It took some time, but in their Week 8 matchup against the New York Jets, the Las Vegas Raiders got back to playing winning football. It was admittedly a sloppy first half for both teams. The Raiders ground out a hard-fought second half to beat the Jets, ending their four-game losing streak.

It was far from pretty, as is the case sometimes in the National Football League. The Raiders still found a way to win a game they would almost certainly have lost last season. Las Vegas continues to take care of business in games they are "supposed" to win.

Yet Week 8 reconfirmed that there are no guarantees, and the margin of error is as slim as the blade of grass between Jeremy Chinn's cleats and the sideline on his game-sealing interception. They now turn their attention to the San Francisco 49ers as they hit the road in Week 9.

San Francisco is the better team by most metrics, but metrics don't win games. Sunday will come down to execution and the Raiders' ability to compensate in areas where they are clearly overmatched.

Run It Back

For that to happen, Las Vegas must fine-tune and speed up what worked last Sunday. Ideally, that would start with continuing to find success on the ground. Even if they only get two or three yards per carry, if it leads to a manageable third down, Las Vegas' offense is in business.

If the Raiders have to feed Mike Washington again in Week 9, so be it. Ashton Jeanty out of the backfield has helped keep the Raiders' passing attack afloat at times. If Las Vegas can keep finding ways to get Jeanty the ball in space, the offensive line's run blocking becomes less of an issue.

Finding a way to potentially get Jeanty and Washington on the field at the same time, somehow, along with the likes of Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, and a healthy Jack Bech, would add another dimension to the offense that could help negate some of the issues the unit has had against top competition.

Las Vegas must keep throwing a mix of running backs at opposing defenses, no matter how slow the progress may feel at times. All of the Raiders' running backs bring a unique skill set, most of which is largely unknown under Kubiak's offense, to their upcoming opponents.

'You Like That!?'

I do!

In Week 8, veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins sparked the offense's best third quarter of the season. Since they won, the offense's second-half performance against the Jets may have been the best second half of the season too. Cousins jump-started it all right out of the gate.

The Raiders' best third quarter of the season began with Cousins' dart to Bowers, which opened things up for the unit in the third quarter and for the rest of the game. The third quarter will once again prove vital for Las Vegas against a talented 49ers team in Week 9.

“I think the first play of the second half might have been the throw to Brock [Bowers], and I thought that was a key play in the game and a great call by our coaches, and that whole drive, to finish that drive, it got us right back in the game, which we needed, very important. If you punt and they go down and score, it could be a whole different story,” Cousins said earlier this week.

“So, it’s very important, and we’ve got to be really strong in the third quarter the rest of the way. And I felt we have continued, last week in the fourth quarter, continuing to play well in the fourth quarter. But it’s a four-quarter game. You’ve got to do it, all four of them.”

Raiders' offensive coordinator, Andrew Janocko, looks forward to the challenge of beating one of the league's best.

“I think we do our film study. They’re going to do their film study on us. We’re going to find new and unique different ways to attack defenses. It’s a new play caller, so it’s a new system. As far as what we saw from last year, I know that some of the players are the same, and they’re retooled too," Janocko said earlier this week. 

“They’ve gotten some new pieces. They’ve gotten some guys back from injury, so that’s something that we look forward to going on the road and using as a good measuring stick."