About three hours prior to the Thursday Night Football matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, it was announced that C.J. Beathard would not be able to play and Nick Mullens would get his first NFL start for the 49ers at quarterback. The undrafted second-year player started the year on the 49ers’ practice squad, but after Jimmy Garoppolo’s ACL tear and Beathard’s hand injury, he was thrust into the primetime spotlight.
8 surprising and 5 tragic stats from the 49ers’ win over the Raiders on ‘Thursday Night Football’
Nick Mullens shined in his NFL debut as he led the 49ers to a big win over the Raiders. Meanwhile, the Raiders might actually be getting worse with each passing week.
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Let’s take a by the numbers look at an exciting 34-3 win for the 49ers and their young quarterback and an ugly loss for the Raiders.
49ers by the numbers
2-7: The 49ers won their second game of the year! The first came in Week 2 with Garoppolo at quarterback and it wasn’t until Week 9 that the 49ers got to win No. 2 with Mullens. Meanwhile, the Raiders are a sad 1-7.
75: In his first-ever NFL regular-season start, Mullens orchestrated a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game. His first throw was an 11-yard pass to Marquise Goodwin, and the drive was capped off with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon. It was the first of many impressive drives for Mullens on the night.
7: Passes it took before Mullens threw his first incompletion. He was 6 of 6 to start the game.
141.1: Mullens finished the first half with a remarkable passer rating. He completed 12 of 17 passing attempts for 167 yards, and two touchdowns through two quarters. Meanwhile, Derek Carr was 11 of 15 for 116 yards and a 95.4 passer rating in the first half. Who’s the undrafted player in his first start and who’s the quarterback on a $125 million contract?
71: After San Francisco fumbled and recovered the ball on the first play of the second half, Mullens threw an amazing 71-yard pass to George Kittle (which he caught with one hand) and then threw the tight end a 5-yard touchdown pass two plays later.
3: The number of touchdown passes Mullens threw in the 49ers’ win, which is the same number of touchdown passes the Bills have this season.
151.9: Somehow, Mullens would improve upon his first-half passer rating and finished the game just a few points shy of a perfect rating. The former Southern Mississippi quarterback finished the game 16 of 22 passing for 262 yards and three touchdowns. And, a couple of those incompletions were drops from his receivers.
Raiders by the numbers
3: The number of points and punts for the Raiders in the first half.
1: Scoring drives for the Raiders, who scored a field goal on their opening possession and then went on to punt six times, take a knee to end the half, turn the ball over on downs once, and miss a field goal.
2: The number of quarterbacks who played on Thursday for the Raiders. Oakland had backup AJ McCarron enter the game with 11:45 remaining in the fourth quarter. He wouldn’t do anything of note, completing just one pass for eight yards on three attempts.
14.4: The combined passer ratings of Carr (95.1) and McCarron (42.4) was 137.5, 14.4 less than that of Mullens’ passer rating.
20: The Raiders had 20 less total net yards (242) than Mullens had passing yards (262).
34-3: The final score in a memorable debut for Mullens and another sad chapter in the Raiders’ first season under head coach Jon Gruden.
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