It’s eight days until 49ers training camp-week begins! We want to look at each opponent and provide a reason for and against the 49ers beating them. We’ve included a poll for the community to vote on whether they expect a win or a loss. We’ll see what kind of prediction this provides at the end.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 2 vs. Detroit Lions
Week 3 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4 @ Los Angeles Chargers
Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 6 @ Green Bay Packers
Week 7 vs. Los Angeles Rams
Week 8 vs. Arizona Cardinals
The 49ers open the second half of the schedule with their turn on Thursday Night Football. They host the Oakland Raiders in what should be the final regular season matchup of the Bay Area rivals before the Raiders head to Las Vegas in a couple years.
Reason For: The turnover battle
Per Pro-Football Reference, the Raiders are tied for second to last with takeaways. They just don’t know how to get the ball back. Oakland’s defense walked away with 14 turnovers in 2017. That isn’t even 50 percent of the leader, the Baltimore Ravens who had 34. Winning the turnover battle certainly helps your chances and the Raiders struggle in that area.
This puts the Oakland Raiders dead last in interceptions last season with five total. Jimmy Garoppolo had some close calls with some dangerous throws in his five starts with the 49ers, but with the Raiders inability to sniff the ball out on picks, means Garoppolo will be able to get passes out in traffic.
Reason Against: Raiders offensive line
While the Raiders wide receiver group is unimpressive on paper, when you have the seventh best offensive line (per Pro Football Focus), that can give your quarterback time to find the open man. The Raiders offensive line was very underachieving in 2017, but with Gruden at the helm, we can expect that to come to an end. The 49ers biggest issue has been pass rush and while it may improve, putting it up against that line is probably not going to yield desired results. Derek Carr’s will have ample time to hit his wide receivers and that is really going to hurt the 49ers.
Let’s also not forget that line helped Marshawn Lynch, at 32 years old, turn in 891 yards rushing in 2017. If they can have their way with the 49ers defensive front, this could be a very long day for the 49ers.
If you can’t see the poll, click here.