Tag: rams 49ers

Rams Week 6 injury report: Micah Kiser questionable but expected to play

The Rams expect to have Micah Kiser back on Sunday night against San Francisco after he missed Week 5.

The Los Angeles Rams are just a couple of days away from taking on the San Francisco 49ers as they get ready for their first NFC West matchup of the season. They practiced for the final time of the week on Friday, continuing their preparation and game-planning for San Francisco.

Micah Kiser and Bobby Evans were limited on Wednesday to start the week, but both of them full participants on Friday and are good to go.

Kiser is listed as questionable, but Sean McVay expects him to play against the 49ers. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, who is going on injured reserve with an elbow injury, has been ruled out, of course.

Here’s the full injury report, which includes the 49ers’ side of things. Jimmy Garoppolo was a full participant all week and is healthy for this matchup, while Kwon Alexander and Dontae Johnson have already been ruled out.

McVay said Friday that assuming Kiser is able to play against the 49ers, he will get the start at inside linebacker. Troy Reeder could still get some playing time and Kenny Young is likely to be the No. 2 LB, but Kiser will reclaim his role as the starter.

Kickoff on Sunday night is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET.

Watch: Rams release hype video for showdown with 49ers

The Rams are ready for their first divisional matchup of the year.

The Los Angeles Rams’ first divisional matchup of the season will come against the defending NFC champion 49ers, traveling north to Santa Clara for this marquee matchup on Sunday Night Football. It may not come with the same allure that it had when the schedule was first released due to the 49ers’ sluggish start, but this is still a rivalry game.

The Rams are amped up to take on the team that swept them last season, even if it’s a different-looking roster than the one that finished the 2019 season. Out are Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas and Richard Sherman, and there are questions about the 49ers’ quarterback position.

Even still, this is a game the Rams would love to win, and one that would move their record to a stellar 5-1 on the year. They released a hype video narrated by J.B. Long on Friday and it’s sure to get you ready for this prime-time battle.

Kickoff between the Rams and 49ers is at 8:20 on Sunday night, with the game being televised on NBC.

Sean McVay not overlooking 49ers and their misleading record

Sean McVay knows how good the 49ers can be when healthy.

The Rams haven’t exactly had the toughest schedule this season, but they haven’t overlooked any of their first five opponents. The only game where you could argue they noticeably underperformed was against the Giants in Week 4, but they bounced back to crush Washington last week, 30-10.

Next up are the 2-3 49ers, who have been a huge disappointment thus far. As the defending NFC champions, the 49ers were expected to be better than their record suggests up to this point.

Their 43-17 loss to the Dolphins in Week 5 isn’t going to sway Sean McVay’s opinion of them and he won’t let himself look past this divisional foe.

“I mean, we have a lot of respect for these guys. I think when you look at the way that some of their games have unfolded, this is a very good football team there,” he said Thursday. “We know how capable they are. They’ve got great players on all three phases and they’re very well-coached. So, I think with five games, I think you can kind of let some of the numbers mislead you as far as their record. When you look at the way they played against Arizona opening weekend, that could’ve gone either way. They had two great games against both those teams from New York. Then, the Philly game could have gone either way. They had kind of an outlier against the Dolphins but fighting through some injuries. It was kind of one of those deals where everything was going perfect for the Dolphins and those things kind of can happen. But I don’t think that’s at all reflective of what a quality team this is. We’ve got to be ready to go this week.”

The 49ers have lost a number of key players to injury this season, a list that includes Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, Richard Sherman, Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert and even Jimmy Garoppolo.

There are still questions at quarterback and it’s not yet clear who will start under center on Sunday night. But no matter who it is, the Rams vow to be prepared and play as if they’re facing an undefeated team.

Now is not the time for them to let up on the gas pedal.

49ers are forcing Rams to make a uniform change in Week 6

The Rams planned to wear their bone uniforms Sunday, but that will have to change.

Before the season began, the Los Angeles Rams released a schedule to let fans know when they would wear each of their new uniforms. It was an even split of eight games with royal jerseys and eight with the new “bone” color, but the 49ers are forcing the Rams to make a wardrobe change in Week 6.

The Rams had previously said they would wear their bone uniforms against San Francisco this week, but the 49ers aren’t going to let that happen, apparently. Kicker Robbie Gould tweeted this week that he can’t wait to wear San Francisco’s all-white throwbacks, which would be far too similar to the Rams’ off-white threads.

And as the home team, the 49ers get first pick of which uniform they want to wear.

Assuming Gould is right and the 49ers will wear their throwbacks, the Rams would be forced to change to either their all-royal or royal and yellow combination for Sunday night.

Are the 49ers superstitious after learning that the Rams are 3-0 in their bone uniforms? Who’s to say, but they might be a little ‘stitious. Or are they just trying to play with their division rival’s head after trolling the Rams on the day they revealed their new uniforms?

Regardless of the reasoning behind San Francisco’s uniform choice, we’re in for a treat on Sunday night when these two teams square off in prime time. Hopefully the Rams choose to go with their royal and yellow combination, which looked great against the Giants in Week 4.

