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PodcastFrom The Athletic Football Show

49ers manhandle Rams on Thursday Night Football

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

32 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 11, 2026
Published
Fri, September 11, 2026
12
Player insights
8
Players mentioned
Topics
Brock PurdyGeorge KittleMatthew StaffordMike EvansChristian McCaffreyKaelon BlackKyle JuszczykPuka Nacua
Player analysis

Player insights

12

Brock Purdy

PositiveProjection17:46

Purdy is well-suited for an offense that requires consistent underneath passing and quick decision-making. He demonstrated poise in scramble drills and the ability to execute under-center dropbacks with pass-protection help.

Insight page
PositiveRole19:08

Brock Purdy is described as the perfect quarterback for the 49ers' style of offense, specifically excelling in non-play action, under-center dropbacks, which the team has leaned into heavily.

Insight page

Christian McCaffrey

PositiveUsage8:21

McCaffrey was effectively utilized coming out of halftime, with his first two carries of the second half resulting in explosives. The team's ability to integrate other backs may help manage his workload and maintain his efficiency.

Insight page

George Kittle

PositiveUsage18:46

Kittle was effectively utilized in the flat during scramble drills, benefiting from Purdy's ability to quickly identify and deliver the ball on short routes.

Insight page
PositiveUsage29:00

George Kittle was highly effective in the 49ers' offense despite playing only about 40% of the snaps, showcasing the team's offensive depth and potential for a top-three unit when fully healthy.

Insight page

Kaelon Black

PositiveBreakout13:39

Black showed more juice than he did last year, providing the 49ers with a viable option to take some of the workload off Christian McCaffrey.

Insight page

Kyle Juszczyk

PositiveRole11:57

Juszczyk was used creatively in the 49ers' run game, including L-motions and kickout blocks against defensive ends like Myles Garrett, proving to be a versatile weapon in the team's offensive scheme.

Insight page

Matthew Stafford

PositiveProjection0:23

Stafford looked washed and out of sorts, struggling with decision-making and accuracy throughout the game. He averaged 11.7 air yards per target in the first half, forcing deep balls against cover-six looks rather than taking available checkdowns, and struggled to execute in critical third-down situations.

Insight page
NegativeProjection26:56

The source expresses curiosity about Matthew Stafford's performance following a poor Week 1 showing, noting that while it could be a 'weird game' due to travel and training camp limitations, it will be a problem if he doesn't look right by October.

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Mike Evans

PositiveUsage8:21

Evans was a focal point of the 49ers' third-down passing attack, consistently finding space in the middle of the field and picking on the Rams' second level. He also demonstrated his value with a touchdown catch where he posterized a defender.

Insight page
PositiveUsage21:29

Mike Evans showed a versatile role, playing in the slot on third downs while still maintaining his ability to win contested catches, such as his touchdown grab over Jalen Watson.

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Puka Nacua

PositiveUsage6:39

Nacua was the primary bright spot for the Rams' passing game, making a great play on a corner route for an explosive gain and showing excellent body control on a low, back-hip throw from Stafford in the red zone.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

