When you outclass your opponent in the way that the San Francisco 49ers did to the Los Angeles Rams, it’s difficult to come up with multiple “losers.”
The Niners won by 20, but it felt like the margin was greater. Brock Purdy’s QBR was 50 points higher than the other starter.
The running game averaged 1.6 yards per carry more than the Rams. The vaunted defense we heard about all offseason was wearing the wrong jersey. Sprinkle in a couple of special teams plays, and it was a butt-kicking, through and through.
Here are the winners and losers from Week 1.
Winners
The offensive line
Sumer Sports tracks impact plays for offensive linemen, and the Niners had three players in the top 45 in Week 1: (6th) Connor Colby – 5
(13th) Jake Brendel – 4
(36th) Trent Williams – 3
Impact plays are defined as “highlight plays where a player demonstrates exceptional execution relative to their role and alignment.”
During Colby’s five, he displaced the defender he was blocking by multiple yards.
Four linemen — Brendel, Williams, Dominick Puni, and Colton McKivitz — allowed one pressure each on 36 pass-blocking snaps. Colby allowed two pressures.
As a unit, they combined for four total blown blocks — two against the run and two against the pass.
The 49ers led all teams in rushing success rate at 56.7%, five percentage points better than second place. Brock Purdy faced the second-lowest pressure rate, while the running backs benefited from the fourth-most yards before contact of the week and only 7.1% of their carries resulting in a stuff —good for the third-best mark of Week 1.
According to Sports Info Solutions, all five starters earned multiple points in Week 1, with Colby and Puni leading the way with 3 points earned. For reference, Colby earned six total points in 425 snaps as a rookie.
There’s no denying the scheme, like a heavy dose of screens or different motions, played a significant role in the play of the line, but that shouldn’t take away from how effective they were
Raheem Morris
Against an offense everyone projects to be tops in the league, Morris allowed the 3rd-lowest EPA per play and passing success rate. Despite losing his starting defensive tackle the week of the game, Morris devised a scheme that held one of the most dangerous rushing attacks to the sixth-worst EPA per rush mark of the week.
Morris gave Sean McVay a swirlie and stuffed Matthew Stafford in a locker.
The Rams don’t go four quarters without reaching double digits. Stafford usually has a few touchdowns a game and is somewhere around 275 yards. Puka Nacua has made a habit of terrorizing NFC West opponents.
Outside of a long Nacua reception, the Rams rode the struggle bus for much of the game. Morris designed blitzes that got home, mixed in coverages that led to turnovers, and was two steps ahead of McVay all game.
Osa Odighizuwa
Odighizuwa managed four pressures in 18 pass-rush snaps. He’s precisely the kind of pesky interior pass rusher the Niners have been craving for years. That 22.2% pressure rate is good for the fifth-best among all defensive tackles in Week 1.
Unlike some pressures, there was no fluke or fluff here. Odighizuwa hit the quarterback on four separate occasions, which made up for half the number of times the Niners defense as a whole hit Stafford. He is just what the doctor ordered for Morris.
Fred Warner
Only five players had more run stops than Warner in Week 1. Every one of those players played at least five more snaps than Fred, with some playing as many as 24 more snaps. Warner had multiple plays where he defended Nacua 1-on-1. He broke up a pass on one of those plays.
Warner and his 11 tackles all came at timely moments. The Rams had an opportunity to make it a game again in the third quarter, but Warner and Jaden Dugger halted their plans in the backfield on a goal-to-go situation.
The most telling Warner stat was how seldom Stafford threw it over the middle. You can’t quantify this in Warner’s favor, but it’s a sign of respect from a veteran quarterback who knows better than to test a future Hall of Famer:
Warner takes away the part of the field where today’s offenses want to target the most.
Nick Bosa
We’ll do our best to leave Warner and Bosa off these lists throughout the year, as they’re expected to perform great. But it’s been nearly a full year since we’ve seen Bosa. The assumption was that he’d take some time get his feet underneath him.
Well, not this guy. Bosa hit Stafford on the first play from scrimmage. It was the quickest pressure of the defense, checking in at two seconds flat. He tied Colby for a team-high five impact plays. Three of those came in the first quarter. It’s refreshing to be reminded that your edge defenders can be run stoppers.
Bosa had a tackle for loss early and added another in the third quarter. He joined Warner with another stop two plays later. Best of all, Bosa humiliated a tight end whenever the Rams blocked him with one.
Mike Evans
Evans caught six of his seven targets for 49 yards. When he was targeted is why he’s on the list. Over half of his targets came on late downs. Evans added at least a point in EPA on three different routes. It would have been four, had he not dropped his final target. Evans was 3-for-3 against man coverage and was also perfect out of the slot.
Brock Purdy, knowing he has Evans as a fallback option on third downs, is quite the luxury to have. Evans caught five of his six targets on third down, and both red zone targets.
Upton Stout
One of the few bright spots on defense toward the end of the season last year was Stout. He was third on the team in impact plays with four. Stout’s IQ was on full display. He had a quarterback hit, a run stop where he recognized what was coming before the ball was snapped, and only allowed three yards in coverage on three targets.
Stout picked up where he left off last season.
Honorable mentions: We could list another 10 players if we wanted to, but Keion White, Jack Jones, Renardo Green, and Deebo Samuel were all close to making the list.
