The 49ers own the 2nd half and romp over the Los Angeles Rams, 31-14; from LA Rams Up

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Welcome back RAM fans. Their Rams fall to the 49ers again. This time 31 to 14 and man at halftime. I was feeling pretty good about this game. I knew we weren't going to blow out the 49ers, but I thought if we played efficient football on the offensive side and continued to play defense like we have over the last few weeks, we had a good shot at winning this game and the first half went exactly like any RAM fan would hope. Up 14 to 10. The offense is converting third downs. The defense is making plays in the redzone for the most part. Things are going pretty well. You go to halftime down 14 to 10. And the Niners come back and justice pretty much rolled the Rams in the second-half, outscored them 21 to nothing. Defense continued to play soft. Jimmy G standing back there all day long finding receivers. The 49ers methodically moving the ball down the field using their tight ends wide receivers and and this new guy, Christian McCaffrey. You've probably heard of him, and meanwhile the offense which actually really had to work for the yardage in the first half. A lot of their first downs were like by half a yard or by a hair. And an inch. So it wasn't like it. Was easy in the fur. First half, but they were getting it done. 2 touchdowns against a very good 49er defense. Had to be happy with that in the second-half. Just extreme difficulty moving the ball with any consistency a couple first downs here and there that was about it. They started to get pressure on Stafford. And our offense just couldn't get it done in the second-half. No other way of. Putting it, I'll review. My fearsome 4 keys to the game and you know, a lot of these things panned out pretty well in the Rams favor. But it didn't matter. My first OK number one is whatever it takes keep Stafford clean and in the first half it was magical. We they did a lot of creative things to keep him clean. Getting rid of the ball quickly. Lots of screenplays and it was working. Second-half, not so much for some key #2 limit big plays by the 49ers offense. You know they got the one big play to the tight end after the game was already slipping away from us, and I guess you could call that trick play a big play by the 49er offense. It wasn't a long play, it was just an entertaining play. If you're a casual observer. But for the most part we limited their big plays. They just had too many small plays. First, some key #3 even or better in the take away department please. And we got that done. Had a chance for a couple takeaways. Even was not good enough in this game because of what transpired in the second-half. We got beat by a much better football team. What you watched in the second-half was a much better football team putting a thumping on a team that's struggling. For some came before a red cell and get it done in the red zone on offense and we did. Down there twice knocked it in. Didn't come knockin much more after that. Didn't even get in field goal range I don't think. Total net yards in this game ended up being very similar to the first time they played. 49ers managed 368 yards of offense. The Rams just 223, mostly due to a totally impotent second-half on offense. Rams actually ran more plays, average gain for the 49ers 7.1 yards Rams 4.0. 49ers ended up with a 111 rushing yards almost exactly twice as much as the Rams. 56 grapple load through just 4 incompletions. 21 of 25 Stafford. I don't think he really had a bad day, actually. If you watch this game, can't really fault him at all. He finished 23 for 33 for 187 yards. In the TD. Ramps leading Russia was Ronnie Rivers 8 rushes for 21 yards cup, finished with eight catches for 79 yards in a TD. Rams of course had the three sacks, 2 by Floyd. One bike gains Deon Kendrick actually led the team in tackles 5 total, but overall I don't think it was his best effort. What does it all mean? It means Seattle leads a division at five and three, followed by the 49ers at four and four in the Rams at three and four. Cardinals bringing up the rear at three and five, the Rams could actually end up tide for first place. I mean, they probably lose all the tiebreakers if they beat the Bucs next week. In Seattle loses at Arizona. As crazy as that is, but. They gotta play better or it's not going to matter. Beat the Bucs, get to four and four. Hey, that make me happy for one week, but I'm sure I'd still have some serious concerns about where this team is headed. The second-half of the season. So next week, ramps at the Bucs Seahawks at the Cardinals 49ers on a bye and then week 10. The Rams host the Cardinals. The Seahawks travel to Tampa Bay and the Chargers visit the 49ers. So I'm thinking the Rams can win two straight here, and maybe we'll feel a little bit better about things. Are they going to make any trades at this point? I'm wondering if they should. Are they going to give up more draft choices to try to fix this thing right away and chase a wild card playoff spot? Or possibly the division championship? Just not sure if it's the right. Thing to do? It's one or two players going to get this team fixed right away and back on track. I'm not convinced, but hey, less need knows what's best. We'll see what happens tomorrow, but the key thing is as bad as we feel about this team right now at three and four, they're not out of it. They got some fixin to do. Next up, we have our game capture with all that up some additional notes on the game, followed by our loop around the league.  

