NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 49ers-Rams Recap - How Good Can This 49ers Team BE?
Episode Date: September 11, 2026Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook recap the 49ers opening the 2026 NFL season with a win against the Rams in Melbourne, Australia. Gregg and Shook talk about how the 49ers overcame offseason adversity to... humble the Rams with the Week 1 victory, explain how the 49ers offense outperformed the Rams and wonder how the Rams need to rebound after a tough start to the season. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Second down here for Purdy.
He is in the shotgun.
He takes the snap.
He's got a good pocket.
Now he's going to escape it out to the right.
Throw on the run.
And so!
Touchdown!
That is Brock Purdy to Debo Samuel.
Everything old is new again.
The San Francisco 49ers went to Australia and they beat down the super team.
I am stunned right now.
Thank you to everyone joining us live on YouTube.
after the game. Thank you to everyone listening to us as a podcast, Breakdown one of the early
upsets of the year. And I know there are only three and a half point upsets, but they beat the Rams
27 to 7 on Friday morning into afternoon in Australia, Thursday night for us. Nick Shook
is joining me from the Chris Wessling podcast studio. And we're going to get to what went wrong
for the Rams because this was a humbling night. But we should start.
with a throwback performance by this 49ers team.
And I say throwback because Drey Greenlaw wasn't on this team a year ago.
Fred Warner wasn't on the field a year ago.
You have Brock Purdy running around and playing really well.
George Kittle is back from his Achilles.
It all comes together.
And they were just the toughest team.
They kind of stuffed Sean McVeigh's Super Squad in the locker
and they got out of there quickly.
Yeah.
And I think that Fred Warner is probably the best example.
of what it looks like when a premier player had to miss time due to injury and cannot possibly wait to get back on the field because he was playing with his hair on fire from the start and really set the tone physically on the defensive side.
It seemed like every time a pass was completed or Rams, you know, runner just got up to the second level.
They were getting blasted by multiple defenders.
The Niners looked like the more energetic team.
They look like the more passionate and driven team, the team that wanted it more.
And then as the game progressed, their superiority in terms of strategy, maybe a little bit of rest versus travel, all started to show.
And they run away with one.
Brock Purdy overcomes an early interception to throw a few dimes, including that last one that we just played.
And overall, the Niners, like you said, stuffed them in a locker.
They won the physical battle against a team that was supposed to have a defense that was just so intimidating up front,
then no offense could do anything against them.
Kyle Shanahan scheming up a fantastic drive that really set the tone of 15-play scoring drive as well.
And at the end, yeah, I mean, this is like you said, a humbling experience for the Rams.
The Rams waved the white flag.
There was a sequence, and we might as well listen to it because we love having everyone join us after these games for the calls and the highlights and our analysis.
So let's go to the sequence that set up that last kind of finishing touchdown by the 49ers.
It is a fourth down play where Pukunakua just catches a pass that looks like he scored,
but he turns out he's about six inches short.
The 49ers are only, quote unquote, up 10 points.
They had just come out with a great drive to start the second half.
The Rams decide to call a QB sneak for Matt.
Matthew Stafford. Let's listen.
Stafford is under center.
Stafford is going to sneak it.
Stafford pushing forward and good luck finding him in there.
Rams are saying he's in, waiting for a signal, waiting for a signal, waiting for a signal.
The 49ers are saying they stopped him and they stopped him.
A fourth downstop, inches to go and the 49ers defense stands strong.
You mentioned Warner, who's just in the middle of everything.
and there was a shot there of Sean McVeigh
just looking like he regretted everything here.
If you're watching it, it's like maybe,
maybe I should have gotten to Australia earlier.
Man, I'm going to be sick of people asking me questions about that.
Maybe I shouldn't call a sneak shook for a guy in Matthew Stafford
who had a rough night who is famously bad at QB.
And that's why he hasn't had a rushing touchdown or barely any rushing yards for about four or five years now.
It felt like there was only one period in this game in which the Rams were comfortable.
And it was on their touchdown drive that ended in a Kyron Williams five-yard touchdown run.
It was a four-play 57-yard drive really sprung by the Pugua completion from Matthew Stafford,
his best throw of the day.
And really his only highlight throw of the day.
