Coming off an ugly 26-21 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the San Francisco 49ers don’t have time to dwell on that defeat, as they’ll kick off the Week 5 slate with a high-profile matchup against the rival Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football.
And with the Niners dropping to 3-1 with the loss to the Jags, and the Rams improving to 3-1 with a Week 4 win over the previously undefeated Indianapolis Colts, this has become a battle for first place in the NFC West. So, that’s always fun.
But as much as San Francisco fans may not want to hear it, Los Angeles fans may end up having a lot more fun as this contest plays out.
Because, as good as the 49ers’ defense has been through the first four weeks of the season, Robert Saleh’s unit simply doesn’t have what it takes to stop the Rams’ high-powered offensive attack, specifically the superstar, is wide receiver Puka Nacua.
Simply put, Nacua has been absolutely unstoppable this season, catching a league-high 42 passes for an NFL-best 503 yards. It’s a little surprising that he’s only reached the end zone once, but the scores will undoubtedly come as the season rolls along. If the 24-year-old standout can stay healthy and maintain the pace he’s on now, he’ll end the year with 179 catches for 2,138 yards, thus setting new records in both categories.
That’s a long way off, of course, but after watching him post 13 catches for a career-high 170 yards against the Colts last Sunday, it’s difficult to say that such marks are unattainable.
Now, in their defense (pun fully intended), the 49ers have only allowed 165.0 pass yards per game thus far, good for the fifth-fewest in the NFL. But let’s not pretend they’ve faced a truly elite offense just yet. And the Rams certainly have that, ranking fourth in total yards per game (388.2) and third in passing yards per contest (267.5).
Matthew Stafford is legitimately playing some of the best football of his 17-year career, so it’s important for San Francisco not to give him a lot of time to throw. But that could be a problem. With Nick Bosa obviously out of the lineup following his season-ending ACL injury, the Niners were only able to generate five pressures on Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence this past week.
That’ll be nowhere near enough against Los Angeles.
The 49ers also had a below-average performance in terms of pass coverage against the Jaguars. While Fred Warner did Warner-like things, earning a 92.0 PFF coverage grade, nobody else finished with a mark higher than 65.8:
- Jason Pinnock: 65.8
- Luke Gifford: 64.3
- Ji’Ayir Brown: 60.0
- Upton Stout: 58.0
- Marques Sigle: 57.8
- Darrell Luter Jr.: 57.0
- Deommodore Lenoir: 55.5
- Dee Winters: 46.4
That’s not what you want to see, especially in a short week when there isn’t much time to figure out where things went wrong.
To make matters worse, it’s not as if the Niners can just focus on in Nacua, as Davante Adams has had a strong start to the season as well, catching 17 passes for 269 yards with three touchdowns. So, San Francisco is going to have to stay honest.
Add all this up, and the Niners could be in for a long night.
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