402
0:00Welcome to The Athletic Football Show brought to you by the US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card.
0:05Well now flying halfway around the world a day before the game seems a little f***ed up, huh?
0:09Halfway through that game I was like, I probably didn't think hard enough about how stupid that might have been.
0:15I feel like when the Rams do it with all of their track record and all of their sports science, you're just
0:21like, okay, I guess this is fine. And like after two series of watching Matt Stafford look completely washed and out of
0:26sorts, I was like, no, no, I should have thought harder about how dumb this was.
0:31That's what I think it was for me because I think like some of the other players looked fine at certain points
0:36and I'm sure they did a lot of research on this that had something to do with like how well your body
0:42adjusts and your rhythm and your mind and all that stuff.
0:45They did a ton of research about it. I mean, it was a very considered decision.
0:50Exactly. But that almost seems like it overlooks like our 38 year old quarterback sitting on a plane for 16 hours is not good.
0:56And I know they had the lay down seats or whatever, but like, I've been in a lay down seat on a flight.
1:02I flew 10 hours to Turkey this summer. I'm six months older than Matthew Stafford.
1:06I was not doing well the next morning. Yeah, we'd be a lay down flight.
1:10Would you have wanted to play pickup basketball the next day?
1:13No, I looked getting out of bed like he looked on that quarterback sneak.
1:17That's exactly the mode that I was in for the first three days I was there.
1:21You have any friends who are just full of shit, but they say they say it so confidently that you don't question them.
1:27That's what McVeigh was with the travel stuff. Yeah, right now.
1:30That's how I feel after this game. I'm joking about this.
1:33I don't want to spend too much time on it because I don't want to frame this solely as a well, the Niners flew early.
1:40That was the right move. The Rams flew late.
1:42That was the wrong move. There were some football things that I think are really worth digging into when it comes to
1:48the Rams specific weaknesses that we should talk about.
1:50Obviously, there are specific strengths that the Niners really showed off in this game that are absolutely worth digging into.
1:56So I don't want to spend this entire show making it all about who did the right or wrong thing based on the travel.
2:02But I wanted to kind of just get it out of the way because we do have to address it in some capacity.
2:08You have to address it, but it lets the Rams off the hook like yes, that shouldn't be left off the hook.
2:14It was like a two year decision on your part to do this.
2:17So I don't want to hear it as an excuse and be the 49ers kicked ass and like and kicked ass.
2:23So I absolutely do not want to diminish what they did.
2:26It was so I mean you can point to a dozen different things, but we were joking about it Derek in the third or fourth quarter.
2:33Once it was getting pretty obvious that this was over a lot of things worth being excited about.
2:38But if I'm a Niners fan watching Fred Warner and Nick Bosa just been right back up and we spend so much
2:44time saying what can this defense be if if these two all pros play like it?
2:48Well, they looked like it and the defense shut down the best offense in the NFL.
2:52There's a lot to be excited about with what both of those guys showed me Fred Warner just so the drive with
2:58the goal line stand was plenty to get excited about.
3:01You would have thought you didn't miss any time.
3:03Yeah, perfect. I mean yeah, so it's me the Bosa thing.
3:06I mean he has a couple really in couple pressures early on where you notice that to me the thing where Bosa
3:12really stood out was the run defense in the second half.
3:15I mean he had two TFLs on the exact same drive to run stuff something exact same drive where he's spiking inside
3:21and then spinning back outside and then squeezing and spinning back outside.
3:24Those plays were huge because at a certain point in the first half my biggest concern with this game and it's still
3:30a concern I have about the Niners. The Rams were blowing them off the ball in the first half blowing them off
3:35the ball and I still am concerned about what the interior for the Niners is going to look like over the course of the year.
3:42But Bosa had a couple of those early down run stuffs up to Stout had one and as soon as that you
3:48got the Rams into a second and 10 on any single series in this entire game.
3:52It was over because they could do absolutely nothing in the drop back pass game because of the way the Niners were
3:58playing against them and some of the limitations. But as soon as they were able to get them behind the sticks anytime
4:04they had the ball the Rams had absolutely no answer which you know there are some Rams issues that we can talk about with that.
4:11But I also think that is like great proof of concept for what you hoped the Niners defense would be because I
4:16think we all said off of last season the defense overall was bad.
4:20But you could see it with the secondary like the secondary had enough talent that like hey they can kind of run
4:26with people they can play some man to man here.
4:28They put more DBs on the field in this game.
4:31They put like eight snaps of dime which they did not really do it all last year.
