Week 8 Post Game Review: 49ers @ Rams

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers ownership of the LA Rams continued Sunday with a resounding second half performance to take the game 31-14 and move back to .500 on the season heading into a week 9 bye. 

Midway through the second quarter it looked like the 49ers may be in for another disappointing afternoon. While the 49ers defense was successful in taking away the Rams running game, the Rams methodically and mercilessly used their screen game to march down the field on their second and third drives to take a 14-7 lead. The Rams, much like the Chiefs the week before, used the 49ers own aggressiveness on defense against them, getting defenders to commit and over-pursue upfield only to see the play quickly get behind them and into the vacated open spaces. 

But in front of a sea of red at the 49ers home away from home, SoFi Stadium, the 49ers defense made the right adjustments and rallied in the second half to put the clamps on the Rams while the offense rattled off 24 unanswered points (including a FG just before the half) to storm home for the victory. 

While the ability to rebound after a rocky start to the game by the defense helped secure the victory, the 49ers offense was the main story in this one. And the headline act was newly acquired RB/ WR (/QB?) Christian McCaffrey, who showed fans exactly why Shanahan and Lynch were willing to give up a bounty of draft picks to get him. All told, he accounted for 183 all-purpose yards (including a 34 yard pass) as well as a triple-crown of TDs - 1 running, 1 receiving and 1 passing on that 34 yarder to Brandon Aiyuk. McCaffrey's receiving TD also gave fans a glimpse of just how talented a pass catcher he can be as he expertly broke up field on the scramble drill and high pointed the ball on the right sideline of the end zone. 

While McCaffrey's day was the headliner, Jimmy Garoppolo also deserves praise for a highly efficient performance as he completed 84% of his passes for 235 yards and 2 beautiful TD throws that demonstrated both excellent precision with ball placement as well as awareness of the field. Yes, there were two passes that could easily have been intercepted, but we've become accustomed to that being part of the Jimmy G experience. Aside from those two plays though, and one deep ball he was late on to Ray Ray McCloud on the first drive, Garoppolo was excellent. 

Something that became evident early in this game is how McCaffrey really allows Shanahan to use the short passing game as an extension of the running game in a different way than we've become accustomed to with Deebo. While the run-pass mix reads as being almost 50%-50% for the day, McCaffrey and Wilson had a number of catches that were at or just past the line of scrimmage that they were able to turn into decent yardage gainers very easily to stay ahead of the sticks. And as the game wore on, the Rams started cheating players over to McCaffrey which opened up holes in the defense for Kittle and Aiyuk - which was evident in the TD to Kittle as Taylor Rapp didn't get proper depth due to the threat of McCaffrey underneath.

Moving forward, I can't wait to see how Shanahan incorporates the trio of McCaffrey, Deebo and Juice into the game plan.

The win puts the 49ers in second place in the NFC West, one game behind the surprise Seahawks, and the 7th seed in the NFC. In addition to the big and important victory, the 49ers also came out of the game with the good news of no new injuries heading into the bye. The 49ers now get the opportunity to rest up, get some of their troops back, and get McCaffrey more acclimated within the offense.      

Week 8 Matchup: San Francisco 49ers vs. LA Rams

 Good afternoon everyone and welcome to your live blog for 49ers football. If the 49ers want to enter their bye with good vibes, they'll need their offense to play a complete game. They averaged 2.7 yards on the ground in their last matchup. The Rams rank 2nd in stopping the run, but with CMC in the fold and having fully digested the playbook, the outside zone run could start to heat up. I think it'd be interesting to take a couple plays from the '84 Niners playbook with CMC playing the Roger Craig role and Wilson the Wendell Tyler role, and get them both some swing passes out in the flat. I think the time is now to also get Gray the ball, whether that's a jet sweep or quick slant. There's an old saying, the devils in the details, and in order for the 49ers to get right with a win today, they'll need to be detail oriented. 

Week 8 Game Preview: 49ers @ Rams

By Scooter_McG

49ers vs Rams. Shanahan vs McVay. Brunskill vs his son. 49ers fan takeover of SoFi Stadium. This is a matchup the 49ers have dominated since 2019, and in recent seasons the game at SoFi Stadium has effectively been the 49ers 9th regular season home game. 

This game also marks a potentially pivotal moment in the respective seasons of these two teams. The 49ers, now with a record of 3W-4L, currently owns the tie-breaker against the Rams courtesy of their victory earlier in the season. But lose this one and the 49ers lose that advantage with a split series, while also dropping to a perilous 3-5 record. The 3-3 Rams are currently sitting in the 7th seed in a highly congested NFC following their bye week and will be desperate to avoid falling below .500 and avoiding a series sweep by the 49ers.

Given the congested nature of the NFC, losing this game won't spell certain doom for either team. But it will make a trip to the playoffs much more difficult. 

