How the Rams beat the 49ers [View all]

Analysis by Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle / 1-31-22

Bottom line? Make Garoppolo beat them.

Highlights from the article:

• “They flooded the box,” left tackle Trent William said of the Rams’ defense. “A couple times they brough in an extra D-lineman. Obviously when you’re the 49ers and you’re known for coming in and running the ball — we’ve really marched the ball up and down the field in the run game on this team the last six times we played them.

• “The biggest thing I noticed is that any time we did any of our motions, they just started blitzing through all the gaps,” (49ers tight end George) Kittle said. “They just sent their linebackers downhill … Makes it kind of hard when they had nine, 10 guys in the box. Just makes it difficult.”

• Some excellent examples of the Rams’ strategy came on two of the game’s biggest plays, with the 49ers leading 17-14 with about 11 minutes left and facing 2nd-and-1 at the Rams’ 44. The Rams’ alignment: They had a six-man defensive front and nine defenders were within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

Link (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/49ers/article/49ers-Garoppolo-not-solely-responsible-for-16818255.php

FROM THE LINK: Defensively, 49er DE Nick Bosa and FS Jimmy Ward admitted being totally fatigued by the fourth quarter. Said Bosa: "I definitely felt that first half on my legs a little bit, which I usually don’t. So missing our opportunities on third down, which we’d been pretty damn good at all year, was one of the reasons we lost.”

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Hey, hats off to the Sean McVey and the Rams. They targeted the 49ers Achilles' Heel on offense -- Jimmy Garoppolo -- and beat the defense with (IMO) a stellar, imaginative passing attack.

Why Mike Shanahan or Mike McDaniel (offensive coordinator) kept calling run plays up the middle against that Rams' box is a mystery to me.

Trey Lance: you're up.