two catches for 28 yards and looked really good for his second straight game. Moore has been explosive on his routes and seems to catch anything that comes his way.

Another bright spot was to see Darrius Heyward-Bey lead Oakland's receivers with two catches for 40 yards. His biggest play was a 22-yard catch that he had to adjust to the throw. He made it look like it was a piece of cake.

Jason Campbell looked really solid until he fumbled the ball and was knocked out of the game. The question remains: Who will step up between the veteran backup quarterbacks?

A problem that I saw was on third and long. Our pass protection would break down, and the quarterback would be forced to make a rushed throw.

The defense looked solid, only holding the 49ers offense to 163 yards passing and grabbing two picks. The problem the defense ran into was San Fransisco's ground game. Led by Kendall Hunter's 105 yards and a 53-yard touchdown run, the 49ers running game totaled 239 yards on the ground.

Oakland has shown that on any given day, they can show up and compete with anyone in the league. The main problem on offense is consistency with pass blocking and run blocking. Once they solve these issues, the offense should march up and down the field. On defense, they need to eliminate the big plays that have the ability to be game-changing plays.

In all, Raider Nation should not get worried. It is only preseason, and they have two more weeks to iron out these problems.