San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Hawkes:49ers adjust to high altitude from Colorado to Mexico City for Monday Night Football

Arizona Cardinal quarterback Kyler Murray (1) gets hit by the Seattle Seahawks safety Ryan Neal (23) forcing a fumble in first half action at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sun Nov 6, 2022. Murray is a question mark for Monday’s game in Mexico City due to a hamstring injury (AP News file)

On the 49ers podcast with J Hawkes:

#1 How important was it for the San Francisco 49ers to practice this past week in Colorado Springs before playing above sea level in Mexico City on Monday Night Football.

#2 The 49ers are noted for building drafts which had players that had injuries previously like Javon Kinlaw, Kavon Alexander, or getting Dee Ford in a trade.

#3 Could the 49ers sign wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham 30 could be somewhat of a liability who is recovering in his ninth month from his second surgery from torn left ACL.

#4 The situation is shaky at the cornerback position Jason Varrett is out for the season, linebacker Samuel Womack sat for the second street week, Ambry Thomas has had his share of injuries and needing rest.

#5 The 49ers and Arizona Cardinal kick off a prime time spectacular in Mexico City on Monday Night Football. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was out with a hamstring pull and is questionable for Monday. How do you see Murray’s possible return and these two teams matching up on Monday night.

Join J Hawkes doe the 49ers podcasts Sundays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Raiders head to Mexico City following bye week for big showdown against Patriots

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady practices at Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. The Patriots are practicing at Air Force to get acclimated to playing at a higher elevation for Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City. (Doug Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer

OAKLAND — For the second straight year, the Raiders will travel to Mexico City for a “home” game at Estadio Azteca. Last year, the Silver and Black came away with a 27-20 victory over the “visiting” Houston Texans before worldwide audience on Monday Night Football.

This season, Oakland will face a much tougher opponent when they “host” the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots Sunday in a pivotal Week 11 matchup for both teams in the AFC.

Kickoff is set for 1:25 p.m. PT.

Oakland (4-5) is coming off a much needed bye week after dispatching the Dolphins 27-24 in Miami in Week 9. Raiders starting quarterback Derek Carr played efficiently, passing for 300 yards on 21-of-30 completions with one touchdown and one interception for a quarterback rating of 99.3. For the season, Carr has thrown for 1,954 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions with a quarterback rating of 91.8.

Offensively, the Raiders rank 22nd overall, but rank 16th in the NFL in points per game (21.6) after ranking in the top-10 last season scoring nearly 28 points per game through 16 games.

Starting running back Marshawn Lynch returned from a one-game suspension to run for 57 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns on the night. The two rushing touchdowns by Lynch were the first scores for Lynch away from home this season.

Tight end Jared Cook had a big night, leading all receivers with eight catches for 127 yards. Wide receiver Johnny Holton scored his second touchdown of the season on the game’s biggest play for the Raiders when Holton reeled in a 44-yard touchdown throw from Carr in the first half. Holton has just two catches this season, both of which have gone for touchdowns of 44 and 64 yards.

Defensively, middle linebacker NaVorro Bowman led the Raiders in tackles for the third straight game with 10. Dating back to his final game with the San Francisco 49ers against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5, Bowman has recorded 10-plus tackles in four straight games this season.

Through nine games this season, the Raiders still have yet to record an interception, which is a very dubious record in the NFL for one team to own especially for the Raiders, who will face a quarterback that has only thrown just two interceptions this season in Tom Brady.

Following a 2-2 start to the season, New England (7-2) has won five straight games and are rounding into form at the right time.

The 40-year-old Brady enters Week 11 leading the NFL in passing yards (2,807), tied with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson for the most touchdown passes (19) and second behind Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith in quarterback rating (113.9 to 108.3) this season.

Brady completed 25-of-34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns in New England’s 41-16 smashing victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football in Week 10. The five-time Super Bowl winning quarterback leads a Patriots offense that is No. 1 in total yards per game (409.6) and fourth in points per game (28.6) this season.

That’s not good news for a Raiders defense that rank 26th in total defense surrendering 361.1 total yards per game to opposing teams this season. Oakland is allowing 23.8 points per game.

Wide receiver Brandon Cooks led New England with six receptions and was tied with tight end Rob Gronkowski for the most receiving yards on the team with 74 against the Broncos.

Starting running back Dion Lewis left his imprint on the game, leading the Patriots with 14 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown but it was his play on special teams that gave New England the upper hand against Denver.

After Denver kicker Brandon McManus made a 39-yard field goal that made the score 7-3 in the first quarter, Lewis returned the ensuing kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown that gave the Patriots a 14-3 lead before the Broncos blinked. Lewis, along with fellow running back James White and fullback Rex Burkhead are Brady’s security blanket when guys like Gronkowski and wide receiver Brandon Cooks are covered.

White leads the team in receptions (46), Cooks in receiving yards (637) and Gronkowski and wide receiver Chris Hogan in receiving touchdowns (5), making the Patriots’ offense a multi-dimensional unit, engineered by Brady.