4:36They put 17 of them total last year. Yeah, so they were halfway there.
4:39There was a Jack Jones PBU against Devontae Adams and I was like, Renaud O'Grean is playing.
4:44Why is Jack Jones in? And he's like, oh, they have six DBs on the field.
4:48And so that just a little wrinkle we have not seen very often from one of the most nickel heavy teams in
4:54the NFL over the last couple years. Yeah. So to just see the DBs actually get a chance to like make plays
5:00and not have to cover guys for four seconds because the pass rush was doing something.
5:04That was really encouraging to see because if you're trying to sell yourself in the Niners getting back to top 12 defense,
5:10you know, obviously they were incredible tonight. I don't know how much that's going to last over the course of the year,
5:16but if they can get back to top 12 after what last season was it's going to look a lot like that.
5:22I think there were a lot of elements of the Rams offense where the Niners made them play a game they don't like to play.
5:28And the best example, if you look at the numbers, I think at some point in the fourth quarter looking at next
5:34gen, the Niners had played about 45% cover six over the course of this game, which is exactly what the Seahawks did to the Patriots yesterday.
5:41And that was one of the issues for the Rams in the first half.
5:45I think Stafford in the first half in this game averaged 11.7 air yards per target.
5:49They were just trying to chuck the ball downfield against all these cover six and cloud looks and that's exactly how the Niners wanted them to play.
5:56And when the Rams weren't blowing them off the ball or having some sort of easy completion on play action on early downs, they had absolutely no answers.
6:04And so they tried to make Matthew Stafford make the same set of decisions that the Seahawks forced Andre May yesterday and
6:10he had the same problems just consistently trying to force the ball downfield against those looks rather than checking down.
6:15And there were multiple instances in the first half where he had checkdowns and just decided not to take them.
6:20Mm-hmm. Had checkdowns, decided not to take them or some of those throws like were there to be made.
6:25Like there was a third down. I think he missed a Devontae.
6:29He was just off. The decision making, the accuracy.
6:31He played so poorly in this game. Did he have...
6:34He probably did. I'm reacting live in the moment, but like did he have like a nice throw in this game?
6:39The first inbreaker to Puka was decent and then the second one he tried to throw was a little bit off too.
6:45Yeah. I mean, you can count him on one hand the amount of decent throws we saw from the reigning MVP in this game.
6:51He was really bad. The explosive to Puka was like was way more a great play by Puka, the one that got him down in the red top.
6:59Yeah, it was down the corner out. Way more of a great play by Puka than some kind of sick throw.
7:04He had like a half no look on a dig.
7:07That was like the only... Yeah. To Puka. That was the only decent throw.
7:11It was like, oh man, that's a Matthew Stafford player that we saw the entire game.
7:15And this was actually the swing point of the game.
7:18I almost think one of his best throws was the third down when they were on the goal line and he like
7:24puts it low on Puka's back hip, where only he can get it.
7:27And it's like, it's a great catch by Puka.
7:30It's a great throw by Matthew Stafford. It's almost a touchdown.
7:32And then the very next play they don't get the run that they want on the sneak and they it flips the
7:38game because the Niners then take that they go 99 and a half yards to go and score immediately after that.
7:44And it flips the game because I think at that point it was 17 7 obviously rams were down if they score there and make it 17 14.
7:51It's a football game. Absolutely. And so the fact that like they they lose their they lose the ball there.
7:57They don't get that Niners immediately go down and score.
7:59I mean the game kind of just ends right there and they went 99 and a half yards really.
8:04Yeah, like Stafford went down right near the goal line just shoved it right down their throats.
8:09It was it was pretty beautiful to watch honestly and like it's not as if the Niners offense was bad in the
8:15first half and like, you know, getting Mike Evans in the slot getting you know, I think Mike Evans picked up like all the game.
8:21All their third downs before halftime, but the way they were able to get McCaffrey going coming out of halftime and like they're rushing success rate particularly.
8:29That's where I spent a lot of time on was absolutely incredible.
8:32I think they were 46% on the night, which is like the Niners.
8:35I believe or was it better than that 53 points.
8:38If you look at an extra right now and that's that went down change that went down over the course of the
8:44game 56 has got to be one of it's probably better than any of their numbers from last year.
8:49If I had to guess they were really middle of the pack the dead on average run game last year.
8:54I want to talk about that the last thing.
8:57The third down thing is a great thing to bring up that not the Rams are two of nine on third down in this game.
9:03One of them was a third and one play action dump off which barely counts as a third down if we were
9:09and this I tried to do this. Like it's in certain terms all summer when I was talking about how scared I