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Let's capture the first half of this Rams 49ers game. When Adams kicked off and rest yeast returns it out to the Rams, 29 Rams go three and out very unsettling start. If you're a Rams fan and you're watching this offense out there for the first time with two weeks to prepare. There was not impressed. 49ers take over at the 27 after the punt. They pick up a couple first downs. Nick Scott breaks up a TD pass in the end zone. Jimmy G. Was a little bit late with the pass and the Rams started the 12 after the pot. They go on a 17 play 88 yard drive takes over 9 minutes off the clock Cup picks up three first downs. Higbee picks up the first down Allen Robinson with a clutch catch on the sideline. Rams get into the. Redzone, they benefit from two first downs by penalty inside the 10. And then finally on 3rd and goal Matthew Stafford scrambles and barely gets in at the pylon. And the Rams have the lead 7 to nothing. 49ers answer, though McCaffrey is slipping a couple tackles for a nice gain, Kittle up reception to the Rams 35 and then on a trick play. McCaffrey to iiuc. For a 36 yard touchdown pass and just like that at 7:00 to 7:00 so the 49ers resorting to some trickery. And maybe that's a good sign how they're feeling about their ability to move the ball against the Rams defense. But nonetheless it works and it's a 7 seven game. We're well into the second quarter here. The Rams start from their own 25 and they put together a nice drive. Cup has a big catch to the 49ers 25. Ronnie Rivers picks up a third and one and then Stafford hits cup from 16 yards out. And they're back on Top 14 to 7. The 49ers answered with another driver their own 15 yard penalty on RAP for a high hit helps them along. Leonard Floyd picks. Up to sacks on this 49er possession, but the Rams defense whole. Quotes Bobby Wagner jarring the ball loose on what would have been a reception by McCaffrey inside the 540 niner. Settle for a 29 yard field goal. Rams get the ball back and run out the clock thankfully thought they are going to start taking some risks here, as McVay sometimes does, but they play it smart and the Rams. Go to the half up 14 to 10. 

Second-half 49ers get the ball 1st and the beginning was a bit ominous. Maybe foreshadowing of what was to come. Tom McCaffrey changes direction and takes it 25 yards to the 50 yard line. And then Ramsey drops a would be interception would have been a tough catch but would have been a game changer perhaps. But the Rams hold after the punt. They start out at their own 10 cup, takes a jet sweep for first down Robinson, a nice catch for another first down, but. Rams have to punt. San Francisco gets the ball to around 12 and go on an 88 yard. Dr culminated by a touchdown pass. Jimmy G. To McCaffrey and the Niners lead 17 to 14. Will the Rams answer? No such luck three and out after a sack of Stafford and the 49ers into the fourth quarter now? They score again. McCaffrey doing the honors. He now has a receiving touchdown, a passing touchdown and rushing touchdown, and the 49ers taking control 24 to 14. Rams still have life. Robinson picks up a first down on the ensuing possession, but is immediately flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. On 3rd down Rams trying to convert, Tyler Higbee drops a pass. Looked like it would have been a big gain and the Rams have to punt, but the way this is going the way that offense and defense are playing, I'm not sure how much difference it would make 49ers drive from their own 47. Rams giving Jimmy G all day. He hits the backup tight end for a 56 yard pass and then George Kittle a 14 yard touchdown uncovered running the back of the end zone, and this game is over 31 to 14. Both teams get a couple more possessions but but that's it for the Rams. In this one. A very disappointing 31. The 14 loss and again they lead at halftime 14 to 10. We will be back in a moment with some additional notes on this game. As painful as they are going to be.  