This offense looked uncomfortable throughout.
It felt like McVeigh never really got into a situation where he could get into his bag like Kyle Shanahan did.
And that moment right there, I think, captured it perfectly with that stare that we just showed that still image where he's just like, what?
I can't believe that didn't work.
Are you telling me he really didn't get across the goal line?
And credit to the officials, because it was a mass of humanity that we could not see through.
We absolutely could not see through the massive humanity to try to figure out where the ball was.
And yet, the Niners then go 99 yards and finish off after that.
And that's the thing.
The Niners offense picked up steam throughout.
the game. And up front, look, the Rams could run the ball in this game. The problem was protecting
Matthew Stafford. It was night and day thinking about the 49ers pass rush last year to the 49ers
pass rush in this game now that they had Nick Bosa. But before we kind of get into the nitty gritty
of like how this all went down, I do want to think big picture about everything we saw out of the 49ers
because if you had told their fans a couple weeks ago,
okay, week one,
Nick Boss is out there after basically not practicing in team drills
the entire offseason.
He's got juice, tackle for loss,
QB hit on the first play.
I watched him closely.
Yeah, he didn't win every snap.
He wasn't full Bosa,
but he was out there.
He was a factor.
Odigizua, their big pickup,
a bunch of different pressures.
Their defensive line won the battle as passengers.
Debo Samuel looked like he had some serious juice.
Christian McCaffrey, who missed so much time with injuries,
looked like he had juice.
But you know, it was even better, Shook,
that Kyle Shanahan trusted Cahlin Black to have more snaps and touches
than Christian McCaffrey in the first half.
And as much juice as Christian McCaffrey had,
I think Cailin Black had even more juice in terms of running the ball.
He looked awesome.
Oh, by the way, Mike Evans, who missed a lot of time.
time with injury, ton of juice. Warner, we talked about, look like, you know, you forget that he was
even hurt last year, and Drey Greenlaw's out there flying around for this all to happen in week one,
and George Kittle is the last name on that list, and to do it in a winning, like, they didn't even
need to win this game. If they had just competed in all those things that happened and those guys
look healthy, I would have viewed it as a win. Instead, it's like, okay, I guess we shouldn't have been
so negative about the 49ers offseason and camp, because this was.
an absolute statement victory by this team.
It's such a funny example of how,
I hate to use this term because I think it's overused,
but it applies here.
Culture.
Culture can win you football in the face of some adversity,
the adversity being the fact that you're playing in Australia
and the fact that you have had a number of injuries
throughout camp that have held you back in certain areas.
And yet, this is a team, this is an organization
that is very accustomed to fighting through such adversity and producing.
And yes, it's all the usual suspects for the most part.
It's Kittle. It's McCaffrey.
It's, you know, new guys, Mike Evans.
But it's also the new additions, like you said, of Kaelin Black.
And let's give a big tip of the cap to Rahim Morris and what he had his defense doing tonight.
Because we talked about it during this week, how we were worried about that defensive line and that pass rush.
Also, Digi Zua made a huge difference up there.
You knew you had Nick Bosa out there.
I was tracking his play percentages and everything else.
The whole unit just played so cohesively and aggressively.
They were not worried about sending pressure
and then potentially having some weaknesses in the secondary.
They just felt like, you know what, let's disrupt this Rams offense
as we can.
They did it early.
They did it often.
And what it all came together was a team that has been here before and knows how to win
in these situations and they did.
And this is a battle that's gone back and forth.
Kyle Shanahan has the overall edge.
But Sean McVeigh has had the edge lately in the matchup.
But this was reminding me of the matchups from five or six years ago
when it was the.
team that was too tough for the Rams. Now, it was a really well-coached game on a few levels,
but they were also just tougher. And Evans had six catches. Like, the numbers weren't crazy.
He does get a touchdown, like a classic Mike Evans fade in the end zone to score. Heck, we have
that touchdown. Let's listen to Mike Evans' first touchdown as a San Francisco 49.
Purdy's under center. He takes. He wants Evans. He just puts it up. Give it to my.
Mike's got it. He pulled it in for his first touchdown.
49ers, Mike Evans.
And that is big on big. And it was tight coverage from Jalen Watson on Mike Evans.
