49ers report card: Grading their road victory over NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams
The 49ers, despite coming in without a number of key offensive starters and playing on a short week against a team with extra rest, beat the Los Angeles Rams 20-7 Sunday in their first divisional game of the season.
Yes, San Francisco is absolutely for real. Here’s our report card from Sunday’s game:
Passing offense: B-
Jimmy Garoppolo was mostly sharp playing without both of his starting tackles. The game plan was centered around short drop backs and screen plays. Garoppolo worked efficiently, but there were two glaring mistakes near the goal line. The first was his second-quarter interception on a fade pass between George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. The second came when Tevin Coleman tripped over himself and couldn’t come down with a wide-open touchdown pass midway through the third quarter, forcing the 49ers to settle for a field goal that made it 17-7. Aaron Donald had a sack against rookie left tackle Justin Skule on the first third down of the game, but Donald was mostly quiet throughout. Those two misses near the goal line factor heavily into this grade. Garoppolo’s fourth-quarter fumble proved inconsequential as the defense forced a turnover on downs. Kittle led all pass catchers with eight receptions for 103 yards.
Rushing offense: C
The 49ers hit the locker room with just 32 rushing yards but stuck with it. Tevin Coleman had 45 yards while Matt Breida logged 36. Coach Kyle Shanahan seemed to rely heavily on multiple-tight end sets, particularly after the 49ers took the lead early in the third quarter. San Francisco’s two touchdowns came on the ground, one from Coleman and another on a sneak from Garoppolo in the third quarter, the second of his career. The Rams did well to limit San Francisco’s rushing attack. The 49ers finished with 99 yards on 41 carries for a 2.4-yard average.
Passing defense: A+
Jared Goff had 27 yards midway through the third quarter. Solomon Thomas had a sack beating center Brian Allen, which was the former No. 3 pick’s most impressive play since his rookie season. L.A.’s first three possessions of the second half went for minus-7, minus-15 and minus-7 yards, which is when the 49ers took full control. Safety Jimmie Ward had another impressive performance, capped by a fourth-down pass breakup midway through the fourth quarter.
Rushing defense: A
The 49ers allowed the Rams to go 56 yards on seven consecutive runs en route to a Robert Woods touchdown on their first possession of the game. They entered the break with 102 rushing yards — and finished with just 109. Arik Armstead had a fumble recovery of a dropped pitch to Darrell Henderson Jr., which allowed San Francisco to take the lead early in the third quarter. The Rams seemed determined to avoid the 49ers’ fearsome pass rush by committing to the run, but it became apparent that would be awfully tough without Todd Gurley.
Special teams: B-
Robbie Gould missed his first field goal attempt, from 55 yards as the first half expired, and San Francisco avoided disaster when a fumble on a punt return in the third quarter was overturned by a Rams illegal-motion penalty. Otherwise, it was a mostly clean game from the 49ers’ special teams. Gould hit from 25 and 34 yards in the second half.
Coaching: A
Coordinator Robert Saleh has to be thrilled with the way the 49ers played defensively, limiting the Rams to 41 yards in the second half, and just 109 after the first possession that resulted in L.A.’s first points. San Francisco held the Rams to 0 for 13 on third- and fourth-down conversions. That was easily San Francisco’s most impressive defensive performance in years.
This story was originally published October 13, 2019 at 4:36 PM.