Some final words on this Rams loss to the 49ers. How we start this segment with my fearsome 4 big plays of the game and I'm going to give you 4 and they're all in the first half. I'll explain. Why in a second? For some big play number one was that TD pass broken up by Nick Scott. Wonderful play. Great play, great play. By Scott Jimmy G threw the ball a little bit late. Scott gets up there and knocks it away for some big play. #2 Allen Robinson sidelined catch. That was a beauty. Converted 1/3 and long for the Rams. There's some big. Play #3 Stafford's keeper for the touchdown. Talk about a quarterback putting the team on his shoulder for one play. That was a big TD at the time. In fearsome big planar before that trick play. McCaffrey toook. Now I'm not even going to talk about the second-half. There were a number of big plays all by the other guys, but none of them were really. But none of them were really game changing plays. Niners just moved the ball kind of at will against a very soft Rams defensive strategy. Their defense geared it up a little bit, put a little bit more pressure on Stafford, maybe that long past dwelling would qualify as a fearsome big play on the 49ers behalf. But that second-half it was just a slog from Durant's perspective and the 49ers executing a very good offensive game plan. In the second-half that the Rams clearly weren't prepared for and did not respond to. So I'm going to leave my fearsome 4 big plays at that. Kind of depressing. second-half. Some additional game notes worth mentioning. Cooper Kupp's ankle appears to be OK, he said after the game. He thinks he dodged a bullet, but I'll have to check on it in the morning. The Rams dropped two and three at so far this season where they have not scored in the second-half in any of those 3 losses. They are minus 32 in point differential at so far this year. Hey, nice to see some sacks from our edge rushers, namely Leonard Floyd. Greg Gaines also got one. It was actually caused by Aaron Donald. Wrestling E was back there, returning the first kickoff. That was a surprise. Brandon Powell also had a return later in the game. Now I had mentioned in our last podcast that on the subject of turnovers there are so many instances. This season and over the last several games against the 49ers where there's opportunities for takeaways and they just slip out of our hands, the ball bounces right to the other team and that happened again in this game. It's so frustrating. Now the one McCaffrey fumble inside the five turned. Out to be. An incompletion he had another fumble where it bounced right into the arms of a 49er. And then Ramsey almost grabbing that interception. That's going to change, and I don't know if it would have helped in this game. I mean, it would have helped, but would it have changed the outcome? Not the way we played in the second-half, but still the way this team is playing. It would be nice to get a few takeaways. Kyle Shanahan, now nine and three against McVay. 33 and 43. Against the rest of the league, that's a 441 winning percentage. You flip it. Sean McVay. Three and nine against Shanahan 55 and 21 against the rest of the league, a 724 winning percentage. To me. That's just really bizarre. I'll try to give out some player props here. Game balls. We always talk about Aaron, Donald and Cooper Kupp and they both had good games again. As always. Allen Robinson had a good day until that penalty finished with five catches for 54 yards. I'm not sure anyone else is worth mentioning. We'll see what grades come up from Pro Football focus and talk about that on our next drop, but I got to mention some guys that really struggled. Bobby Evans getting torn up at left guard. Not sure he's the answer there. And Tyler Higbee plus that guys heart yet and opportunity there to really make a big play. Couldn't hang on to it. Again, not sure it really would have made a difference. The way this game. Was headed and Deon Kendrick. I think really struggled. I think the 49ers were picking on him a little bit. But this was a team effort, A-Team failure on offense and defense, and maybe failure by our coaches, and so let's get into that coaches corner. We were just playing so soft on defense. Allowing Jimmy G to look like Aaron Rodgers standing back there, you see the 49ers bring all out pressure on Stafford on occasion. We rarely did that. The strategy seemed to be let's play back hope Jimmy Jean makes a mistake. See if he can continue to hit his receivers that are wide open 567 yards down the field and then make the tackle. If they do get the completion. And it was very frustrating. I think we played right into their hands and maybe that was because McCaffrey back there being a little bit of an unknown how the 49ers were going to use him but still can't believe we didn't bring more pressure. Find ways to get pressure on Jimmy G. It would get the three sacks, but there were just too many times. He was just. Standing back there waiting for his third guy to come open. And I have to say I don't know why Cooper Kupp was out there. I don't know why Matthew Stafford was. Out there at the. End of the game, and if they're out there, throwing little passes to Cooper Kupp. In garbage, time makes absolutely no sense to me. I'll never understand it. Most teams do it if not all teams. I don't get it. I don't agree with it. Let your best players live on to fight another day. Absolutely no reason to put them at risk in that situation. And one last note on the coaching. Or maybe this is a shot at Stafford, I'm not. Sure, van Jefferson. So excited to have him back zero targets. No issues with the reffing in this game. I think the penalties the Rams got. They deserved Ernest Jones, Allen Robinson, the Taylor Rapp one. I guess that's a penalty they're going to call but can hardly blame him. Wasn't a dirty play, just trying to make a tackle came in a little high. Very disappointing day. Obviously that's all I'm going to say about it at this point, I'm going to start looking ahead. This season is not over for these guys, although it's hard to be optimistic. But we can run off a couple wins, get back into this thing. The division is still. Up for grabs. Hey, we got the 49ers behind us. At least let's go out and get some wins starting next week at Tampa Bay.  

