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49ers Throttle Raiders, Forcing 5 Turnovers

The Las Vegas Raiders struggles versus the upper echelon NFL teams continued Sunday in the Bay Area. The San Francisco 49ers were clicking on all cylinders as they demolished the former neighbors 38-17 at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara.

The demon of the Silver & Black's demise was five turnovers in the second half. The 49ers defense had no shortage of big plays on the defensive side of the ball to help secure their seventh win of the season.

Rookie linebacker Jaden Dugger got things started just 17 seconds into the second half. On the Raiders first offensive play of the third quarter, Kirk Cousins recovered a misread handoff before attempting to throw a pass to Tre Tucker. Dugger stepped in front of the throw and returned the interception 35 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the third quarter, Fred Warner punched the ball loose from Brock Bowers, and Dre Greenlaw recovered the fumble. Just a few minutes later, San Francisco's Upton Stout followed in Warner's footsteps, punching the ball out of Michael Mayer's hands just short of the goal line. Warner recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.

The secondary added two more interceptions in the fourth quarter. Renardo Green picked off Cousins in the end zone to stop another Raiders scoring opportunity, and Malik Mustapha came away with an interception on Las Vegas' final possession to seal the game. The Raiders tied an NFL record by allowing at least 30 points in six straight games in the same season, becoming the fifth team ever to do that.

Cousins threw three interceptions in the defeat which only fueled the fire of pundits questioning whether the Raiders should trade their starting quarterback before the deadline on Tuesday and give way to their future signal caller, Fernando Mendoza. With several top contenders dealing with quarterback injuries, Cousins could be quick fix for teams like the Vikings, Giants and Ravens to name a few.

After starting the season 3-0, Las Vegas has now lost five of their last six games. The schedule doesn't get any easier this week as the defending Super Bowl Champions, Seahawks come to town. Kickoff is Sunday at 1:25pm at Allegiant Stadium.