Defense: 49ers regress against Rams, former Cal quarterback Goff.
On Sunday, it was proclaimed that the 49ers’ defense was going to be the strength of the team.
The defense, loaded with top draft picks, held Seattle to one touchdown and 312 yards. Got pressure on Russell Wilson all game. Contained the Seahawks to 3.9 yards per play.
But all that changed just four days later. On Thursday, the 49ers’ defense did not look like the strongest part of the team. Jared Goff and the Rams scored five touchdowns, finding huge holes in the seams. The Rams accumulated 418 yards and averaged 7 yards a play. Goff was not sacked and the 49ers registered just three quarterback hits.
“We didn’t begin the game well,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We started pretty slow on defense too.”
Defensive back Jimmie Ward said, “I didn’t think we would have let them score that much. As a defense, we’ve got to step up more.”
Ward, who led the team in tackles, didn’t want to blame the quick turnaround on the defensive woes. But linebacker NaVorro Bowman conceded that the short week had “a huge effect” on his body.
“There’s no way I felt the way I felt on Sunday today,” Bowman said.
As the game went on, both the defenses appeared to be gassed.
The turnaround for an older player like Bowman, with repaired body parts, is particularly tough. Bowman had 10 combined tackles Sunday, four Thursday.
The defense was also particularly hard hit by injuries as the game went on, a development that may or may not be related to the short week.
“We lost a lot of guys in the second half,” Shanahan said. I don’t know what the reasons are. It’s a physical game so it happens on Sundays, too.”
It’s a learning process. For the defense, the offense, the entire team.
“This has only been our third game together,” Bowman said. “For us to be down 15 and still stay in there, stay fight … that’s one of the things that we can take from this game. You see the potential. You see where we can go. We just have to learn how to win, learn how to play a full game. And we’ll be where we want to be.”
And learn how to put an offensive and defensive performance together in the same game.