Shutdown defense: L.A. scores early TD, then gets nothing else all day long
LOS ANGELES — The 49ers were missing three important offensive players Sunday.
The bad news for the Rams: The 49ers’ defense was mostly intact.
Led again by their suffocating defense, the upstart 49ers beat up on a bully Sunday, dispatching the NFC champion Rams 207 before plenty of redandgoldclad fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The 49ers, the sad sacks who entered the season with 18 wins in their previous 69 games, improved to 50 and kept pace with the Patriots as the NFL’s unbeaten teams.
Are they Super Bowl contenders? We’ll see. But say this: Their defense looks championship quality.
Cornerback Richard Sherman, who played on the Seahawks’ legendary Legion of Boom defense that won a title, didn’t dismiss the idea the 49ers could slide into select company.
“Hopefully, we earn that type of respect,”
Sherman said. “That’s what we aspire to. To be compared to the best defenses of all time.”
Said defensive tackle Solomon Thomas: “You feel it — everyone just has this swag to them. We know how good we can be, so we know every time we go out there, we can set a new standard for how great we are.”
Talk of greatness seems silly from a team that went 412 last year.
But consider their performance Sunday: They limited one of the league’s most prolific offenses, a group that averaged 43.5 points against them last year, to 10 first downs, 157 yards — and no points in the final 54 minutes.
The Rams went 0for9 on third down.
And they went 0for4 on fourth down.
Rams quarterback Jared Goff had 912 passing yards in his previous two games, most in the NFL since 2006. Against the 49ers, Goff completed 13 of 24 passes for 78 yards, the fewest of his 44start career.
“They’re coached very well, and defensively, they’ve got some dudes up front who do their thing,” Goff said. “They’re going to give a lot of teams some problems.”
Running back Malcolm Brown put it more succinctly: “Those guys can play.”
The 49ers, who didn’t have their starting fullback and either firststring offensive tackle, were playing on a short week. The Rams had 10 days of rest. On Sunday, the 49ers lost the turnover battle (21).
And it didn’t matter because the NFL’s secondranked defense made the league’s fifthranked offense resemble Cerritos College.
The Rams boast one of the NFL’s top wide receiver trios, but Cooper Kupp, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods combined for seven catches for 35 yards. After scoring a touchdown on its first possession, Los Angeles (33), which had gained 995 yards in its previous two games, managed 101 yards.
Goff took four sacks and five QB hits and was flushed from the pocket constantly.
“I was sitting there in the third quarter,” tight end George Kittle said, “and I was like, ‘Huh, I think the day that Jimmy G threw five straight interceptions (in training camp) might have had something to do with our Dline being in his face for five straight plays.”
On Sunday, with the score tied 77, the 49ers had a secondquarter goalline stand in which they stopped Brown for no gain on 3rd and 4thandgoal runs from the 1yard line.
Then defensive tackle Arik Armstead recovered a fumble on the first play of the second half. The takeaway set up a 17yard touchdown drive capped by Jimmy Garoppolo’s 1yard sneak to give them a 147 lead.
Leading 207 midway through the fourth quarter, a fumble by Garoppolo gave the Rams a bit of hope as they took over at the 49ers’ 36yard line.
Four plays later, however, they trudged off the field after free safety Jimmie Ward broke up a 4thand2 pass to Kupp.
“I had a feeling that if we just don’t turn it over, we’ll win this game,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I haven’t had that feeling very much in my career. And the defense definitely gave it to me this whole game.”
Despite the domination, the Rams began as if they wanted to send a forceful statement to the upandcomers.
Goff entered leading the NFL in pass attempts per game, but the Rams started with a sevenplay, 56yard drive that didn’t feature a forward pass. Instead, it consisted of runs of 9, 10, 7, 9, 8, 5 and 8 yards.
The final run, a reverse by wide receiver Woods, gave the Rams a 70 lead.
“They ran it at us (seven) straight times,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. “That definitely hits you a personal level. … As a man, you don’t like to see that.”
Shanahan liked what he saw during the defense’s best performance in 2019, but he doesn’t think the unit has shifted into high gear.
“I think our defense is just getting started,” Shanahan said.
Really? How can they improve? Shanahan smiled. “I mean,” he said, the Rams “did score seven points.”