After Sunday's win against the Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Nick Bosa was impressed. Perhaps he had underestimated his opponent a bit. It took everything they had for the 49ers to escape Allegiant Stadium with the victory. Four quarters of action wasn't enough to do it. It took overtime.
"The NFL will humble you 100 percent of the time," Bosa admitted after the 37-34 win.
The Raiders were better than he expected. Part of that was running back Josh Jacobs, who Bosa called the best running back he's played against in his career. That's high praise from the NFL Defensive Player of the Year favorite.
Bosa joined 95.7 The Game on Wednesday and was asked about that comment. What is it that separated Jacobs from other NFL running backs?
"Just his cutting ability," Bosa told Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto. "Right when he gets the ball, he makes that one cut and then hits it really hard. And he's kind of old school. A big dude, short and stocky. So the usual arm tackles that will slow [others] down don't really slow him down at all, and he's explosive."
Jacobs wasn't the only thing about the Raiders that left an impression on the league's best pass rusher. He feels the 49ers needed a game like this as the team prepares for the playoffs.
"I was impressed with their O-line, too," Bosa said. "They were savvy and found some good lanes. And the scheme was a little different than we've faced—kind of that Belichick run game. And they took advantage of some things.
"But those are the kind of games that we needed to play going into the playoffs to be ready for whatever is going to be thrown at us down the road."
Playing an opponent that was so different than any they have faced this season will make the 49ers better. The Raiders moved the ball at will, racking up 500 total yards against a top-ranked defense that had not surrendered anything close to that amount since October 23. Yet, while the prideful unit was embarrassed, the team still found a way to win.
"It's never going to be the same each week," Bosa explained. "You're going to have to find multiple ways to win. As a defense, we always hold ourselves to the standard of being the reason we win, but when you have an offense that can go and win it, and win shootouts, and do the things that some of these top offenses throughout the league can do, and then you hone in on what you can do on defense, that combination is what I think could take us where we need to go."
You can listen to the entire interview with Bosa below.