9:15was about the way that we were talking about the Rams.
9:18There are no super teams in professional football. Yeah, that's not how this works.
9:22There are 53 guys on the roster. There are 22 starters.
9:25You can't build super teams. Every team has relative weaknesses and we saw so many of those relative weaknesses for the Rams in this game.
9:31Third down was a defined weakness for the Rams last season when you're putting them in drop back situations.
9:36It's not the way their passing game wants to operate.
9:39It's not the way the offensive line wants to operate when they were in third and 10.
9:43The Rams third and longs in this game. That's where you saw their weaknesses and pass protection.
9:48That's not what the tackles want to do. And that's where you saw the Niners and the speed they have defensively show up.
9:54I think teams are gonna be able to push San Francisco around, but if you're gonna get into those if we can
10:00get one negative play and it's third and 10.
10:02We saw the juice Romello height has on a twist.
10:05I'm the style gets there on a pressure. Osu Diggie Zua has a pressure those types of players.
10:10You're gonna feel them if you can do that.
10:12And that's where the Rams are the weakest. That's where their offense is the worst.
10:16And we saw that over and over again tonight.
10:19And how much more likely is it that you can get one of those negative plays if Bosa's capable of three TFLs in a day?
10:25He's the one making them. I mean, that's all you need.
10:28Uh, well Warner for that matter. I mean Warner with a PBU on the very first play of this game turning it
10:34into second and 10, which could have been a pick by the way.
10:38I'm like I said, I was I was so impressed by not to diminish anybody else because like I thought the Amador
10:43Lenore was really good in this game. But the elevating factor that those two have on this group of players is is fantastic.
10:50So you look at the two of nine that the Rams had which was a fake two of nine again because one
10:55of them was a third and one and you juxtapose that with the seven of 12 that the Niners had in this game.
11:01The plan they had on third down to me let's go to the other side and the relative weaknesses that the Rams
11:07have the second the Rams entire defense in this game, but the first and second level of the Rams defense in this game got their asses kicked.
11:15Mm hmm. Just straight up got their asses kicked and on third down consistently the Niners plan in this game was twofold.
11:20We're going to use a lot of motion and mixed direct misdirection to stretch the defense horizontally and then attack the space
11:26in the middle of the field with Mike Evans consistently and what Mike Evans did to Quentin Lake had a PBU and an interception every third down.
11:33They were picking on Quentin Lake in this game.
11:36They were picking on the second level in the passing game on third down and they were picking on the second level
11:42with the run game the entire day. Mm hmm.
11:44My takeaway in this game, the headline thing that I'm looking at is what the Niners run game looked like overall.
11:50Mm hmm. I mean, it's going to be so fun to go back and watch every single way they use Kyle Juszczyk with some of those.
11:57I don't even know what to call the motions.
11:59They're like a 45 degree angle. They're like 45 degree like L motions where he's going back into the backfield and back up.
12:05I mean, it's they did it in so many different ways and they were really picking on the second level with all that next misdirection.
12:12All the different runs concepts they were getting to and the front for the Rams just got pushed around in this game.
12:18Mm hmm. Like the other thing that if I were a Rams fan that would worry me, we talked so much this
12:24offseason about the Niners being banged up. If Myles Garrett is 80% moving forward, he did not look right in this game whatsoever.
12:30He did not. And it was the lack of pass rush production.
12:33But it was also if you're Myles Garrett, you can't get pinned on pin pull by Debo Samuel.
12:38No, not every now and once. It happens. You can't lose one on one kickout blocks to Kyle use check who is 235 pounds.
12:44And that was happening consistently. They were winning there.
12:46They were every single one on one was a loss for the Rams up front and it was allowing the Niners offensive line.
12:53The guards just consistently getting to the second level over and over and over again throughout this entire game.
12:58It was a master class. I thought Connor Goldby had a pretty good game.
13:01Yes. He was one of those like, it's one of those things where like, we didn't know if he would start.
13:07We didn't know if he would start. And it's like, it's I've, I've admittedly been beating the drum of like, it's been
13:13three years now of like the offensive line talent kind of deteriorating.
13:16And I'm like, now you're telling me you're going to start a seventh round pick from last year.
13:21We don't even know if he's going to start.
13:23I'm going to say that a rookie was going to take his job because he played last year.
13:28And because he played last year because of the shuffling that they, and so their, their, their offensive line looked great.
13:34And the run plan looked phenomenal. And the other thing I'd throw in there, Kaelin Black has a juice.
