49ers’ one-sided loss to Raiders? Much ado about nothing

Anyone who was anyone took a seat for the 49ers, who are looking past the preseason to Week 1

Aside from quarterbacks Trey Lance and Sam Darnold, the following significant events occurred Sunday afternoon when the Raiders’ reserves defeated the 49ers’ reserves 34-7 at Allegiant Stadium:

Rookie Jake Moody, who the 49ers drafted in the third round to replace Robbie Gould, missed his first two field goal attempts from 40 and 58 yards.

Thus concludes your examination of what truly matters, and coach Kyle Shanahan appears unconcerned about Moody.

Football exhibitions are a sham. It’s a way for NFL teams to make extra money by selling expensive tickets and everything else that comes with attending a game in person.

The 49ers-Raiders game had the highest price of the week, according to the website TickPick, with a “get in” price of $120 and an average ticket price of $185.

At the very least, there are only three of these games, which is three too many. One can only hope that the NFL will one day emulate college football and begin the season with games that matter.

“I didn’t enjoy that game by any means today, but a lot of guys got valuable reps, and it gives them a chance to make the team and gives us a chance to coach them up tomorrow,” Shanahan told reporters afterward.

When Shanahan says “a lot of guys,” he’s not referring to the mainstays of a top-tier NFL roster.

Brock Purdy, the starting quarterback, did not play. The starting offensive line as a whole. Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk are wide receivers. Christian McCaffrey, running back, and Kyle Juszczyk, fullback. George Kittle, the injured tight end, would have sat even if he had been healthy.

Defensively, Nick Bosa is still a holdout, awaiting an extension that no one appears to be concerned about. Prize free agents Javon Hargrave and Arik Armstead, starting linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, corners Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir, and safeties Talanoa Hufanga and Tashaun Gipson were all in attendance.

The 49ers would not win a game if they lined up like this during the regular season.

The best way to avoid a catastrophic injury is to exclude anyone who matters.Clelin Ferrell, the free agent defensive end who came over from the Raiders and sacked quarterback Aidan McConnell, was one player who had reason to be happy.

However, if you are not a drafted rookie and were on the field for the 49ers against the Raiders, you should be concerned about making the 53-man roster.

There was no sign of Jimmy Garoppolo, Maxx Crosby, Davante Adams, or any of the other players entrusted with digging the Raiders out of a 6-11 hole under Josh McDaniels.

It’s difficult to criticize Shanahan’s approach, especially after many of his starters scrimmaged the Raiders twice during the week.

Shanahan prefers exhibitions to scrimmages. Players are not always in agreement.

The difference between scrimmages and exhibitions is that there is no winner or loser. If you read the accounts of writers who actually covered those practices — through binoculars at a great distance — you can conclude that the 49ers were dominated. Or that they were more than capable of competing.

It’s the equivalent of winning a boxing match. Who knows what happens when there’s no scoreboard?

For what it’s worth, McDaniels is 5-0 in exhibitions, and it hasn’t gotten the Raiders anywhere.

The Raiders and 49ers both failed to win a game. They simply practiced football. Which is nothing like September 10th, when the 49ers travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers and the Raiders travel to Denver to face the Broncos.

Common sense and the collective bargaining agreement have altered the approach of the 49ers and all teams to training camp and the exhibition season. Most players arrive prepared to play. The team’s mission is not to beat another team into submission in a tough-guy competition, but rather to get as many players as possible healthy for Week 1.

The preseason has become obsolete as a result of this trend.

Don’t expect Shanahan to force his top players to play in preseason games against the Broncos or Chargers. He stated that he wouldn’t mind seeing Purdy in a game, but that it would most likely be a cameo at best.

McCaffrey, Deebo, Williams, Ward, Warner, Greenlaw, and other names? What’s the point? Why would Williams ever need to play a single preseason snap? He and his teammates will know when it’s time to go.

My disdain for the preseason started in earnest in 1994. I attended some practices and watched a lackluster preseason in which the 49ers went 3-1 but showed little enthusiasm and didn’t seem to care about the final score.

I reasoned that the 49ers, despite having Steve Young, Ricky Watters, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Brent Jones, Bryant Young, free agents Ken Norton Jr., Ricky Jackson, and Gary Plummer, and Merton Hanks, weren’t all that.

Deion Sanders would be a late-season addition. The 49ers opened the season at Candlestick Park against the Raiders, who were in their final season in Los Angeles, ten days before Sanders signed. The Raiders were rumored to be fast and talented, posing a serious threat.

And, given the 49ers’ lackluster training camp and preseason, a formidable foe.

On the evening of September 5, it was discovered that when the curtain rises, it is time for the stars to shine. The 49ers (with Kyle Shanahan’s father Mike calling the plays) crushed the Raiders 44-14 in what was the best Week 1 performance I’ve ever seen.

The only seminal event I’ve witnessed in a preseason game was watching Derek Carr light up Seattle in his final game as a Raiders rookie in 2014 and take over the starting job from a sore-armed Matt Schaub.

Otherwise, preseason football is doomed to be forgotten the moment the regular season begins.

The 2023 San Francisco 49ers have an impressive roster, one of their best since 1994, when they won their last Super Bowl.

Maybe the 49ers can come close, maybe they can’t.

Except for a debilitating injury, nothing that happens between now and the start of the regular season will mean anything.