The 1-1 Los Angeles Rams will travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers in this week two Thursday night contest with each team taking losses last week. The 49ers lost to the Seattle Seahawks despite giving up just 12 points. They failed to reach the end zone for the second week in a row falling 12-9 on the road. Los Angeles was defeated at home by the Washington Redskins 27-20. It was a disappointing loss for the Rams, as they looked so impressive opening weekend in their 46-9 route of the Colts. This is an important NFC West matchup as the 49ers are the only team without a victory in the division.
Brian Hoyer struggled again for San Francisco last week completing just 15 of his 27 passes for 99 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. The team gained 249 yards, which is actually an improvement as they only had 243 on opening weekend. Pierre Garcon and Marquise led the receivers as they each caught 3 passes for 26 yards. The lone bright spot for the offense was Carlos Hyde who rushed for 124 yards on just 15 carries which is an average of over 8 yards per run. Defensively they played very well limiting the Seahawks to just 2 field goals and 1 touchdown. They didn’t force any turnovers but sacked Russell Wilson 3 times and had 6 tackles for losses. They did a good job against the rush allowing Seattle to gain just 131 yards on 37 carries. Safety Erik Reid left the game in the third quarter and didn’t return after suffering a knee injury. He has been ruled out for this game.
Todd Gurley had another good game for the Rams in their loss last week. He rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries while catching another 3 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Gurley now has 3 touchdowns and 226 yards of offense in the first two games. Jared Goff struggled completing just 15 of 25 pass attempts for 224 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Gerald Everett led the receivers with 3 catches for 95 yards. Defensively, they couldn’t stop the run as Washington rushed for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns on 31 carries. Three different Redskins had over 65 rushing yards. They did not force a turnover but did sack Kirk Cousins twice and had 5 tackles for losses.
The Rams are 2.5-point favorites in this game despite San Francisco having home field advantage. Los Angeles is 1-1 against the spread this season while the 49ers are 0-2. Both teams defenses have given up an average of 18 points per game in the first 2 weeks but the Rams are averaging 33 points on offensive to the 49ers six. San Francisco will need more offensive production out players not named Carlos Hyde. Hyde has accounted for 45% of the team’s total offense gaining 226 of their 502 yards.