13:39Yeah. And so if you can take some of the workload off of CMC, I mean, I think that's the other part of this that's potentially really exciting.
13:46I thought he looked like he had more juice than he did last year.
13:50Well, that's, if you're not going to give him the ball 30 times a game, you might be able to maintain some of that.
13:56It's probably too simplistic to like attribute it all to this, but I think McCaffrey had two carries at halftime and they
14:02came out of the half and he went right to work.
14:05And his first two carries of the second half were explosives.
14:08Yeah. Like it's nice to have somebody that can take some of the load off of his legs and the, and the beating that he takes.
14:15We're going to take a quick break here. And then we're going to come back and talk about just some of the
14:21other things that really stood out about the Niners performance.
14:23If you were trying to build the optimistic case for why the Niners could be scary.
14:28I think the return of Bosa and Warner getting the defense back to an above average level, which we'll see about that.
14:33I mean, this is a weird game. I think the early returns are very good.
14:37I still would be a little bit itchy about what was done to the interior for the first part of this game
14:43by a Rams offense that ultimately did not play very well.
14:46And even that only really kind of stopped because the game started to get out of hand.
14:51So I think the Rams just didn't feel comfortable running up the middle like that anymore.
14:55Yeah. I mean, they still finished this game with like a 50% rushing success rate.
14:59I mean, they were running the ball at will in the first half.
15:02The Rams had a 69% rushing success rate and the Niners were at 67.
15:06I mean, they were the Rams were you already mentioned it, but the Rams were just moving the Niners three, four yards off the ball.
15:13Like what felt like every snap. It felt more devastating because it was just duo and they were just moving them in mass off the ball.
15:20But what the Niners were doing, even if this is stylistically, it was a little bit different was just as impressive.
15:25100% over the course of this entire game. And I think that brings me to again, the idea of the optimistic case
15:31was Bosa and Warner lifting the defense. And then the guys on offense, even if they're a little bit older, being healthier
15:37and contributing and Kyle Shanahan being Kyle Shanahan. And we saw him do that tonight.
15:41Like this, this game overall is just a reminder on so many different fronts about of what makes Kyle Shanahan special.
15:47The design in the run game. And again, getting back to last year, they were average on the ground.
15:52They were average. I was like, all right, what is that going to look like?
15:56He clearly was in the lab the entire offseason based on what that thing just looked like.
16:00It was unbelievable. But then that combined with just the overall plan offensively with the way that they were using all that
16:06motion, the space that they were creating. And the last part is the plan they had for the front.
16:11Just the sheer, even on the touchdown to Demarcus Robinson, right?
16:14Two tight ends, little, both in like little just offset wing formations.
16:17They chip, get a little bit of help. Purdy sees the alert on that spear out to Demarcus Robinson, lets it go, touchdown.
16:23The four hands on Miles Garrett, every single play.
16:26And then the other guys on that front, guys you should feel over the course of the game, you never felt one time.
16:32And I think that's a testament to the Niners.
16:34And I think that would be scary as shit if I were in that Rams building, was rooting for that team.
16:40When they, it's funny that, that play the Demarcus Robinson one is, I want to talk about a couple of things with passing offense.
16:46One, the fact that they got like proof of concept in every way for the passing offense is awesome.
16:51Yep. You get the shot play, which you're going to need.
16:54This is not a team that I think is going to throw a ton of them, but the fact that when you
17:00call them, you got to make them respect it.
17:03And the fact that they found it, I think they're like, that's obviously huge.
17:06The perfect example of that is this team sees so much quarters because defenses feel like they can squeeze you.
17:12Exactly. If you're going to get that amount of quarters on early downs, you got to be able to hit one of
17:18those every once in a while to put the fear of God in people.
17:21And just sort of see them do that in week one.
17:24Boom. That it's so nice to see. I do love that.
17:27It was Demarcus Robinson and we should know who will never, never die.
17:31A, yes. B, Drazahn Stribling obviously left this game.
17:33If there is, if there's one down note from this whole thing, it's that you lose Stribling.
17:37But I agree with you. And I would have liked to see a deep shot to Mike Evans in this game, but
17:43just him being what we hoped he could be.
17:46And also posterizing somebody for a touchdown. Like immediately you're like, yes.
17:49That's the second one. That's the second one. Mike Evans just like dunking on Jalen Watson.
17:53Just like turns around, grabs it. And that's exactly what you paid him for.
17:57And then the third one, which like we know that Purdy can do, but they end up in like a little bit
18:03of a scramble drill situation in like the high red zone.
