Game Overview ::
By mike johnson >>
- The 49ers offense picked up right where they left off with Brock Purdy in 2022 – scoring 30 points and rolling over their competition.
- San Francisco’s defense is one of the top units in the league and is built to give the Rams fits moving the ball.
- Los Angeles is riding high coming off a surprising Week 1 win in Seattle but now has to deal with one of the top teams in the NFL.
- The 49ers offensive personnel is built perfectly to attack this Rams defensive scheme.
- The Rams took everyone by surprise last week, but their talent deficiencies are likely to be exposed against a talented, well-coached, and focused 49ers unit.
How san francisco Will Try To Win ::
For most teams, when evaluating “how” they play, people reference their run-pass splits and their tempo. To me, the 49ers are a different animal altogether. The way this team is built schematically and personnel wise feels more like a basketball team than a football team. Let me explain. There are five players on a basketball court. In football, the offense has 11 players, but 5 of them are offensive linemen who can’t touch the ball which leaves 6 players to share the rock. Quarterback Brock Purdy rarely, if ever, runs the ball and the 49ers basically ignore one of the five remaining players – whoever is in as their second tight end, third wide receiver, or second running back. This leaves a situation where one of four players (Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, or George Kittle) is touching the ball on basically every play for them. To illustrate my point, in the first three quarters of the 49ers season opening win in Pittsburgh, one of those four players touched the ball on 48 of the 53 offensive plays that didn’t end in a sack. Brock Purdy is the “point guard” of this basketball team and Christian McCaffrey is going to get the most shots, but the “balance” here is not about run vs. pass as much as it is about the fact that they have four game breaking players you have to account for at all times.
This week, San Francisco looks to continue their dominance tour on a trip south to Los Angeles. The Rams defense played well in their season opening win over the Seahawks, but that probably had more to do with Seattle’s offensive line injuries and issues than it did with the Rams defense being far better than we expected. While I do think Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is a good coach, I think his lack of talent is going to catch up with him in this matchup with an insanely talented unit that has an elite scheme. The 49ers have now scored 30+ points in seven of nine games that Brock Purdy has played and finished for them dating back to last season, and the way they play really doesn’t have to change based on the opponent. Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey had the big games in Week 1, but Kittle and Deebo will have their opportunities every week (they had six and nine opportunities respectively last week) and their ability to break tackles and bust off explosive chunk plays should come in handy against a Rams scheme that has played an extensive amount of zone defense and tried to keep the game in front of them the last couple of years. The biggest issue Seattle had was they just couldn’t even get first downs to sustain drives. San Francisco has too much talent to have that issue and the Rams managed only four hurries and two sacks against Seattle despite multiple offensive linemen getting hurt during the game. This should result in a lot of clean pockets for Brock Purdy and he should have plenty of time to find his weapons in openings in the zones. While the 49ers may not break off the massive gains this week, there should be plenty of chunk plays of the 10 to 25 yard variety. The 49ers balance will not change for their opponent, just their means of getting to it.
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