Defensively, the Patriots will give up a ton of yards per game (408.3) but teams are scoring just 21.7 points per game. Safety Devin McCourty leads the team with 58 tackles (50 solo), while cornerback Malcolm Butler has two of the team’s seven interceptions this season.

Outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and defensive end Trey Flowers lead New England with 3.5 sacks each. Flowers is second on the team with 55 tackles (46 solo).

Following Sunday’s game, Oakland will return to the Coliseum to take on the Broncos, while New England will host the Dolphins in Week 12.

 

 

Raiders begin second half push against Texans following bye week in Mexico City

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer

AP photo: Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) raises arm in celebration after running back Latavius Murray’s touchdown run in the second half against the Denver Broncos on Nov 6th

OAKLAND, Calif — After a week off, the Raiders gear up for a tough second half with a trip down to Mexico City for a “home” game against the Houston Texans on ESPN’s Monday Night Football to wrap up Week 11 action at Estadio Azteca.

Oakland is riding a three-game winning streak and are tied with New England and Kansas City for the best record in the AFC at 7-2.

Kansas City leads Oakland by a half-game and Denver (7-3) by one game in the jam-packed AFC West.

The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 26-10 in Oakland in Week 6.

Derek Carr is having an MVP-type of season in Year 3, throwing for 2,505 yards, 17 touchdowns to just three interceptions. Carr is leading a Raider offense that ranks sixth in the league in passing yards per game, averaging 278.3 yards.

The passing game maybe engineered by Carr, but it is driven by the wide receiver tandem of Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper.

While Cooper leads Oakland in catches (58) and receiving yards (843) to go along with two touchdowns, Crabtree has been Carr’s go-to guy, leading the team with six touchdown catches on 49 catches for 596 receiving yards.

Oakland boasts one of the game better offensive lines, which has only surrendered a league-low 11 sacks to opposing defenses.

The Raiders could have their hands full against a Texans team that ranks fourth overall in defense this season allowing just 317.4 yards of total offense per game, while playing the majority of the season without defensive end J.J. Watt who is out for the season with a back injury.

Linebacker Benardrick McKinney racked up seven tackles to increase his team-leading 81 for the season on Sunday. Fellow linebacker Whitney Mercilus leads Houston with 4.5 sacks.

Houston (6-3) finally won on the road last week, upending the Jaguars 24-21 in Jacksonville Sunday. The Texans lead the AFC South and remain undefeated (3-0) following their fifth straight win over the Jaguars.

Quarterback Brock Osweiler threw two touchdowns (despite throwing for just 99 yards), and cornerback Kareem Jackson intercepted a Blake Bortles’ pass intended for wide receiver Allen Hurns 42 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter on Jacksonville’s fifth play from scrimmage.

Running back Lamar Miller has rushed for 720 yards and three touchdowns in his first season in Houston following four years in Miami.

Miller rumbled for 83 yards on 15 carries Sunday against Jacksonville.

Despite a down season statistically, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is still Houston’s dynamic play-maker.

After amassing recording six 100-yard receiving games that led to Hopkins’ breakout 2015 season in which he hauled in 111 catches for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns, Hopkins has just one 100-yard receiving game in 2016.

Hopkins leads Houston with 45 catches for 482 yards, and is tied with tight end C.J. Fierdorowicz for the team lead with three receiving touchdowns.

 

 

 

 

That’s Amaury: Regardless of who wins series both teams battled hard

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

Regardless of who wins the series with the next two games on Wednesday and Thursday games five and six should be sensational games. This has been a series that has been dominating by pitching and it has been terrific the Cardinals starter on Wednesday Michael Wacha the rookie who took to the mound in game six and he’s 4-0 22 year old and the Cards have seven rookies on that roster.

The Cards have Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal to name a few who are just rookies and their doing a great job and here’s another thing about the Cardinals of the 25 man roster 20 players are home grown there is no other team in baseball that I have found that has 20 players who are home grown. Let me explain homegrown to those who think I’m joking there are players they have signed through their own farm system and they made it to the big leagues.

Of those 20 seven are rookies, that’s incredible you have a team that basically that’s home grown except Carlos Beltran who came from other teams, Matt Holliday is the other non rookie, most of these players are Cardinal discoveries. That by itself show tremendous organization by the Cards.

Goodell wants NFL team in London:  It’s a lot of travel to go from the mainland to fly to London but it’s intriguing here’s Major League Baseball who as we know that opened their season there’s a difference they have opened the season in Mexico City, the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks are going to open the MLB season in Australia but that’s just opening a game there in the regular season.

To have a team in another country what is the flight time for the 49ers and the Raiders to travel all the way to London. This is serious, I don’t know if the NFL can accomplish this this year or next or the next 20 years but I’ll tell you what the NFL is rich monetarily economically and fiscally sound professional sports league in the world. So if anybody can do it it’s the NFL.

That will be a tremendous undertaking to have a team down in London, I can see them doing it in Canada, Mexico, but to leave the continent and to go across the Atlantic to the other side of the world and consider this we are here in California that would be quite a stress for the teams to get there. They would have to fly three or four days in advance and three or four changes of time zones. It’s going to be tough but they might be able to do it.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio