Battle Of The Bay

There are few boundaries between the 49ers fans in San Francisco and The Raiders fans in Oakland. There is the Bay Bridge of course, but what else. I would have to say that the most meaningful boundary between the two sides is the Battle of the Bay game between the 49ers and the Raiders. Because of the rare occurrence of these meetings, it is a necessity for both teams to get the victory, because of the many aspects of pride sitting on the outcome of the game fought between the two teams. I have only been able to experience two of these games in my lifetime, so whenever the game is on, I am always excited to experience the battle that will occur when the bay area teams take the field. To make it even more interesting this time around, the 49ers need the win to keep their playoff hopes in a good position. The Raiders are just the team that would die to deplete the Niners playoff hopes, and retain the title of kings of the Bay Area.

Battle Of The Bay- Thanks to www.Genius.com for the picture

Like I said, this game means a lot to a 49ers team that has gone through many injuries this year and is fighting to get into the playoffs as a wildcard team. But the Raiders are in the way of a successful season and are looking to spoil the Niners playoffs hope with a win. The 49ers came into the game with another injury, in that of their cornerback, Chris Culliver. With Culliver being a substantial part of the 49ers secondary, it was a big blow for the team. But, the Raiders also had their top receiver, James Jones, out with a lower-body injury. The game started with an interception by Brandian Ross of the Oakland Raiders, on a horrible pass by Kaepernick. It was more of the same for the struggling 49ers offense. Though the Niners scored a second quarter touchdown, the Halftime score was 10-10. This was not a good sign for the 7-5 Niners that were playing the 1-11 Raiders team that was not having a good year. The 49ers were shut down on offense in the second half, and gave up two touchdowns, to end the game with a 24-13 Raiders win.

Brandian Ross interception- Thanks to www.usatoday.com for the picture

I can't really say much on the positive side for the 49ers. They looked like the one win team in the game and pretty much ended their chance to get to the playoffs. I thought that Kaepernick's ability to lead his team in the past few weeks has been awful, and he will need to step up in the future if he wants to keep his spot in the depth chart. But, the defense still showed that they could perform at a decent level, even with five of their best defensive starters being injured. They continue to prevail through adversity and make me wonder what will happen when all of the starters are healthy.  On the Raiders side, stars emerged in quarterback Derek Carr and tight end Michael Rivera. The two seemed to be one and could not be stopped. Rivera had 7 receptions for 109 yards and 1 touchdown, while Carr had a very productive game with 254 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. Carr proved that he could shred up a top level NFL defense and rose his respect level within the organization. The Raiders showed that they could still compete with the top level teams in the league. By the way, they arguably won their most important game of the year against the 49ers.