Santa Clara, CA – After his squad suffers a humiliating 43-17 a loss to the Miami Dolphins in week 5, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan redeemed himself on Sunday night, with the Niners downing the NFC West’s division leader (and rival), Los Angeles Rams, 24-16 for the San Fran’s 1sthome win of the season. 

Shanahan out-schemed McVay 

            Kyle Shanahan has had his work cut out for him since the start of the NFL season. Franchise QB Jimmy Garoppolo went down in week 2 vs the New York Jets with a high ankle sprain. Garoppolo was out for 2 weeks, in which the Niners went 1-1 without him, and when he tried to force himself to return for their week 5 game against the Dolphins, Garoppolo was benched at half time of the game, having completed only 41% of his passes for 77 yards and two interceptions. Injuries have been the theme of the 49ers season, with San Fran missing their top three pass rushers (Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, & Solomon Thomas), a starting corner (Richard Sherman), and a plethora of starting wideouts and running backs that is just too long to list. 

            Any other coach would blame the injuries for the woes of his team, coasting to just get through the season. Shanahan, however, schemes around his roster holes and executes. And against the Rams, the 4th-year head coach found a winning formula. The 49ers went for a slow, ground-and-pound offensive approach against the Rams D, tiring the Rams front 7 out while keeping the DB’s on their toes when San Fran went for the pass on play-action and screen passes. They ran 70 offensive plays to the Rams’ 57, nearly double the time of possession (San Fran: 37:55, L.A.: 22:05), and kept the Rams’ elite pass rusher in Aaron Donald to just two tackles and a single QB hit. “[It was] Impressive,” Garoppolo told NBC News’ Michele Tafoya in his post-game presser. “Guys who didn’t get a ton of reps before stepped up and pulled off the win for us tonight.”  

            Garoppolo, still hobbled by that high-ankle sprain, didn’t attempt too many downfield passes, often opting for quick dump-offs, short field passes, and screens. According to Next Gen Stats, Garoppolo averaged 1.8 completed air yards per pass, with his receivers finding holes in the coverage to rack up the YAC. Garoppolo finished the night completing 23/33 (70% completion) for 268 yards, and three touchdowns. Star tight end George Kittle (7-109-1) once again was the 49ers main passing attack, with Deebo Samuel (6-66-1) coming at a close second, usually getting his touches out of jet sweeps. On the ground, Raheem Mostert (17-65) was the bell cow back, but left the game with an injury and was ruled out, leaving Jerick McKinnon (6-18) and rookie special teamer JaMycal Hasty (9-37) to pick up the slack. 

            On defense, it was the veteran corner Jason Verrett’s night to shine. The 29-year-old former first-round pick had endured so many season-ending injuries the past three years, that he used tonight to remind people he’s still an elite corner. He had two pass deflections on the night, helped keep both Rams’ star wideouts, Cooper Kupp & Robert Woods, to less than 100 yards receiving combined, and picked off Jared Goff on fourth down in the endzone. 

Rams get rammed by Niners 

            Going into Sunday Night’s NFC West showdown, the Rams were riding a hot streak; beating the New York Giants and Washington Football Team in back-to-back weeks to sweep the NFC East. Star defensive tackle Aaron Donald racked up three sacks against Washington, putting the 2x DPOY on pace to break the single-season sack record, while quarterback Jared Goff downplayed mistakes by taking care of the rock and distributing the ball evenly between his carousel of pass catchers.  

            And yet, head coach Sean McVay couldn’t find a way to scheme around a 49ers team that was missing playmakers on both sides of the ball. The Rams played down to the 49ers in the first quarter, getting outgained 134-21 total offensive yards. For a team that averaged 27.2 points per game, the fact that they were kept to just seven in the first half was shocking, to say the least. It wasn’t just one player that couldn’t get anything going; the whole team just seemed lost out there. Jared Goff was kept to just under 200 yards passing, completing 19/38 (50% completion) of his passes for two touchdowns and a momentum-killing interception by Jason Verrett. Tight end Tyler Higbee (3-56) led the corps in yards, while Robert woods (4-29) and Cooper Kupp (3-11) were completely shut down by the 49ers’ depleted secondary. Little known Rams receiver Josh Reynolds (2-45-1) was the only playmaker in the Rams passing game, climbing up the ladder to make an incredible 40-yard catch in the endzone that brought the Rams back to within 8 in the fourth quarter with 3:24 left on the clock. In the running game, rookie back Cam Akins was nowhere to be seen, as Darrell Henderson Jr. (14-88) got the bulk of the work. A curious strategy by McVay, as Akins was active on the night. 

            Over on defense, the NFL’s sack leader, DT Aaron Donald, was kept quiet; something you never hear anyone say when talking about the all-pro interior lineman. In fact, the entire Rams defense was kept quiet on the night, with LB Micah Kiser and DB Josh Johnson III leading the team in tackles with 13 each, while DL Sebastian Joseph-Day had two QB hits on the night. 

Coming up next… 

            It’s a family reunion for 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as San Fran travels East to Foxborough to play a New England Patriots team that only scored 12 points in a losing effort against the Denver Broncos. 

            As for the Rams, the schedule does not ease up Los Angeles, as they’re set to host an on-the-rise Bears team that outlasted the Carolina Panthers in a 23-16 defense-heavy battle down in Charlotte. 