Let's get into our loop around the league, check in on all the other week eight games. Thursday night Ravens, 27 bucks 22. I don't know Tommy, did you make the wrong decision? Coming back. Not that this is on him. Bucs just don't look that good overall. And now, Shaq. Barrett is hurt. Probably out for a while, but unfortunately someone from this division, Bucs, Falcons, Panthers or Saints is going to be in the playoffs and a much better team is not. The Ravens, meanwhile, have to be the favorite to win the AFC North at this point, especially with Jamar Chase of the Bengals out. For a while I would see the Bengals as the biggest threat to the Ravens, but but they are definitely going to Miss Jamar Chase Broncos 21 Jags 17 in London man the Jags could just not close. Games, but this is a team on the rise when they figure that out they could be really dangerous drivers at any rushed for 156 yards. It still wasn't enough for the Jags. Russell Wilson leads a late. Drive to give the Broncos a lead and then Trevor Lawrence throws an interception on the 1st play of the ensuing drive. With less than two minutes left so the brokers could still trade Bradley Chop, I mean this win only gets them to three and five and Josh Allen of the Jags could definitely be on the move as well. These are two of the better young. Edge guys in the league. There have been suggestions that Rams could go after either one of them, so we'll see what transpires before this trading deadline. The Saints beat the Raiders, 24 to nothing. Raiders ended up pulling a bunch of their starters. Why not Devante Adams one catch 3 yards. David Carr Limited to. 101 yards passing. I mean this Saints D is good but. I don't know. This is obviously a big step backwards for Raider Nation. Eagles 35 Steelers 13 the Battle of Pennsylvania Philadelphia comes out on top. The Eagles remain undefeated. A.J. Brown, 156 yards receiving and three TD. In the Dolphins 31 Alliance 27. I was watching this game and early on I thought this is it. This is the game the Lions take. The big step forward, but they couldn't hang on lead for a lot of that game two or threw for 382 yards. Goff, 321 yards. And Tyreek Hill another 188 yards receiving Jalen Waddle had the TV, so he had. Two of them, lions kind of like the Jags showing signs of being a competitor but just cannot finish games. In Alliance case, it's mostly about their defense afternoon games. I'd almost rather lose the way the Rams did than the way the Panthers did. They're down 34 to 28. PJ Walker hits DJ Moore with a long touchdown pass with 12 seconds left, times it up 34 to 34. All else they got to do is kick the extra point and walk off with the win. But DJ Moore takes off his helmet while celebrating in the end zone. The Falcons take the penalty on the point after, and the Panthers missed the extra point. And sure enough, as you would expect, the Falcons win in overtime. And then that's a Sad way to lose and now the Falcons. Are in first place all by themselves in the NFC S Cowboys 49 Bears 29 Tony Pollard, the man of the hour 131 yards rushing and three TD's. Vikings 34 Cardinals 26. A lot of guys pitching in for the Vikings Dalvin Cook 111 yards rushing in a TD. Justin Jefferson 98 receiving yards cedarius Smith 3 sacks Vikings atop the NFC North and the Cardinals dropped with three and five in last place. In the NFC West. Patriots 22 Jets 17 Bill Belichick passes George Halas and all time wins, second only to Don Shula. Patriots intercepted Zach Wilson three times. This is just kind of killed Jets fan, so jets finally have a good team. Looked like they're a playoff contender and they can't beat the Patriots. Titans 17 Texans 10 Derrick Henry rushes for 219 yards. How do you do that and score only 17 points? Gotta go watch the tape. Commanders 17 Colts 16. The commanders get the go ahead TD with 22 seconds left to pull it off. It's a sad year. In Indianapolis, High hopes for the Colts this season, but it's slipping away, real. Quickly and the Seahawks continue to roll. They beat the Giants 27 to 13. Geno Smith efficient 23 for 34 for 212 yards and two TD's Kenneth Walker, the third only 51 yards rushing with one TD. Just an efficient balanced effort by the Seahawks. They're a pretty. Good football team. As it turns out. And two more games on the Week 8 schedule at halftime. The bills up on the Packers 24 to 7 Packers in danger of falling to three and five. So you think you're upset about where the Rams are? Sorry folks, I'm not staying up for the end of that one and then Monday night the Bengals and the Browns we will be back at you Thursday morning with our preview of the Ram Bucs game. Am trying to get back on track, get back to 500. Chase a playoff spot. It could still happen. Don't give up on your RAM a long long. Way to go. That's going to do it for this episode. Remember you can reach us at Rams up podcast@gmail.com. You can visit our website at Rams. Up.com You'll find links to all of our episodes and a. YouTube channel you can also listen voicemail from our website. Don't forget to subscribe and give us a 5 star rating. It's fully appreciated and. Keep the horns up. Stay safe. And have fun out there. 

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