5 takeaways from the San Francisco 49ers' Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Rams
Week 6 of the NFL season saw an intriguing matchup between two playoff contenders in the NFC West, where a spirited Los Angeles Rams squad succumbed 24-16 to last season's NFC Super Bowl representative, the San Francisco 49ers.
In a bruising encounter at Levi's Stadium, the return of QB Jimmy Garroppolo (albeit on one leg...) proved pivotal to the home team's success, as he threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle and running back Raheem Mostert each helped themselves to a touchdown, with Kittle's 44-yard reception the most impressive of the bunch.
As well as they played, the 49ers defense did give up yards to a talented Rams' offensive outfit, but led by linebacker Fred Warner, they came up big in clutch moments to keep L.A.'s third-down conversion rate to a measly 4 out of 12.
The Rams tried to make a game of it. QB Jared Goff rebounded from an early interception to throw TD passes to Robert Woods and Josh Reynolds, but the 49ers kept Goff's completion rate down to 50 percent, and the Rams were never able to make up the early ground conceded.
The 4-2 Rams remain in second place in the NFC West, right behind the 5-0 Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers remain rooted to the bottom of possibly the league's strongest division, but at 3-3 and with the returns of some key members of the squad, this is a team more than capable of a playoff run.
Here are five takeaways from the 49ers' win over the Rams.
5. George Kittle is just as good of a blocker as he is a receiver for the 49ers
George Kittle is one of those players for which you run out of superlatives.
Against the Rams, the 49ers' Pro Bowl tight end caught seven passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Averaging 15.6 yards per catch is a great number for a wide receiver, let alone a tight end.
I'll leave the vivid descriptions to the poets and let the man's stats speak for themselves.
It's not just in the receiving game that "The People's Tight-End" (thank you, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) is coming out on top though. His work in the run game as a blocker has come on tremendously over the past couple seasons and he's proving to be a real asset for 49ers backs Raheem Mostert and Jerrick McKinnon.
4.Fred Warner isn't getting enough respect
49ers linebacker Fred Warner put on an outstanding performance on Sunday. He finished with seven tackles and was a constant thorn in both the passing and rushing attack of the Rams' offense.
Warner is rapidly becoming one of the leaders on this team. To watch him organize the defense pre-snap, chase down rushers and to come up with big hits on receivers on short slants stirred memories of former Carolina Panthers' star linebacker Luke Kuechly.