18:06And he just bails out to his right. Debo climbs a little bit and Purdy makes an excellent throw.
18:11And I, the last thing I want to say about Purdy, I actually think that if we're going to move into a
18:17world where defenses are going to make you just throw the underneath stuff all the time and just like take it and take it and take it.
18:24He's built for it. He's kind of perfect for it.
18:26And Kyle Shanahan's offense, I think is pretty well crafted to allow for that.
18:30Like the last, the last play I'll bring up, uh, it was right after the Matthew Stafford gets stuffed.
18:35And the, the Niners have a second and 10, uh, backed up on their own one.
18:40It's an under center straight drop back with Chilis, chips on both sides.
18:43It actually looks a little bit like the DeMarcus Robinson play.
18:46And so you get run threat because you're under center, you get pass pro help because these guys are chipping.
18:51And then I think Kittle, uh, leaks out into the flats of the left into the boundary, but the quarterback can get
18:57to those short throws quicker because he's not like turning his back, looking for the deep shot immediately.
19:02He's like eyes aware the whole time. And so as soon as Kittle's ready, he can go and he can throw it.
19:08And it's like Purdy kind of is the perfect quarterback for that style of offense.
19:12They've leaned into it. He's like, I'm going to do better non-play action as heavily as any other team in the league over the last couple of years.
19:19And he's really good at it because you're right at him.
19:22him, you get the bet, all the benefits, you get all the benefits with none of the dropbacks because the, it's the
19:28same as the touchdown where being under center, there's just a mindset.
19:31I remember talking to coaches last summer about this, where why are we getting back to a place where we're seeing more under center straight drop back?
19:38What are the benefits of it? And I think one defenses have checks that are dot checks or shotgun checks.
19:44And so if you're under center, they're going to do things they might not do if you were in the gun.
19:49And two, it plays with expectations. Like if you see the quarterback under center, you have a certain set of expectations as a defender.
19:56And so if you're cam Kitchens on that play and it's not all his fault, like the, the corner on that play,
20:02who I think was Watson, I can't remember. Does McDuffie.
20:04On that side. On the, on the opposite side.
20:07On the back side. The backside corner is supposed to get back to that play.
20:11And the reason he doesn't is because there's a big kind of, uh, there's like a big in breaker that threatens off
20:16field just enough for him to sit on it, which is really good.
20:20Just route distribution and timing and depth. But either way, if you're in quarters on that play where he's under center, the
20:26idea of this guy's going to run straight past me on a straight under center drop back.
20:30It's not even crossing your mind. Yeah. You're like, no, there's no way it plays with expectation.
20:35And so it, to me, it just gets back to all the layers you see when the Niners are humming and you saw every single one of them.
20:42And the, the idea that it extends to the run game where we didn't see them be dominant there last year.
20:48That to me is the most exciting takeaway full stop from this game.
20:51If you're, if you're rooting for that team, Kyle Shanahan is this guy all the time, but I also wonder how much
20:57extra oomph he put into this one. Cause he seems, he seemed unhappy about the arrangement here from the very beginning, like
21:03all the way back in February, he wasn't happy about having to do this.
21:07And I'm sure he's, I'm sure he's tired of hearing people talk about the other team in the division.
21:12The other two. I mean, they're very, I guarantee you there's a little bit of a, you probably shouldn't forget about us.
21:18And I respect that. And I, I think that I was probably guilty a little bit of that this summer.
21:23And, but I, I'm still worried about how creaky they are, but the offense we knew has that gear.
21:28We know has this gear. We know this. I'm going to sound like an asshole and I don't mean to.
21:33The, the thing that gives you pause about the Niners is something that's never going to go away.
21:38That's right. That's that is the issue. But like, if they're healthy and humming, you should absolutely take them seriously as a threat to win everything.
21:45The funny thing about Evans is beyond the quality of what we saw from him and him contributing the usage.
21:50It's a, it's a weird mix of stuff. We joked about this in real time for the most part, they're using him in the slot on third down.
21:58He's just super Jawan Jennings for most of this game.
22:01But then in the moment where you need him to be Mike Evans, picking the ball off Jalen Watson's help Watson's helmet, he's still able to do that.
22:08And so it was just such a cool blend of everything you could want to see from them.
22:13It actually makes me think of Devante last year for the Rams where remember like the first three weeks they, they went
22:19at him in the red zone, like four times again.
22:21It was the only thing they did. And it was never going to work.
22:25It took forever to pop. And so to get it, to get Evans a touchdown on like his first red zone.
22:31Look, that's nice. And I honestly, you say that jokingly about Devante.