Writer

-By: Juan Guarin-Camargo

The Eagles home opener was a chance to right the ship early on before the question about the team and in particular, Carson Wentz started. Unfortunately, the Rams had a different plan for the Eagles at home. The Rams came across the country to put the smackdown on the Eagles to the tune of 37-19. Jared Goff came out firing on all cylinders and completed his first 13 passes including a pair of touchdowns to Tyler Higbee. By early in the second quarter the Eagles were down 21-3. The Eagles started to show some fight and by halftime had scored twice to bring the score within 5 points. Alas, that was not enough for the Eagles as they only went on to score 3 points in the second half of the game. Carson threw two interceptions and had a turnover on downs that eventually closed the door on the Eagles chance at victory. 

Overall on the day, the Rams look to be returning to that 2018 form when they had one of the best offenses and defenses in the game. McVay and that squad had the offense hitting on the short passes and screen game, while running back Darrell Henderson took over as the lead back that day and showed great potential. The biggest X factor was the tight ends and Higbee shined. He finished the game with 5 catches for 59 yards, but was lethal in the red zone with three touchdowns. The defense was rolling as well, with the previously mentioned two interceptions. The Eagles line held up well with no sacks allowed to Donald and Co., but still, the defense held a potent Eagles offense down. 

On the flip of this is the struggling Eagles team that now has a lot of questions starting to rise up. The offense is back again looking hit or miss and the turnovers are the main culprit in that aspect. Miles Sanders came back after missing the first game and started the first drive off with a fumble. The Rams capitalized on it and scored to have the Eagles down early. They responded well with at least a field goal the next drive, but it wasn’t until the second quarter they started to pick it up. They scored two more touchdowns in the first half to close the gap to a five-point game. Then the turnovers again reared their ugly head and Carson threw interceptions on two of their last four drives. The other two drives only resulted in three points and a turnover on downs. These types of ineffective drives and costly turnovers are why people in the media are questioning Carson Wentz as the franchise guy. He has all the tools but seems to continue to make stupid plays when he knows better. 

Hopefully, the Eagles can get back on track with their next game being against a Bengals team that has promise but needs more team with Joe Burrow to be a threat. While the Rams hope to continue to roll on through there schedule with the Bills coming up.

Writer

-By: Darren Braxton:

The Eagles and Rams are trending in opposite directions after Week 1. Who will emerge victorious in their third matchup of the Pederson/McVay era?

Injury Report (from philadelphiaeagles.com):

Philadelphia

OUT: WR Alshon Jeffery (foot)

QUESTIONABLE: DE Derek Barnett (hamstring), DE Brandon Graham (concussion)

NOT LISTED: DT Fletcher Cox (rest), DT Javon Hargrave (hamstring/pec), WR DeSean Jackson (rest), T Lane Johnson (ankle), T Jason Peters (knee), RB Miles Sanders (hamstring)

Los Angeles

QUESTIONABLE: TE Gerald Everett (back)

NOT LISTED: T Andrew Whitworth (not injury related)

Outside of Vinny Curry and Craig James moving to IR, the Eagles injury report looks a lot more promising than it did last week. Lane Johnson, Miles Sanders, and Javon Hargrave will all make their season debuts as the Eagles look to avoid an 0-2 start. The only worrying part about this report is that both starting DEs are listed as questionable. They did practice fully on Friday, so their chances of playing are looking good.

Los Angeles has a very, very short injury report. Backup TE Gerald Everett is expected to play.

Analysis:

It was proven last week that the best way to stop the Eagles offense is to pressure Carson Wentz relentlessly. Wentz has the tendency to try and do too much with dead plays, resulting in extra lost yards and fumbles. Even when he has a clean pocket, sometimes he looks shaken up from previous pressure, leading to overthrows. While Los Angeles doesn’t boast the same ridiculous defensive line depth that Washington does, they still have Aaron Donald, who is arguably the best football player on the planet. He hasn’t had previous success against Philadelphia, but he shouldn’t be taken for granted as he has the ability to wreck any game at any moment. He picked up one sack last week against Dallas (three total for LAR).

The Eagles may finally get to see their starting defensive line at full health with the expected returns of Derek Barnett and Javon Hargrave. Jared Goff is a QB who likes to dink-and-dunk his way to success, but the Eagles now have the horses to really rattle him into making bad decisions. Jim Schwartz should be very aggressive now that he has a very solid defensive backfield ready to cover up for blitzes. Sean McVay’s offense includes a lot of screens and passes near the line of scrimmage, so expect the Eagles corners to play closer up than usual. The Dallas defense, which isn’t better than this current Philadelphia unit, held the Rams to just 20 points despite a strong performance from RB Malcolm Brown and a very efficient day by Goff.

Dallas ran the ball just 27 times, but they did average over five yards per carry on the Rams D. With Miles Sanders and Lane Johnson back in action, the Eagles can finally run the ball successfully and take pressure off of Wentz. They had no semblance of a run game against Washington last week, and that contributed to them blowing the lead. The Eagles run defense continues to be strong and I expect them to dominate against the Rams uninspiring duo of Malcolm Brown and Cam Akers. The Eagles really do have the advantage in this matchup, but let’s see where their confidence is after a tough loss to the Washington Football Team.

Can Doug Pederson improve to 3-0 against the man who stole the 2017 Coach of the Year?

Prediction:

Eagles 24, Rams 16

Sunday, September 20 at Lincoln Financial Field, Eagles 1.5-point favorites (Odds Shark)

Writer

-By: Micah Jimoh