Neither team is playing well at the moment, either. The 49ers are coming off back-to-back embarrassing losses - one against a Falcons team they should have beat, and one a blow-out against a Chiefs team that tore apart the previously heralded 49ers defense. The Rams won their last game before the bye (somewhat ironically against Christian McCaffrey, in his last game as a Panther), but it was far from a convincing performance and followed back-to-back losses against the 49ers and a Cowboys team led by Cooper Rush. 

The talk out of Rams camp coming into this game is that the Chiefs provided them the blueprint for how to beat the 49ers. Personally, I've always thought when teams start talking about following another teams blueprint to beat an opponent it means they are out of their own ideas. But now it is up to the 49ers to show that last week was the aberration, not the new norm.

With Christian McCaffrey now having a full week of practice with his new team, the expectation will be that he can take on a larger workload this week and should be the lead back for the 49ers. Deebo Samuel has been ruled out with a hamstring injury while Jennings also appears likely to miss the game, which will increase the importance of CMC's role as both a runner and pass catcher. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he leads the 49ers in both runs and catches this week. But with Kittle and Aiyuk also in the mix this doesn't need to be a one man show. 

The Rams on the other hand have shown some some glaring deficiencies through six games. The most notable is their OL, which has struggled in all phases of the game. The Rams running game has been almost non-existent, while Stafford is under duress far too often. The Rams best RB, Cam Akers, has also gotten himself on the outer with McVay and is unlikely to even suit up in this game. On defense, the Rams have struggled to find a pass rush to support Aaron Donald - stop Donald from ruining your day and you have probably gone a long way to buying 2.5+ seconds for your QB. 

So for this game I think it comes down to two key aspects for the 49ers to win the game:

• First, win the trenches. As outlined above, the Rams biggest weaknesses in 2022 can be found on both sides of the trenches. Sounds weird to say that given they have All-World Aaron Donald on defense. But if the 49ers OL can contain Aaron Donald, they 'should' be able to handle the rest of the Rams DL. On the other side of the coin, the 49ers DL has to stand up (figuratively - really they need to stay low) after being dominated two straight weeks. The Rams OL is in disarray and if they can't handily win this matchup the state of the 49ers defense is in far worse shape than we thought.
• Second, WIN THE TRENCHES! Ok, technically this is only one key aspect. But it honestly is such a big key to this game I think it bears repeating. If the 49ers can dominate the trenches, and really they should (though Donald will no doubt win his fair share), the game should be theirs for the taking. 

There are of course other areas the 49ers have to take care of, and areas of concern. First and foremost is getting back to being a run-oriented offense - though to me that comes back to winning the trenches. 

I am also concerned about the defense being down both Al-Shaair and Greenlaw, as well as still missing their two starting DTs. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of nickel and dime defense this weekend, both because of the Rams personnel packages which favour 3 WRs and because the 49ers personnel suggests three safety looks will get the best players on the field. But that will put pressure on the DL to stuff the run. 

So, again... it comes back to winning the trenches in this one.  

Week 7 Post Game Review: 49ers vs Chiefs

By Scooter_McG

Week 7 of the 2022 season saw the 49ers soundly beaten by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 44-23, dropping the 49ers to a 3W-4L record. 

The game started out well for the 49ers as they scored 10 points on their opening two drives, which also saw newly acquired Christian McCaffrey make some nice contributions on the ground despite only joining the team two days prior to the game. In between the two scores the 49ers sandwiched an INT of Mahomes as Gipson jumped a pass and Hufanga snagged the deflection. 

However, after that hiccup Mahomes and the Chiefs found their groove on offense and went up and down the field with ease thereafter. The Chiefs had three more drives before the half, which ended with two TDs and a missed FG just before the half. The 49ers on the other hand would have to settle for just one field goal the rest of the half, despite being gifted a golden opportunity to score following a muffed punt which was recovered at the Chiefs 12 yard line, as Jimmy G inexplicably threw a floater up while back pedalling under pressure that was easily intercepted at the goal line. That wasn't the only opportunity to regain the lead before the half the 49ers botched either - the only reason the 49ers were punting on the muffed punt is because they were knocked out of FG range courtesy of a Jaylon Moore false start on the FG try. 

At 14-13 down at the half, the 49ers still had an opportunity to come away with the win if they were able to finish more drives on offense, play sound defense and avoid backbreaking plays on STs in the second half. None of those things happened. Instead the Chiefs began proceedings with a long kickoff return before their offense steamrolled the 49ers on four straight TD drives, converting long plays at will (even 3rd and 20s). Meanwhile the 49ers offense started the second half ok getting 10 points on the first two drives, but then fell apart down the stretch as the pressure to keep up with the Chiefs high powered offense became too much. 

It's hard to really pinpoint too much of what went right for the 49ers in this one, as not much did. The offense was probably the "bright spot" in this game for the 49ers, but even then was sabotaged by numerous mistakes such as penalties, dropped passes, blown blocking assignments and guys just flat out getting beaten (McGlinchey and Williams, looking at you). 

