Raiders lineman looks for consistency before showdown as ex-49ers starter

Las Vegas Raiders left guard Spencer Burford knows this week’s road game against the San Francisco 49ers is different.

He’s just trying not to treat it that way.

“It’s just the next game,” Burford said of his return to Santa Clara, where he was a fourth-round pick of the 49ers and spent the first four years of his career. “I’m just going about this week like I would any other week. Focus on the details and just try to help in whatever way I can.”

That may be easier said than done, even though he insisted the group chat isn’t popping off with trash talk or anything out of the ordinary.

“Of course everyone knows that’s my former team,” he said. “But they know what it is and I know what it is. It’s all love, but between the whistles it is what it is. We have to go out and play a game. They know what it is with me and I know what it is with them.”

Burford spent the last four years with the 49ers, starting 46 of the 64 games in which he played for San Francisco.

He signed with the Raiders this offseason and has been locked in as the starting left guard since basically the first day of OTAs.

It hasn’t always been a smooth transition as he tries to learn a new system for the first time with new teammates and coaches in a brand new city for the first time as a pro.

The 26-year-old San Antonio native acknowledges that process hasn’t always been smooth.

“I probably did have a bit of a rocky road, just trying to get in a groove as far as things like new techniques from what I’ve been used to and trying to mold together and find the chemistry with the group and then trying to find my niche within the group to where I can best help my teammates,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “Because at the end of the day, it’s five-as-one. Everybody has to be on the same page as far as communication and technique and what we want it to look like.”

The result has been some pretty wild swings.

Burford struggled with the adjustment early in the season, but appeared to be getting on track with a great game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4, especially in the run game, before having what may have been his worst game of the season against the New England Patriots.

He has been showing positive signs the last few weeks and is coming off perhaps his best individual performance against the New York Jets.

“I feel like I’m gradually getting better,” he said. “I know I haven’t reached my peak. I’ve had a lot of experience and seen a lot of ball, good and bad. I’ve been a part of a lot of ball, good and bad. It’s just a matter of seeing what I can do as far as working on my technique and focusing on all the small things.”

That includes hand placement, pad level, the path he takes on pass sets and not taking false steps at the snap.

All of those things will help Burford find consistency, which he believes happens as a result of taking care of as many details as possible throughout the week.

Proper eating and sleeping habits. Reading the playbook and taking notes. Dedication in the film room. Even stability off the field. All of those things have to be on point in order to be at the top of your game on Sunday.

Those efforts are starting to show up for the Raiders, who are coming off their best rushing performance as a team since the season opener.

Burford said the goal with every team, regardless the starting point or expectations, is to get better throughout the year.

“You want to be playing your best ball in November and December and beyond,” he said. “At this point, everything has to keep moving forward. Regardless of how it looks, as long as we’re trending in the right direction, we’ll be alright.”

He believes that is happening.

“It’s good just to see we are taking the steps of going in the right direction,” he said. “It doesn’t look the way we want it to, but it is gradually getting better as far as the details and that’s really what it is in terms of taking us from a good game to a great game. It’s the minute things that will make all the difference in the world, staying on the block longer, identifying quicker. Just the little things, but I feel we are taking those steps.”

They will need to in order to find success against the 49ers.

Burford knows that all too well.

Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.