49ers 18, Raiders 12: Eddy Pineiro Kicked Six and Won the Whole Thing

Six field goals, none missed, one from 59, and a defense that did not let the Raiders in the end zone once. The summer ends 2-1 and the cuts come Sunday.

Eighteen points, zero touchdowns, and I stayed up for all of it. That's the honest summary of a Thursday night in Las Vegas that had no business being as fun as it was. Eddy Pineiro scored every single point the 49ers put on the board, six field goals on six attempts, and the defense would not let the Raiders into the end zone once. Final was 18-12. Four field goals for them, six for us, and that was the football game.

The distances, because they matter: 24, 25, 48, 51, 54, 59. Three of them from fifty plus. The 59 was the one where I actually got off the couch, which is a ridiculous thing to do in the last week of August, and I did it anyway. There's a specific kind of calm that comes over you when a kicker just is not going to miss, and this team has spent a lot of recent Januarys with the opposite feeling, so let me have this one.

Adrian Martinez ran the offense for most of the night and moved it well enough to keep handing Pineiro the ball inside the forty, which in preseason terms is close to a compliment. Jordan Watkins was the best skill player on the field for either side, four catches for 64 and another 21 on three carries, and he keeps doing this in games that supposedly do not count. Jordan James got his first work of the summer after the ribs, eight carries for 35 and a 20 yard catch, and he looked like somebody who has been waiting three weeks to hit somebody.

The defense is what I keep thinking about. Fernando Mendoza threw an interception to Tatum Bethune. Darrell Luter Jr. tipped a ball into that pick and broke up another one. Keion White and Ogbo Okoronkwo both got home for sacks. And Jaden Dugger, a rookie linebacker most of this fan base could not have picked out of a lineup in July, led everybody with ten tackles and was in the backfield on back to back plays in the second half. Ten tackles in August is how a guy makes a roster.

Now the part nobody enjoys. The cuts are Sunday. Fifty three, and this summer produced more players who deserve a spot than there are spots, which sounds like a good problem until you remember that a real person gets a phone call. Dugger played himself onto something. Watkins has been the most consistent guy on the field for three straight weeks. Somebody who was good enough is going to be gone by Sunday night and we'll all forget his name by October.

So the preseason closes at 2-1. It means nothing and I'll take it anyway. Two weeks ago they hung forty one on the Chargers, which we wrote up as 49ers 41, Chargers 17, and that was the loud one. This was the strange one. A silver and black building, a Bay Area kicker going perfect, and a defense that made Kirk Cousins and the first overall pick settle for field goals all night.

Melbourne is next. Actually next, real football, September 10, and a bunch of us are going to be awake at hours that make no sense for a Week 1 game in Australia. The full slate is on the 2026 schedule hub, the rest of the coverage sits on the 49ers hub, and I'm going to go to bed thinking about a 59 yard field goal in a game that did not count.

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