3 winners from Raiders preseason win over 49ers

Justin Churchill — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Aug 15, 2023 10:59 AM EDT

The preseason is here, and the Las Vegas Raiders just won big time over the San Francisco 49ers, making head coach Josh McDaniels 5-0 in the preseason but still 6-11 in the regular season.

However, the offense looked great, as the backups ran the system perfectly. The defense looked much more improved, as the secondary was flying, and that side of the ball forced two turnovers.

The game went about as good as it could, but now it's on to their week against the Los Angeles Rams. Last week the 49ers flew into town and stayed for almost a week as the two teams did joint practices leading up to the game. This time the Raiders are flying to Los Angeles.

But before we focus on that, some things happened in the win that almost has to be discussed. Three guys, in particular, benefitted the most from the win based on their performance.

Raiders 3 winners from win over 49ers

Isaac Rochell, DL

Rochell was disruptive all game long. When he wasn't putting pressure on the pocket, it's because the 49ers threw some sort of stunt at him, which they only did a few times. It felt like Rochell was everywhere, and as a defensive lineman, that's a great thing to see.

Rochell finished with a half-sack and three tackles. He and Adam Butler were wrecking the interior of the 49ers' offensive line. Rochell needed that, as he is basically a bubble roster guy. It won't be easy to go from 90 to a 53-man roster, but the team does need defensive line depth. Rochell proved he could be that.

Jakorian Bennett, CB

The rookie didn't play a ton, maybe because he is expected to be a starter, but you loved what you saw when he did play. His speed is elite, and his ability to shadow receivers when they run routes will only get better. Bennett could play such good defense that he was only thrown at twice in 18 coverage snaps.

Now, he did allow one catch for 17 yards, and while no, that isn't good, he is a rookie. You knew there would be a moment like that in his first-ever game. But, overall, he was solid. He won the weekend because of the battle at cornerback between guys like him, Duke Shelley, Tyler Hall, and even Amik Robertson.

Aidan O'Connell, QB

Almost every rookie quarterback played either badly or just okay in their first preseason game. Aidan O'Connell was one of the few rookies who played a near-perfect game. O'Connell showed that he could run the offense, as he ran it to perfection. He engineered scoring drive after scoring drive and even ran some little play-action bootleg stuff after it was said he wasn't mobile at all.

O'Connell finished with an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 92.3, which is just pretty amazing. He didn't make hardly any mistakes as he missed just three passes throwing 18 total. O'Connell won the weekend because of who was in front of him. After a performance like that, the Raiders must look a bit more at their future with Garoppolo.