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Rams open as slight favorites over struggling 49ers in Week 6

The 49ers were blown out by the Dolphins on Sunday, while the Rams knocked off Washington.

The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers enter their Week 6 meeting in very different ways. The Rams blew out Washington on Sunday, 30-10, while the 49ers were shockingly crushed by the Dolphins on the road, 43-17.

It’s the first NFC West game of the season for the Rams after sweeping the NFC East, and after Week 5’s results, they enter as the road favorites. At BetMGM, the Rams are favored over the 49ers by three points. It’s not a huge spread, but considering the home team is often given a three-point advantage, it’s clear the oddsmakers like the Rams in this matchup.

It’s easy to understand why, too.

The Rams are 4-1 and just held Washington to 108 total yards and 10 points on the road. The 49ers benched their starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after he struggled against a Dolphins defense that isn’t exactly fearsome.

San Francisco has also been dealing with a number of injuries to players such as Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert, Ahkello Witherspoon, and of course Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas, who are both out for the year with torn ACLs. The Rams, for the most part, are healthy heading into Week 6.

The over/under for Sunday night’s game in Santa Clara is right around where you’d expect it to be, sitting at 49.5 points. The Rams offense is playing well and balanced, and San Francisco’s defense isn’t as daunting as it was in 2019; Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns Sunday.

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Jared Goff: Pick-six is going to ‘eat at me for a while’

Jared Goff commented on his costly pick-six Saturday night, which he won’t forget anytime soon.

With less than one minute to play in the half and the Rams leading the 49ers 21-17, Sean McVay was trying to increase the margin before the break. The Rams were moving the ball on the drive and had reached the 48-yard line, but Jared Goff made a costly error that he wishes he could have back.

Finding no receivers open, he checked down to his running back Malcolm Brown. Only, Fred Warner was lurking, read the play perfectly and picked it off, returning it 46 yards for a touchdown.

The Rams’ lead had evaporated in the blink of an eye, with San Francisco flipping the momentum. After the game, Goff admitted blame for the terrible decision and throw.

“That’s a big mistake I can’t make there,” he said. “It’s a bad one – something that’ll eat at me for a while. End of the half, it just was not a good – just got to be more careful with the ball. Just got to be more careful and take care of it in that situation. Something I’ll learn from, something I’ll get better from.”

Goff has one more opportunity to end the season on a high note, though the Rams don’t have anything to play for in Week 17 against the Cardinals. McVay wants to finish the year with a winning record, even if they can’t make the postseason.

Goff would like to do the same, but he’s got plenty of work to do this offseason that’s far more important than winning a meaningless game in Week 17.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Goff said of the season. “You never envision something like this when you start the year. It’s not even close to the standard we want to hold. It’s sickening.”

Rams’ Week 16 studs and duds: Donald and Fowler shine, Rapp struggles

The best and worst performances from the Rams’ 34-31 loss.

It was a stunning and humbling loss for the Rams on Saturday night, but it wasn’t all bad for the defending NFC champions. While the 34-31 defeat hurt and eliminated them from playoff contention, quite a few players did have strong performances.

Here are our studs and duds from the Rams’ Week 16 loss to the 49ers.

Studs

Tyler Higbee and Robert Woods

Higbee and Woods remain Jared Goff’s top targets in the passing game. Higbee caught nine passes for 104 yards on 11 targets, while Woods racked up 117 yards on eight catches (11 targets). No other player had more than four catches or 39 yards, as Higbee and Woods were the ones open most often – specifically on designed rollouts for Goff. Both pass-catchers had great performances, just as they have in recent weeks.

Aaron Donald

Donald once again commanded double-teams on most of his pass-rush reps, which is nothing new. Still, he recorded 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hits, and one tackle for loss. His sacks came at clutch moments, too, both in the second half. Donald has a huge impact each week for the Rams defense, drawing attention away from the other pass rushers.

Dante Fowler Jr.

Fowler is earning a big payday this offseason with his play in 2019. He’s up to 11.5 sacks on the year after adding 2.5 more on Saturday night, consistently getting to Jimmy Garoppolo off the edge. His speed is evident every week that he’s on the field and if the Rams can’t re-sign him this offseason, he’s going to be missed at outside linebacker in 2020.

Jalen Ramsey

Ramsey left the game briefly with a knee injury and was considered doubtful to return. He only missed a series, though, and was back out there in short order. He said afterwards that he was playing through pain and will get an MRI on his knee, but he still had a great performance. He picked off one pass and broke up another that was intercepted by Darious Williams, creating two interceptions for the Rams defense.

On the 46-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders on the final drive of the game, Ramsey indicated the blown coverage was on Taylor Rapp. It was a bad play regardless of who was at fault, and cost the Rams a win.

Darious Williams

Williams was making his first start with the Rams and the coaches couldn’t have expected him to play much better than he did. He picked off one pass, deflected another and was in coverage on a high throw to Deebo Samuel, playing great coverage on the in-breaking route. For a player with as little experience as he has, he stepped up in a big way.

