The Niners' Alex Smith completed two of his first 11 passes for 21 yards
and was booed by the home fans at Candlestick Park on Sunday. And he was
easily the best quarterback on the field.
The Raiders' Jason Campbell, making his first start after being benched
earlier in the season, finished the 17-9 loss with a passer rating of
10.7 (compared with Smith's 87.4). Even the one who should not be named
(JaMarcus Russell) never unleashed a 10.7.
Campbell completed 3 of 14 passes for 55 yards and two interceptions
over the last three quarters. He finished 8 of 21 for 83 yards as Bruce
Gradkowski watched helplessly from the sideline with a shoulder injury.
Campbell was sacked twice, but the offensive line actually did a solid
job protecting him. He just couldn't get the ball to the receivers after
the Niners' defense double-covered tight end Zach Miller.
"We started off strong, but we didn't get those touchdowns, and it was
kind of like the air went out," Campbell said. "It was a frustrating
day. We lost a lot of opportunities. We will do better next time. I
don't see this happening to us again."
The Raiders (2-4) started well, driving inside the Niners' 10 on their
first two series. They had to settle for Sebastian Janikowski field
goals as Campbell was 1-for-3 for 4 yards in the red zone the first
time, and Michael Bush ran three times for 6 yards on the second crack
at it.
Execution, execution, execution, Raiders coach Tom Cable said. Oakland
didn't execute in the red zone (0-for-2) or on third down (5-for-15) and
wound up getting executed when San Francisco came back from a 6-0 deficit.
"We had a ton of opportunities to score," he said. "We did not score;
we're not very good in the red zone. ... I'm very disappointed. ... Some
of that is getting the right read and throwing the ball on time and
making a play for it."
Oakland couldn't run the ball either, as San Francisco held Bush to 47
yards on 20 carries.
The Raiders' defense played well but gave up three big plays, the first
of which was Michael Crabtree's 32-yard touchdown catch as time expired
in the third quarter. That put the 49ers up 10-6.
Later, after five straight Oakland possessions lasting only three plays
and out, Campbell found Miller for the first time for 22 yards on
3rd-and-8. On the next play, Miller made an acrobatic catch of a ball
tipped by safety Taylor Mays for 26 yards. Those would be Miller's only
catches of the day.
On 1st-and-10 from the Niners' 27, Campbell scrambled for 2 yards, then
Bush ran for 2, and Campbell couldn't squeeze one in to Miller on third
down.
Janikowski kicked a 40-yarder with 8:21 left, but the Raiders gained
only 3 yards on six plays the rest of the way. On third-and-3 from their
20 with 2:46 left, Campbell threw a pass that bounced off receiver
Jacoby's Ford chest and fell into the diving arms of 49ers linebacker
Takeo Spikes.
Receivers rarely have been in sync with Campbell in the four games in
which he has appeared this season. On Sunday, Darrius Heyward-Bey had
three catches for 19 yards and Louis Murphy had one catch for 4 yards.
Though Murphy won't put any blame on Campbell, he did at one point say,
"I felt I was getting open against their coverages."
In fact, on the first offensive play of the game, Murphy was 15 yards
behind the coverage when a flea-flicker from Bush to Campbell had the
49ers fooled. Campbell underthrew Murphy, and the Raiders settled for a
46-yard pass-interference penalty when cornerback Shawntae Spencer ran
into Murphy.
It was Oakland's best shot at the end zone all day.
"It's tough because of the way we started," Miller said. "We started
pretty fast on offense. It could have been 14-0 if we had just converted
in the red zone. We didn't do it, it's 6-0 and then we just don't stay
on the field as an offense.
"We left our defense out there too long, and eventually they are going
to score. We had a chance at the end to do something, and we never do
anything."
Rancid rating
Some Raiders fans might have liked to see Bruce Gradkowski brought in to
quarterback Sunday, even if he had to throw left-handed:
-- Jason Campbell completed 8 of 21 passes for 83 yards with no
touchdowns and two interceptions.
-- His passer rating: 10.7, the second-worst mark for a full-game
quarterback this season.
-- The Jets' Mark Sanchez was second-worst Sunday with a rating of 60.1.
-- The worst rating of the season belongs to Bears quarterback Todd
Collins, who posted a 6.2 in Week 5. Chicago won the game.