22:34To me, that does kind of speak to some areas where the Rams have historically had relative weaknesses, third down red zone.
22:40That's a, that's a fun answer that we're just going to spam Devante slants and one-on-one opportunities in the red zone.
22:45It's not a great plan. No, it's not like a fully formed plan.
22:49And so I, again, like I have all the respect in the world for McVay, but there are certain things that this team has not done great.
22:56Where when you get, when you play against where he more, she knows exactly who you are, who is the head coach
23:02of a Falcons team that gave you problems last year, who was in your building and has a very intimate understanding of maybe how to attack you.
23:09Everyone else gets paid to everyone else has good players.
23:12There are a lot of good coaches. Like the idea that they were just going to run roughshod through this entire season is so stupid.
23:18Like it's just, I had never understood it. And that voice was always in the back of my head all summer about
23:24this idea of like, we shouldn't be talking about them this way.
23:27Like no one should be talking about an NFL team this way because it's never ever real.
23:32It never turns out this way. Also, even in this Stafford stretch, like they won a Super Bowl and they've been contenders for most of this time.
23:39They, they goof like this all the time, whether it's because of injury or something else, they were the four seed the year they won the Super Bowl.
23:47Yes. And that was, they threaded a needle that year.
23:49They, so much, they blew home field advantage last year.
23:52Like they straight up blew it in the final month of the season.
23:55And so I agree with you. Like I did, I did not see this coming.
23:59I don't want to act like I thought the Niners were going to beat the guy, but all off season, I've just
24:05been like the Rams are going to be great.
24:08But the Rams version of great is probably like 12 and five, maybe 13 and four because some dumb shit's going to happen for one reason or another.
24:15The galaxy brain take. I am willing to put my name on as we sit here 22, 25 minutes into this.
24:21I think this is a good thing. Yes. Yes.
24:23I agree. I think they needed a little bit of like, oh shit.
24:27They got kicked in the teeth. Yeah. I think it's a good thing.
24:30I think it's a good thing from an intangible perspective.
24:33I think it's a good thing for messaging. I think it's a good reminder of what life in the NFL was really
24:39like, despite how people talked about you all off season.
24:41Their weaknesses are real. Like the things that they showed that would give me pause about their chances over the course of
24:47the season, whether it's the quality of the second level, some of their issues on third down, what the offensive line looks
24:53like in pure drop back situations, all the things that you probably would have focused on them all rearing their ugly head
24:59in week one is a bad way to start.
25:01But I think again, on an intangible messaging level, them getting their teeth kicked in to start a season where they're on 60 minutes last week.
25:08And that's how we're talking about this. I don't think that's a bad thing to cross over on the 60 minutes is like that.
25:14You're too famous for a football team. I said it all off season.
25:18When has this ever worked out when we talk about a team like this?
25:22It doesn't. It never has. I will say this.
25:24And actually, I was going to say you can call it cope.
25:27Don't even call it cope because I didn't even pick the Rams to get to the Super Bowl.
25:32But I think this is worth pointing out. And I was talking to somebody about this today.
25:37You can ask any coach. You can ask players in the modern NFL.
25:40September, I think he like Bill Belichick said this when he was still coaching in the NFL.
25:45Now, September is training camp now, especially when you have a team like this.
25:48We talked about it during the game. The Rams whole rookie class was inactive today.
25:52This is an old team. Miles Garrett will see the severity of the injury.
25:56But like you're going to keep Miles Garrett on ice during camp.
25:59You're going to keep Matthew Stafford as far away from harm as you possibly can.
26:03And so if you have to play your way into game shape over the course of September, that's not ideal.
26:09But I do think that's a very real thing.
26:11And so like if the Rams are taking their licks in the first six weeks of the season, because of how they
26:17approached it, they're going to get clowned on. But I think it'll be okay in the long run.
26:22And kind of to that point, they need to get through week five and they'll be fine.
26:26They have a couple of tough games. And then in the middle of that season, they get like Arizona, Las Vegas, Washington.
26:32I hadn't looked at the middle of their season before they're by becomes like, okay, that's a good, they can round into things.
26:38Thankfully, they're going to be able to acclimate pretty quickly when they come home.
26:42They're still operating in Eastern time, Pacific time. That's humble yourself that yeah, like we are, we don't have to go back
26:48to the time change thing, but that's it's crazy in retrospect.
26:51I do think though, the Stafford, how he looked specifically is the part of it that I'm most curious about.
26:56A lot of the other stuff I can kind of like talk myself into it, just being a weird game and all this stuff.
