San Francisco 49ers: Notes from Week 6 win over Los Angeles Rams

Fraudulent the San Francisco 49ers are NOT. It was a huge road win for them this week over a divisional rival that now sets them up in great position for the rest of the season.

As if the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t open eyes any more, they dominated the Los Angeles Rams in L.A. by a final score of 20-7 to move to 5-0 on the season.

The Niners are now one of two remaining undefeated teams left in the league alongside the New England Patriots and are having one of their greatest starts in franchise history.

So, how exactly did the Niners dominate their (what I believed to be) big brothers so handily?

Defense. Defense. Defense.

What is there to say other than the 49ers defensive unit pitched a near-perfect game against one of the league’s best offensive schemes in the Rams? And on the road at that.

The Niners held Jared Goff to a measly 78 passing yards with no touchdowns while he completed just 13 of his 24 passes for a measly 54.2% completion rate.

And after a first-quarter Robert Woods rushing touchdown, the Rams were completely shut out and watched the rest of the way as the Niners scored 20 unanswered points to bring home the win.

Here’s the thing with the Rams this season (and then we’ll get to the Niners). The passing game is not the problem and Jared Goff is certainly not the problem.

The return of Cooper Kupp is what the Rams were missing last year even on that incredible run because he’s so sure-handed and has a great chemistry with Goff.

Goff, himself, is not the issue with the team either because even though we can say all this stuff about him being a Sean McVay puppet and whatnot, he still makes big throws on a regular basis.

The guy just threw for 500+ yards two weeks ago and put his team in position to win against the Seattle Seahawks last week.

He also outplayed Patrick Mahomes last year in that crazy shootout which ultimately earned him his extension. Goff is good, folks. And the offensive scheme of the Rams is still viable in this league.

The problems the Rams are having are much to do with the fact that there is a such thing as Super Bowl hangover (even for the runner-up as they were), as well as the deceleration of Todd Gurley and the run game (the offensive line is a factor as well).

Gurley is clearly not the same with his knee issues and the Rams are using him accordingly. It’s less of Gurley featured in the offense and more straight-up passing game.

They also have a downgraded offensive line from a year ago with the loss of their center and left guard from a year ago. So, in turn, they can’t establish the run game like they did last year. Hence the emphasis on the pocket passing game. Hence, defenses are adjusting more successfully.

So, that’s the Rams this year and I’m not sure it gets much better for them unless they can catch fire at the running back position.

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Either Gurley makes a comeback, or they get a C.J. Anderson-type push from someone like Malcolm Brown or Darrell Henderson. If not, the Rams are going to miss the playoffs and people are going to continue to question Jared Goff.

Anyways., on to the 49ers.

It should be noted that they didn’t have that good of a day running the ball with Kyle Juszczyk out of the mix at the fullback position. They only had 99 yards net rushing on the day with Tevin Coleman going for 45 yards on 18 attempts and a touchdown and Matt Breida going for 36 yards on 13 attempts.

The brunt of the offense really sat on Jimmy Garoppolo‘s shoulders this game and he didn’t disappoint, going 24-for-33 (72.7%) passing with 243 yards and a QB rating of 80.7.

This Niners offense has a way of being creative with the play-calls while also not completely throwing the book at an opponent. As we’ve seen, this team has been primarily run-heavy and Garoppolo has yet to go over 300 yards passing in a game this year.

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To me, I see an offense that CAN explode, but is choosing not to and reaping the benefits of being a run-first team thus far.

As for the defense, what is there to say other than this is one of the best defenses in the league and it continues to progress. You can’t run on them. You can’t pass on them. What can you really do against the Niners’ defense?

Four sacks in this game for the 49ers front line that’s stacked with first-rounders. DeForest Buckner is almost being lost in the shuffle with the emergence of Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead — that’s scary to think about when we see how great he already is.

This defensive unit is third in rushing yards allowed (436), second in yards per game (237.4), total points (64), and points per game (12.8), and first in total yards allowed (1,187), passing yards (751), and passing yards per game (150.2).

The 49ers are legit, folks.

I did not think they would win this game and they completely dominated in every aspect. This team is looking very strong right now on all fronts and are finding different ways to win even with injuries.

They’re a serious contender.