SANTA CLARA — Remember the concerns, four long weeks ago, that the Rams offense was too one-dimensional? Too reliant on Puka Nacua? Too stagnant in the red zone?
After scoring a season high in a 42-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers, you can put those complaints to rest.
Too one-dimensional? Quarterback Matthew Stafford completed passes to eight receivers and threw touchdowns to four different players as he became the fourth Ram and seventh quarterback in NFL history to throw four touchdowns in three straight games. And 11-personnel is no longer the end-all, be-all for this offense as the team continued its reliance on 13-personnel against the 49ers (6-4).
Too reliant on Nacua? The star receiver had six targets and a touchdown on a screen pass on Sunday, but it was Davante Adams who led the way with eight targets while tight end Colby Parkinson added five.
Too stagnant in the red zone? The Rams (7-2) went 5-for-5 in that department on Sunday, scoring three times through the air and twice on the ground with Kyren Williams.
In the last three weeks, the Rams have gone 12-for-13 in the red zone and averaged 37 points while extending their winning streak to four, and keeping pace with the Seattle Seahawks – next week’s opponent – for first place in the NFC West.
The Rams looked like they were scrimmaging against air for portions of the first half. Screen passes, runs out of 13-personnel, downfield shots, whatever they tried, worked. Even a feint by Stafford as he was about to scramble on the goal line drew in the San Francisco defense, allowing Stafford to hit tight end Davis Allen in the back of the end zone for the 400th passing touchdown of his career.
And the defense did not allow the 49ers to get out to the fast start they enjoyed at SoFi Stadium in Week 5. Emmanuel Forbes’ third-down pass breakup, another Nate Landman punch out recovered by Kamren Kinchens and a Byron Young stop of Christian McCaffrey on a fourth-down edge run got the Niners offense off the field.
But this was the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan. Even short-handed without Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall, that offense was never going to roll over.
Backup quarterback Mac Jones was surgical, feeding the ball to Jauan Jennings, George Kittle and McCaffrey repeatedly with hyper-efficiency, completing 33 of 39 passes. McCaffrey might not have run the ball terribly well, but Brian Robinson provided some power to the backfield, breaking a tackle to get into the end zone and cut the Rams’ lead to seven on the opening play of the second half.
But the Rams responded with a 12-play drive that took seven minutes off the clock, ending with another Adams touchdown, his sixth in three games.
Then, when the Niners again got within a touchdown on a scramble drill TD, the Rams stayed aggressive instead of trying to burn clock. Stafford took a couple of deep shots to tight end Terrance Ferguson, connecting on one for 19 yards.
After four straight dropbacks to open the drive, Stafford finally handed the ball off to Williams, who ran seven yards for his second touchdown of the game to make it a 15-point advantage again.
Then, for good measure, why not a no-look pass to Parkinson for his first touchdown of the year? After Sunday, Stafford had completed passes to all four tight ends in each of the last three games, and all four have now scored at least one touchdown in those contests.
It was after this last touchdown that Stafford gave a little shimmy with his hands above his head in triumph, and head coach Sean McVay smiled and pointed at his quarterback.