The defense on the other hand was just straight dismal. The 49ers often say the defense starts with the defensive line, and it definitely did in this one. They were completely manhandled for 60 minutes and the back seven were exposed all too easily without the safety blanket of the guys up front creating pressure and forcing RBs into defender's arms. This performance made discussions in previous weeks about the 49ers 2022 defense being one of the best ever seem completely farcical, and unlike last week against the Falcons, the 49ers can't point to guys missing as an excuse as a lot of players returned for this one. 

Special teams also did their part blowing this game, clearly not wanting to be outdone by their offensive and defensive counterparts. 

In some respects this loss is a good thing for the 49ers. A close loss would have glossed over some of the issues the team has consistently displayed this season. But getting blown away should be the wake up call the players and coaches need. If it isn't, this is going to be a long, disappointing season. 

I said after last week's game Shanahan might have some soul searching to do. The entire team does this week.      

Week 7 Matchup: Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers

 Good afternoon everyone and welcome to your live blog. Today's matchup is an opportunity for the 49ers to get some new shoes after shooting themselves in the feet last week against an inferior Atlanta Falcons team. I have a sneaking suspicion Andy Reid's game plan could involve running the football more with Pacheco. He's a tough running back and Givens/Ridgeway will need to perform much better if they want to shut him down. This game should go down to the wire if the 49ers play mistake free ball. Go Niners!

*According to Jay Glazer, McCaffrey will get 20 carries, and maybe more depending on game situation.

49ers Inactives: 

DL Arik Armstead (foot, ankle)

CB Dontae Johnson

TE Tyler Kroft

RB Jordan Mason

DL Kemoko Turay

OL Nick Zakelj

Week 7 Game Preview: 49ers vs Chiefs

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers remain in first place in the NFC West despite their loss last week dropping them to 3-3, courtesy of a healthy for and against and wins over division rivals. However, if they have plans of securing another playoff appearance this season they will desperately need to fix the Jekyll and Hyde performances that have dogged them so far. 

Coming up against a potent Chiefs team that is smarting after a loss last week is not the ideal matchup for such a fix.   

The 49ers enter week 7 buoyed by the recent trade for star RB Christian McCaffrey from the Panthers. But realistically, his acquisition is unlikely to play a big factor in the 49ers week 7 encounter with the Kansas City Chiefs, if he even suits up at all. The bigger news for the 49ers, at least as it pertains to this game, is the return of a trio of high profile players from injury - Trent Williams, Nick Bosa and Jimmie Ward. Williams and Bosa are probably the two best players on the 49ers roster and with their return the 49ers will be boasting five of their six elite players on the field in this game (and potentially all six of McCaffrey suits up). Having those playmakers on the field is vital if the 49ers are to provide the upset this week. 

Unfortunately it appears unlikely CB Charvarius Ward will be right to go against his former team, while Jason Verrett will not be activated from IR for this game. Following the loss of Moseley the week before, this leaves the CB position thin and inexperienced which is far from ideal against the Chiefs passing attack. The onus will thereby fall on the front 7 and the safeties to force Mahomes and the Chiefs to get rid of the ball quickly and not allow time for easy throws. Given the injuries at CB, we may also see Jimmie Ward dropping down to play CB - either outside of slot - for stretches in this game.

Warner, Greenlaw and Hufanga will also have their hands full in limiting Travis Kelce, who has been Mahomes main target this season. If the 49ers can force Mahomes to look to Smith-Schuster, Hardman and Vandes-Scantlng more so than Kelce they should be in a good position to minimise the damage from the Chiefs offense, even with the two starting CBs out injured.  

On offense, the 49ers must find a way to sustain drives and put points on the board. The goal should be a minimum of 27 points in this game - asking the defense to hold the Chiefs to less than that is a tough ask. With the trade for McCaffrey it is clear that Shanahan hasn't been thrilled with the running game this season in the absence of Elijah Mitchell. Getting the run game going will go a long way to getting the offense in rhythm and should be the point of emphasis this week. But, equally, the team needs to find ways to get the ball in the hands of its playmakers in space, and must make sure they take the opportunities down the field when they present themselves (unlike last week). 

George Kittle called the team out after the defeat last week for its effort. If they want to stand any hope of winning this game the team needs to lift its intensity, focus and urgency to avoid dropping below .500 and losing the lead in the division. 

Breaking News

 

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

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Stunner: Panthers are trading Pro-Bowl RB Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for draft picks, sources tell ESPN. McCaffrey returns to the Bay Area, where he attended Stanford.

Ian Rapoport

@RapSheet

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Full terms: -- The #49ers get star RB Christian McCaffrey. -- The #Panthers get a 2nd round pick in 2023, a third-rounder in 2023, and a fourth-round pick in 2023. Plus, a fifth-rounder in 2024.