27:02But like, if he just doesn't, there's no way to know what's just weird and what's real.
27:07Yeah. You know, like that's why I don't want to over not looking right.
27:11I was like, if it still looks like this in October, that that's going to be a problem.
27:15That I'm not worried about that. I like, I just don't think, I mean, during training camp, whenever he practiced, things looked good.
27:21I just think again, this is, it's a weird game.
27:24I, it's so much of this. And again, there are things that you want to react to.
27:29You just don't want to overreact to them. I think the Rams will probably be okay.
27:33Oh, they're going to be good. Yeah, exactly. Have you looked at their early season schedule though?
27:37Like, or did you just say that? No, I've looked at it.
27:41The next month is tough. After that, it's fine.
27:43Giants at home next week, but then it's brought at Broncos at Eagles bills.
27:47And almost all of those are primetime. Blowing this game really messes up your margin for error.
27:51And I hate to say blow. It didn't blow anything.
27:54They played a good team and weird circumstances. And that team jumped on them.
27:58I exactly. I don't mean to act like this should have, this was like an easy game, but like to no show completely.
28:04I mean, you're going to be favored in most of the games that you play.
28:08It did not even look like you belonged on the same field.
28:11Week one is weird anyway. It is. Let alone when you're flying halfway around the world to play this game.
28:16The game that you mentioned when we were talking about it in the preview show that year where the Packers got their
28:22doors blown off against the Saints in week one.
28:25By the James Winston Saints by that point. It's like there's already an element of weakness to this.
28:29And then so to add the layer of the travel, I had nothing to take away from the Niners because again, you
28:35don't want to overreact, but you do want to react.
28:38And some of the things they're doing offensively and what the run game looked like.
28:42I want to react to that kind of stuff.
28:44They deserve a ton of credit, but there are so many caveats about the weirdness of week one already baked in beyond
28:50the weirdness of this game on top. And I think the last thing I'll say about that.
28:55Sometimes the weirdness of week one is like teams that we didn't think would look good looked really good.
29:00And then it's like that ends up being fake like the Seahawks and the Jets last year.
29:04That's like the key one. But the Niners team, it was like not off the board that they could be a good team.
29:10So when they come out and kick ass, it's like, oh, maybe they can just maybe they can just do that to people.
29:17This is it's the best case scenario for what the offense could look like.
29:20And Kittle barely played like 40% of the snaps.
29:23And so you're going to get that on top of it.
29:26And so this Niners offense at full at full strength with a run game that feels rejuvenated and they've really added to it.
29:32This was always a team that could have the best offense in the league, a top three offense in the league if everyone stays healthy.
29:38That was never off the table. Can I tell you all from personal experience?
29:42One of the most electric vibes you can experience is a victory flight home from an NFL road game.
29:47And one of the most awkward vibes you can personally experience is flying home after you got your shit kicked in.
29:53And that's like, you know, New York to Dallas.
29:55Yeah, it's a three hour flight. 15 hours with the Rams right now.
29:59Like that sounds like hell. And and vice versa.
30:01Like the Niners flight is just going to be a party.
30:04It's going to be amazing. The way that it works now is you get you can get the tape on your iPad immediately.
30:10Right. And so let's just say you have a bad game.
30:13You have a three hour flight. You go over the game once you can distract yourself even if it's an ugly experience and the flight is over.
30:20Now, if you're somebody on that staff, you go back and rewatch the game and then you get to sit in it for two hours.
30:27Like 12 hours of how shitty it feels. That's like on, you know, when I used to fly with the Cowboys, like
30:33you can do the tape and like by the time you're going done going over the tape in detail and maybe the
30:39coaches will go have some conversations with some players.
30:41By the time you're all done doing all of that, maybe you get 30, 40 minutes of sleep, you're landing and it's
30:47time to get off the plane and go to work.
30:49You can do all of that and have like nine hours to kill.
30:53That's that sounds absolutely brutal. I've had some regrets about not loading enough shit on my iPad movie wise on a long
30:59flight, let alone if you just experienced what that game was like for the Rams.
31:03All right. Hell of a couple games to start this thing off.
31:06I had some surprises, some things that were really fun to dig into.
31:09We will be doing it again right here on Sunday night.
31:12For those of you unfamiliar, if you're just visiting us for the first time, we do a live Sunday night show every single week from right here.
31:20We will be right here on YouTube live on Sunday night after week one wraps up very much looking forward to that.
31:25Thank you to all of us for joining us.
31:28That's all we got. We'll talk to you in a couple days.

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