49ers Beat Shanahan, Raiders : Beuerlein, Evans Are Mussed Up in 24-10 Defeat in Opener
Well, Denver wasn’t built in a day.
Coach Mike Shanahan’s new team took the field Saturday night and demonstrated just how much of a challenge he has on his hands. The 49ers toyed with his Raiders, mussed up both of the quarterback candidates he made available to them and completed another romp over their one-time cross-bay rivals, 24-10.
So how does the Raider quarterback competition look now?
Steve Beuerlein, the starter, played acceptably (7 for 15 passing, 119 yards, no sacks, interceptions or touchdowns). Vince Evans wasn’t as smooth (9 for 19, 126 yards, 2 sacks) and spent a lot of his time on scrambles, including the last one, which went for 9 yards and the lone Raider touchdown. Jim Plunkett takes his first turn next week against the Dallas Cowboys.
“I thought Steve had an excellent first half,” Shanahan said. “I thought he made some mistakes that a quarterback will make in his debut.”
And Evans?
“Well, it’s really hard to tell. We were just talking--he’s got such great ability once he gets out of the pocket, he can make a big play when it looks like there’s no play there. At the same time, I thought there might be a situation or two when he could have stayed in the pocket and set his feet.
“It’s going to be a learning experience for both of them. That’s why I’m thankful for these exhibition games.”
Shanahan might be thankful to move on to some other opponent, too. The 49ers have won the last three exhibition meetings between the teams, 98-26 (by scores of 32-0, 42-16 and 24-10). They were in charge all night, running up a 24-3 lead behind Joe Montana (12 for 14, 166 yards, plus 18 yards rushing in 2 carries) and Steve Young (5 for 9, 91 yards). The 49ers are running a semi-quarterback competition, too--though Montana may have ended it Saturday night--but it’s one Shanahan must envy.
“I’m a very confident guy,” Beuerlein said. “I’ll be dwelling on a couple of those plays a little. It upset me a little bit. There were a couple plays that we might have scored on, there was a little bit of a breakdown by me.
“I thought I was tight at the beginning. I was feeling the butterflies all week and it kind of climaxed the first couple plays. The first time I got hit, it kind of woke me up, snapped me back to reality.
“I think I have a good feel for the offense. I don’t feel like I’m going to feel in 3 or 4 games. But we moved the ball a little.”
The 49ers jumped off to a 3-0 lead, but Beuerlein marched the Raiders to the San Francisco 3, then into the end zone on a Marcus Allen cutback off the right side. But Todd Christensen was detected holding, and the Raiders wound up settling for a Chris Bahr field goal.
It was their last tie of the night. The Raider defense was without Howie Long, Bill Pickel, Matt Millen, Stacey Toran, Greg Townsend and Lionel Washington, and even with them, they haven’t been shutting down the 49er offense, lately. Without them, it was no contest.
Montana drove the 49ers 76 yards for a 10-3 lead and 80 more on the next possession to make it 17-3 before retiring.
On came Evans in the second half, with the second unit, to play catchup.
Mostly, it didn’t work. Late in the game, however, he ran around the backfield and then hit Jessie Hester behind the defense for a 40-yard gain. A few plays later, Evans darted the last 9 yards into the end zone.
“There were a couple times I probably had itchy feet,” Evans said. “I should have stayed in the pocket longer.
“I wanted to execute better. My feet were a little too hot, but I thought we made some pretty good plays out there, too.”
Of course, it was the 49ers’ second game, and only the Raiders’ first. The Raiders are putting in a new offense and are somewhat short of having mastered it.
Also, the Raiders aren’t quite as good as the 49ers. Shanahan has 14 weeks to close the gap, because the schedule says the Raiders have to come back here again. Imagine the possibilities.
Raider Notes
Debuts: Cornerback Terry McDaniel gave up several short passes in front of him but covered Jerry Rice impressively on one fly pattern that went for an incompletion. Tim Brown caught a pass for 26 yards, broke a punt return for 18. Willie Gault caught one pass for 43 yards. No pass rusher came close to getting by Jim Lachey. . . . Kicking competition: Incumbent Chris Bahr, thought to have been No. 2. before camp but No. 1 now, kicked a 21-yard field goal. Challenger John Lee missed from 37, after a high snap. . . . Punting: Stan Talley, in trouble after a season of line drives, got off several more low kicks. Challenger Ralph Giacomarro of Penn State then launched several low ones of his own. The next guy to hang one up 4.5 seconds becomes the front-runner.