49ers at Rams: 5 keys to winning once again at SoFi Stadium
INGLEWOOD – SoFi Stadium once again will turn into a raging, red cauldron on Sunday, reflecting the jersey color that 49ers’ players and their vast fan club will don in an annual pilgrimage to “Levi’s South.”
“We have the best traveling fan base overall,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “Pittsburgh was impressive. And I think we’ll take over L.A.”
After opening the season with a 30-7 win in Pittsburgh before a large legion of 49ers Faithful, the 49ers look to win on the Rams’ field for the fifth straight season. That streak is minimized, of course, by the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game defeat two seasons ago, no matter how many red-clad 49ers fans were strewn in the bipartisan crowd.
These aren’t the same Rams as that 2021 team that went on to win the Super Bowl. Only six starters remain in place, and although quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive mainstay Aaron Donald are among them, the 49ers do not see their opponent as second-string no-names.
“I know it’s like, ‘Hey, the Niners are going to go in there and dominate them.’ I don’t really read too many headlines, but that’s probably what everybody is thinking,” tight end George Kittle said. “It’s going to be a really good game, because they put a lot of effort out there and have guys that really want to play.”
Kittle and several 49ers gained that impression after watching film of the Rams’ 30-13 upset comeback at Seattle last Sunday. “Some of their guys are second-string guys in the last couple of years that are getting an opportunity to start,” Kittle added. “You can see why they’re starters now: because they put a lot of good stuff on tape.”
The 49ers showed great stuff in their own opening triumph, and here are five ways they can improve to 2-0:
1. SWARM STAFFORD
Stafford is the only Super Bowl-winning quarterback on the 49ers’ schedule. An obvious caveat to that: Stafford, Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs) and Russell Wilson (Denver Broncos) are the only champions left on active NFL rosters.
Stafford not only threw for 334 yards last Sunday, but he did not get sacked and was hit just three times. Flustering Stafford has worked well in the 49ers’ success against him, as reflected by seven sacks in last year’s first meeting, a 24-9 home win in Week 4. Stafford is 2-7 all-time against the 49ers, including a 1-3 mark in Detroit.
“Stafford is one of the best in the league and he showed that last week,” said Bosa, who had none of the 49ers’ five sacks in Pittsburgh. “We’re going to have to pressure him and make him uncomfortable. It’s a pretty revamped O-line with new guys, so we’ll have to watch some tape and get a feel.”
With Cooper Kupp on injured reserve, the Rams’ revamped receiving corps saw Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell each total 119 receiving yards in the opener; Nacua missed Thursday’s practice with an oblique injury.
Stafford surely will prefer targeting any cornerback other than Charvarius Ward, and particularly enticing could be the 49ers’ unsettled nickel back role, which rotated last week from Deommodore Lenoir to Isaiah Oliver.
2. KEEP DONALD OFF PURDY
Even 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that the Rams are devoid of household names, “but you definitely know (No.) 99 (Aaron Donald) and you know the quarterback (Stafford), and then you watch the schemes and nothing’s really different.”
Shanahan knows that long-time colleague Raheem Morris, the Rams’ defensive coordinator, will try to unleash Donald in a multitude of ways. The best bet will be to send the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year through the right side of the 49ers’ line. Right tackle Colton McKivitz surrendered three sacks in the opener to T.J. Watt. Right guard Spencer Burford will try to replicate the success his predecessor, Daniel Brunskill, had against Donald.
“He’ll favor our right side and based on how we set things up too, because they kind of know what we’re trying to do to them,” said Chris Foerster, the 49ers run-game coordinator and line coach. “So, when we show a certain formation, they may put him somewhere else thinking that’s where the one-on-one’s going to be.”
The most harrowing one-on-one to avoid: Donald vs. Purdy. Yes, the 49ers’ second-year quarterback has great instincts and elusive ability, but protecting him remains paramount as he and his surgically repaired elbow get going this season.
3. SCORING RUNS
The 49ers have run for a touchdown in 7-of-8 games amid their regular-season win streak against the Rams; another exception was the 2021 NFC Championship Game when 20 carries netted 50 yards and no points.
While the 49ers are routinely scoring over 30 points with Purdy spreading the ball around, their No. 1 goal remains to get Christian McCaffrey racking up yards on the ground, which he did to the tune of a NFL-best 152 yards in Week 1.
“This guy is just dominant in every facet,” Morris said. “You have to plan to slow him down, to make some plays. But they are loaded with playmakers and that’s what makes those guys go.”
Ideally, the 49ers want to mimic their 2021 strategy, when they had 44 carries (156 yards) in a 31-10 home rout of the Rams, followed by 31 carries (135 yards) in the Week 18 rematch at SoFi. The 49ers actually averaged just 3.7 yards per carry in the four-season sweep of the Rams, but they outgained them 942-649 yards on the ground during that span.
4. BIG-PLAY TREND
What would be more exciting: a non-quarterback throwing for a 49ers touchdown, or a defender returning a Stafford interception for a pick-six? Both types of scores have become routine in this rivalry.
In the 2021 regular-season finale at SoFi, the 49ers overcame 17-0 deficit and eventually pulled even at 17 when Jauan Jennings caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Deebo Samuel, en route to the 27-24, playoff-clinching overtime win. In last year’s 31-14 road win, McCaffrey evened the score at 7 when he threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk.
The pick-six trend is more amazing, however. Each of the past four seasons, the 49ers have returned an interception for a touchdown against the Rams, by Fred Warner (2019, home), Javon Kinlaw (2020, away), Jimmie Ward (2021, home) and Talanoa Hufanga (2022, home).
Stafford has thrown 29 pick-sixes in his 14 seasons, including four last year.
5. NO TURF MONSTERS
Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles tear Monday night did more than crush the New York Jets. It re-sparked concerns over artificial turf, just in time to creep into the 49ers’ minds. This is the first of their three games on synthetic grass this season, the others being at Minnesota (Oct. 23) and Seattle (Nov. 23).
“You have to block out everything and think about execution,” Christian McCaffrey said.
Nick Bosa, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament in a 2020 visit to MetLife Field, said SoFi’s surface is “a little better” than that one. “I’m not a fan at all of any turf,” Bosa added. “But it’s a little more slick, as opposed to having really soft surface like MetLife.”
Nickel back Jamar Taylor tore his ACL in the 49ers’ initial visit to SoFi Stadium in 2020. Other season-ending injuries there to non-49ers over the past three years: Odell Beckham Jr. (ACL in Super Bowl), offensive lineman Joe Noteboom (Achilles), Aaron Patrick (ACL, on a sideline mat), Jalen Guyton (ACL) and J.C. Jackson (patellar tendon).
Whitworth, now a Prime Video analyst, despises artificial turf’s inconsistencies. “SoFi is even worse,” Whitworth told Outkick.com last year, “because there are different spots that are different heights all over the field. It’s really bad.”