TNF Recap: Rams hold on to keep heat on Seattle as Stafford "outduels" Purdy

Rams 12 at 49ers 6

There was some good defense being played in a monsoon in the first half. I will credit these teams for that. There was also a lot of bad passing from both Matthew Stafford and Brock Purdy as the two teams dueled to a Frank Beamer-inspired 3-3 halftime score. Stafford had 23 passing yards at halftime, and seven of them came when Puka Nacua caught a ball against a 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward's helmet. Here’s two throws from the first two drives:

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Gross! Purdy managed a 33-yarder to Kittle to set up a field goal, whereas the Rams had to rely entirely on the running game.

At halftime the real Matthew Stafford showed up, only to disappear the instant the Rams got into the red zone. The Rams somehow decided that running read-option with Stafford — you know, the 36-year-old quarterback — was a worthwhile red zone play. That went about as well as you’d expect.

Luckily for the Rams, Brock Purdy never recovered from the rain. And instead what we got was this:

Purdy finished with three sacks and 142 passing yards, and somehow that undersells how bad he looked in this one. He was clearly the worse quarterback of the two in this game, and considering the two throws I posted up there, that’s saying something.

The Rams make it to a tie on wins with the Commanders for the seventh seed and the Seahawks for the NFC West, putting themselves cleanly in the playoff picture. The 49ers are not eliminated but make no mistake about it: They are finished. They’re two games behind the Rams for the NFC West with three to play and the Rams have a tiebreaker. A Seattle win eliminates them from the NFC West entirely.

I will say, I don’t think the 49ers have done anything wrong per se. You can see this defense looked much better with a healthy Nick Bosa and Dre Greenlaw back before they rested him late in the game. San Francisco didn’t just catch the injury bug; they stumbled into it full force, went tumbling down injury bug hill, and fell into injury bug cactuses at the bottom of the pit. They also have enough cap space that I think they can bounce back in 2025. But we are definitely nearing the end of the window here and whenever a team has a draft slump like they’ve had the last few years, it always makes things look worse.

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The funniest thing to come out of this game was De’Vondre Campbell refusing to play when Greenlaw subbed out:

I am actually a big fan of players just realizing this isn’t for them anymore. I don’t think there’s shame in it. Campbell has always been a bit of a lone wolf in his effort level, so this isn’t totally surprising.

But uh, the 49ers really looked like they could have used a second real linebacker next to Fred Warner as the Rams bled the clock out with Kyren Williams.