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4 takeaways from Rams’ Week 16 loss to 49ers

The Rams’ season is all but over with one meaningless game remaining.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Rams played into January the last two years, but in 2019, their season ends in December. They were beaten by the 49ers 34-31 on Saturday night in Santa Clara, dropping their record 8-7 – and more importantly, eliminating them from playoff contention.

Here are four takeaways from the loss, which ended in heartbreaking fashion.

Two plays don’t define the defense’s performance

The Rams defense played well against the 49ers on Saturday night, but their performance will be remembered for two plays – both of which came on third-and-16. Incredibly, they each happened on the 49ers’ game-winning drive. The first was on a throw over the middle Kendrick Bourne between two defenders, but the second was the real back-breaker.

Jalen Ramsey and Taylor Rapp had a mix-up in coverage, which allowed Emmanuel Sanders to run open for 46 yards. Three plays later, the ball was through the uprights and the Rams were heading home with a loss.

Outside of that final drive, the Rams defense allowed just 274 yards and 27 points – seven of which came on a pick-six thrown by Jared Goff. The 49ers rushed for 119 yards, which was below their 147-yard average, while Jimmy Garoppolo threw two interceptions and had a passer rating of 71.2.

They’ve had better performances, but considering the opponent and the short fields San Francisco had to work with, the defense did enough to win the game.

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Instant analysis of Rams’ heartbreaking 34-31 loss to 49ers

The Rams’ season-ending loss came in heartbreaking fashion to a division rival.

The Rams came into the season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl. On Saturday night against the 49ers, their season effectively ended. With a heartbreaking loss to the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, the Rams were eliminated from playoff contention.

They lost 34-31 on a last-second field goal by Robbie Gould, sending the Rams back to Los Angeles with very little to play for in Week 17.

Player of the Game: Jalen Ramsey

He had two pass breakups, including an interception. His other deflection led to an interception by Darious Williams, too, so he was the cause of two turnovers. Additionally, he laid a huge hit on Emmanuel Sanders to set the tone in the second quarter.

Stat to know: 5-for-13

The Rams only converted on five of their 13 third-down attempts, which caused drives to stall, especially early in the second half.

Game notes

  • Two third-and-16 conversions on the 49ers’ final drive proved to be the difference. The Rams had a great chance to get off the field and get the ball back and win the game, but the defense gave up two huge plays – including a 46-yarder to Emmanuel Sanders.
  • Jared Goff played relatively well aside from an ugly pick-six right before halftime. It was a back-breaker, giving the 49ers the lead after they were trailing by 11 points just a few minutes prior. Goff finished with 323 yards and two touchdowns, making several excellent throws down the field. He did nearly throw an interception late in the fourth quarter, which was dropped by Marcell Harris, but it was a good performance by Goff.
  • Todd Gurley had two touchdowns, but his longest run was 8 yards. He didn’t seem to have much juice aside from his touchdown run, on which he showed off his speed to get to the edge. The 49ers didn’t give him much room to run, holding him to 48 yards on 15 carries.
  • Robert Woods and Tyler Higbee have carried the offense in recent weeks, and that was the case on Saturday. They both went over 100 yards receiving, catching 17 passes combined. They’ve clearly become Goff’s favorite targets, especially on the bootlegs to the right side.
  • The Rams gave up 34 points, but the defense was great until the final drive. Jalen Ramsey was especially good, breaking up two passes, including an interception. Darious Williams more than held his own in his first start, also deflecting one pass and picking off another. On the night, San Francisco only had 334 total yards, 60 of which came on the final drive.
  • Sean McVay has clearly realized Goff’s strengths right now and has utilized an abundance of screen passes and bootlegs to maximize his ability. Goff was outstanding on the run against the 49ers, and most of his completions came on designed rollouts. It’s not ideal when a coach has to constantly call bootlegs and cut the field in half, but it’s one of the few things working with Goff at the moment.
  • Aaron Donald and Dante Fowler Jr. had strong performances, combining for four sacks, five QB hits and four tackles for loss. The Rams had six sacks as a team with Morgan Fox and Samson Ebukam recording the other two.

Rams eliminated from playoff contention after 34-31 loss to 49ers

The Rams are just the fifth team since 2009 to miss the playoffs after reaching the Super Bowl the year before.

As quickly as the Rams rose to the top of the NFC West the last two years, they fell just as fast in 2019. They lost to the 49ers on Saturday night as Robbie Gould drilled a 33-yard field goal, sending the Rams home with their seventh loss of the year.

With that, the Rams were eliminated from playoff contention, giving the final wild-card spot to the Vikings. It was a heartbreaking 34-31 loss, which came after the 49ers converted twice on third-and-16 on their final game-winning drive.

The Rams are just the fifth team since 2009 to miss the playoffs the year after reaching the Super Bowl. The most recent team to do so was the Panthers in 2016 after losing to the Broncos in the Super Bowl one year before.

At 8-7, the Rams are hardly a terrible team, but it was still a highly disappointing season for a team that just reached the Super Bowl. They had high hopes in 2019, attempting to win the NFC West for a third straight year.

Instead, they’ll be watching football in January from home for the first time since 2016.