NFL Preseason: Watch the Raiders vs. 49ers live on KTLA

The Las Vegas Raiders are gearing up to host the San Francisco 49ers on Friday in a final preseason matchup at Allegiant Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PDT and airs on KTLA 5, KTLA+ and KTLA.com in the Los Angeles television market.

The Raiders fielded a top-10-scoring def ense last season, added star tackle Christian Wilkins to the lineup and then dominated the Las Vegas offense in the early days of training camp. Then, the Raiders played two preseason games, and their defense was, well, not top-10 quality.

Coach Antonio Pierce has bemoaned the problems against the run, and there were issues in the secondary in last Saturday’s 27-12 loss to Dallas . The Cowboys, playing reserves, successfully threw the ball against a Raiders defense with six starters still in the game.

Gardner Minshew, who is known for being a spark off the bench, spoke to reporters Tuesday night for the first time since beating out Aidan O’Connell for the starting quarterback job .

“I think any time you step in there as a quarterback, whatever the situation, it’s your team at that point and you have to treat it like that,” Minshew said. “I think we have a lot of stuff we can work on — really get dialed in now, get the reps, get some good conversations with these guys and just figuring out our identity and what we’re going to look like.”

O’Connell began last season as a backup but was named the starter at midseason and went 5-4 the rest of the way.

Brock Purdy and several other of the starting offensive players for the San Francisco 49ers will get one final preseason tuneup before the season opener with a few notable exceptions.

After Purdy struggled playing with mostly backups last week against New Orleans , coach Kyle Shanahan has said he plans to play several more starters this week with star pass catchers such as Deebo Samuel and George Kittle expecting to get on the field for the first time this preseason.

The Niners will be without All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey , who is nursing a calf injury, and two of their other most important players who are in long-standing contract disputes. All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams has held out all camp in search of a new deal and second-team All-Pro receiver Brandon Aiyuk has been a contract “hold in” in search of either a trade or a lucrative extension.

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