Quarterback Nick Mullens managed to put up historic numbers in his NFL debut on Thursday night as the 49ers stomped out the Raiders 34-3.
The San Francisco 49ers (2-7) mopped the floor with the Oakland Raiders (1-7) on Thursday night with a 34-3 victory. The 49ers’ defense completely shut down the Raiders but it was the explosive performance from third-string-turned-starter Nick Mullens that sealed the game.
Mullens, a 2017 undrafted free agent out of Southern Miss, put together one of the biggest statistical prime-time debuts in NFL history.
Mullens replaced an injured C.J. Beathard and went 16-of-22 (72.7%) passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 151.9.
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“You never know until you see someone,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He didn’t surprise us in terms of, the game’s not too big for Nick. He’s very poised. He is always locked in. The guys, they respect him. He earned a lot of respect in the preseason, them watching him play.”
Mullen’s passer rating of was the best by a quarterback making his debut with at least 20 attempts since 1970 and the highest by a 49er since Alex Smith‘s 157.1 rating back in 2012.
“That was the best thing I’ve seen so far,” tight end George Kittle said. “That’s what he does. So he gets that, I know Coach Shanahan will record the calls for him and he will re-listen to them and he’ll recall them out. I’m pretty sure last year he was a guy who would take the script after the game and he’d go out on the field and run through the plays by himself. That’s just Nick Mullens in a nutshell.”
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The question now is whether Shanahan will go with Mullens or Beathard in next week’s game. San Francisco doesn’t play again until Nov. 12 on Monday Night Football against the Giants.
“We’ll consider it,” Shanahan said. “Definitely not thinking about that right now, but our whole team played very well. Nick definitely did. … It was a very good all-around win. I was really happy for our guys. We’ve been through a lot here and we’re not done. We’re trying to get our way out of this. It’s good to get a win today and hopefully, it can lead to some others.”
This was a much-needed, near-perfect performance by the 49ers on both offense and defense.
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