49ers look more like champs of old in win
Positive defensive performance and show of championship-level toughness gives hope
By any means necessary, the 49ers had to win on Sunday.
A loss to the Rams would have effectively torpedoed the team’s playoff chances. We’re barely halfway through October. That would not have been an acceptable outcome for the defending NFC Champions.
And with the season on the line, San Francisco dug deep and re- established their identity against the Rams in a 2416 win.
More importantly, the Niners treated the Week 6 contest like a playoff game, because the stakes seemed just as high.
Now, they don’t have the players they had last year. And every other team in the league has a better read on what it is the 49ers want to do, too. But the Niners went back to the beginning of this calendar year — before the world was turned upside down, before the empty stadiums, before all the injuries — and busted out the same script they used to win two playoff games last January.
In the end, they were tougher, smarter, and more resilient than the Rams on Sunday.
That’s a serious building block for the rest of this strange campaign.
Coaches and players love to say that they “left it all on the field” after games. Given the horrors of the sport of football, it’s uncouth to point out the hyperbole and acknowledge that there are levels to effort in this game.
In the playoffs, for instance, you see players driving to pick up an extra half yard, defenses swarming even when a sixth tackler would be overkill, and coaches using plays they save only for special occasions.
The Niners did all of those things on Sunday. It was a kitchen-sink performance.
I don’t know if the Niners have a deluxe kitchen or a Home Depot gift card, but if that’s what it takes to win, they’re going to need more sinks in the final 10 games.
But that’s a problem for the future Niners to address.
Now, let’s talk about that winning formula — that return to the 49ers’ identity.
The Niners want to run the ball and play great defense. For the first time against a competent NFL team this season, the Niners did that.
All while Shanahan, the offensive coordinator, called far and away his best game of the season.
First with Raheem Mostert and then with rookie JaMychal Hasty after Mostert injured his ankle, the Niners ran the ball with purpose Sunday. They also ran the ball with wide receivers on end-arounds and screen passes, spreading out the Rams’ defense. The offensive line — a unit that prefers run blocking to pass protecting and was in desperate need of a confidence boost — thrived.
The gameplan was hardly dominant. It wasn’t pretty, either. But it gave the 49ers their best chance to win, as it limited quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s responsibilities.
The defense — no doubt aided by the rest the Niners’ clock- eating ground game provided them (the Niners had the ball nearly twice as long as the Rams Sunday) — was impressive. The Niners’ 2019 defense was predicated on a great pass rush. Sunday’s performance didn’t harken back to that, but the Niners’ front four did create some pressure. What stood out was the outstanding coverage from cornerbacks Jason Verrett, Emmanuel Moseley, and Jamar Taylor.
Rams quarterback Jared Goff had time to throw early and often on Sunday, but rarely was anyone open downfield. The head referee had to come onto the public address system countless times to assure the zero people in paid attendance that Goff had not, in fact, intentionally grounded the ball.
Verrett, in particular, was stellar Sunday. He was targeted by the Rams six times, but allowed only one reception for four yards. And his third- quarter, fourthdown interception in the end zone was arguably the biggest play for
the 49ers this season. Not only did the pick deny the Rams a scoring chance and give the Niners the ball, but holding onto the ball and getting both feet in the end zone to register a touchback gave San Francisco 18 yards of field position, instead of being pinned on their own 2-yard line.
That kind of back- end success against an offense as talented and creative as the Rams’ hints at something the Niners can use as a foundation for the remainder of the season.
And now we’re at the quarterback.
Shanahan made sure that Garoppolo had quick, short throws all night. Most of his box-score stats were, for all intents and purposes, shovel-pass runs by running backs or yards after the catch schemed up by Shanahan. He hid him.
It’s a winning formula for the Niners if the rest of the roster plays well.
Garoppolo averaged
4.4 air yards per attempt Sunday, attempting only two passes longer than 20 yards and completing neither. But he threw the ball, on average, 2.4 seconds after the snap, and
only had to try two throws into tight windows, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Add in better-than-usual pass protection and as complete a shutdown of reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald as one could expect — Garoppolo was only pressured twice and was not sacked — and Garoppolo made enough plays to win Sunday, including a fourth-quarter, shoulderfirst third-down run that didn’t pick up a first down, but set up a shorter field goal for Robbie Gould to give the Niners 24 points.
By his standards — and with the bar set so low after last week — Garoppolo was good against the Rams.
Is an offensive game plan that tries to hide the quarterback sustainable for the rest of the season?
Probably not. It wasn’t even that successful Sunday — the Niners only scored 24 points.
But it is, most likely, the Niners’ best path to victory from here on out.
And while that raises serious questions about the future of this team, those conversations can be put on hold — this Niners’ campaign is still in full swing.