What we discovered as 49ers waste Jennings’ profession sport in loss to Rams

What we discovered as 49ers waste Jennings’ profession sport in loss to Rams initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Bay Space

BOX SCORE

INGLEWOOD — The 49ers acquired off to a sizzling begin and had numerous alternatives to tug away Sunday.

However they flubbed it with an abundance of special-teams miscues, dropped passes and defensive breakdowns.

Simply how good are the 49ers?

Not excellent in any respect, it appears.

At the least, based mostly on their disastrous and embarrassing 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, the 49ers have quite a lot of work forward of them.

The 49ers (1-2) had each probability to place this sport away early, however they confirmed zero killer intuition and shrunk below stress in opposition to the beforehand winless Rams (1-2).

The 49ers merely blew it. It’s so simple as that.

Listed here are the takeaways from San Francisco’s Week 3 collapse:

Wilting below stress

Two gamers from the 49ers’ 2023 NFL Draft class had an opportunity to be the hero.

However Jake Moody missed a 55-yard field-goal try that might have clinched the sport. And after the Rams tied it, vast receiver Ronnie Bell flat-out dropped a deep go that might have arrange Moody for an additional probability.

It was a day of dropped passes and special-teams meltdowns for San Francisco.

The Rams exploited the 49ers’ shoddy particular groups with a pretend punt within the second quarter. The 49ers had been up 14-0 on the time, and the fourth-down conversion opened the door for LA’s first landing of the sport.

Moody’s field-goal miss prevented the 49ers from taking a 10-point lead late within the sport. After the Rams went down the sphere for the tying landing, the 49ers’ offense stalled on Bell’s dropped go.

Then, Rams rookie return man Xavier Smith had a 37-yard punt return to arrange the profitable discipline purpose.

Purdy seeks Jennings to choose up slack

In getting off to a robust begin Sunday, the 49ers relied on a receiver who signed a multiyear contract extension within the offseason.

It was not Brandon Aiyuk. It was Jauan Jennings.

Jennings had a profession day, catching 11 passes for profession highs of 175 yards and three touchdowns.

Quarterback Brock Purdy had an enormous sport with out Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle out there, finishing 22 of 30 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. His passer score was 137.1, and he additionally gained 41 yards on 10 carries.

Whereas all the eye within the offseason was on Aiyuk’s stormy contract scenario, Jennings signed a two-year, $15.3 million deal as a restricted free agent.

Aiyuk, in the meantime, couldn’t maintain onto a few catchable passes within the first half. He let one that might have been a third-down conversion in Rams territory get away, and caught 5 passes for simply 48 yards within the sport.

Move rush and go protection missing

The Rams didn’t have their high two receivers with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua out with accidents.

It didn’t appear to matter for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, who tore up the 49ers’ protection at key instances. Stafford accomplished 16 of 25 passes for 221 yards and one landing.

Tutu Atwell caught 4 passes for 93 yards, together with his 50-yarder organising the Rams’ tying landing.

With the rating tied, the 49ers had been known as for 3 penalties on the identical play. Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir was known as for defensive holding and unlawful use of palms. Nevertheless, it was De’Vondre Campbell’s go interference penalty that accounted for 25 yards to arrange Joshua Karty’s game-winning 37-yard discipline purpose.

It was clear whom the Rams focused for a lot of the sport, as Stafford had success going after cornerback Isaac Yiadom in nickel conditions.

Yiadom gave up some completions and was known as for go interference in opposition to Atwell for a 48-yard penalty within the third quarter. That play led to a Rams landing that lower the 49ers’ result in 21-14 late within the third quarter.

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