Brock Purdy could not put that in a better spot.
That's awesome because it's Evans doing what he does.
It's the two free agent pickups.
And what, he only had 49 yards in this game on six catches.
How many first downs?
I'm trying to find it here.
think it was five.
On that drive, he had two, and they were both on third down.
I think every one of his catches except maybe one was a first down.
He had three in the first drive of the game first downs.
Like immediately the dividends where he's kind of in this Joanne Jennings role as like,
I'm going to move the chains for you is really incredible to think about.
And Purdy, as you mentioned, like after that early interception, I think did a great job
settling down, taking what the defense gave.
him. It was a lot of short stuff. It was a lot of great coaching, but also running in the second
half when the Rams defense looked a little gassed. Yeah. And, you know, it was the offensive
creativity on the part of Kyle Shanahan, I think was pretty clear from the get-go. Putting Evans in the
slot, getting him to run the outs against Quentin Lake and winning that physical battle, converting
those third downs to keep that long drive going, going to Evans for the fade, because you know that's
exactly where he is. By the way, career touchdown number 37 from less than,
five yards or less away from the whole line.
37.
Only one guy has more in,
who's currently active,
Devante Adams still has like a six touchdown lead on him,
the two guys that you associate with back shoulder fades
and fades in the end zone in general.
And,
you know,
I think that it also was really easy to identify
in the way that they prepared for this defense
in that they neutralized Miles Garrett.
Miles Garrett was not involved in,
I mean,
he may have had some pressures.
I haven't looked at the next gen stats numbers yet,
but he did not get a sack.
He didn't record a tackle.
Only the fourth time in 135 career games in which he did not record a tackle, Miles Garrett.
So the big offseason addition doesn't even end up in the stat sheet despite being out there
because they accounted for him.
Whether it was chipping with a number of different players, it was Kittle.
I think it was Tunges at one point.
Tunges actually left on getting injured while trying to block Miles Garrett.
It was McCaffrey.
And then Trent Williams one-on-one just kind of, you know, standing his ground,
letting Garrett run the hoop, getting the ball out quick.
the approach was just masterful for what the Rams were bringing to the table defensively.
And I thought that Shanahan really out-coached Chris Shula,
which is a big reason why they were able to, I think, hang in this game early
and at least demonstrate that, hey, we know that you're the talk of the off season,
but we belong here and then finish the game off in the second half.
It's a huge win because it's a road win.
The Rams volunteered to take this game as a home game,
even though they were the team that didn't show up until the last second.
they've been going for these marketing rights in Asia, in Australia.
They wanted to be the home team.
So they gave up a home game.
And now the 49ers are essentially up a game and a half in the division.
Because you have the tiebreaker.
And they're going to have to return the favor of the Rams.
That is, when they go to Santa Clara, I believe that game is in December.
Obviously, these teams are going to be different then.
Miles Garrett listed as five pressures from NGS, which seems crazy to me.
He did not get a QB hit, though.
That is very rare that he doesn't.
get a QB hit, a sack or a tackle, as you mentioned.
That never happens.
And I don't think it was because he just, like, doesn't have the juice.
There was a pass rush in the fourth quarter where he got inside Trent Williams so fast.
And Connor Colby came over to, and he knife through.
And purdy just got rid of the ball quickly.
And so, like, he had a winner to.
But for the most part, Trent Williams' performance was special.
And Kyle Shanahan's game plan was special.
It was screen.
screen behind the line of scrimmise, quick stuff.
And Chris Shula wasn't really doing that much.
He was like kind of waiting for his guys to win.
And they weren't.
And sometimes, you know, they're playing safe coverage like quarters.
And DeMarcus Robinson runs right through it.
You're shaking your head.
That was another big moment in a big time throw by Purdy.
Yeah, I had a ton of issues with the way that the Rams approached this game
defensively in the first half, whether it was.
Evans converting the third downs
because I'm keying on Miles Garrett immediately
especially, you know, they move them away from
Trent Williams side on that first drive
and try to get him against the right tackle and see if that's
more of an advantage. And I'm watching him all the snap and he's looking
like Miles Garrett, but the ball's out so quick that it doesn't
matter. And so I'm saying out loud
as I'm watching it here, you need to start
jamming these receivers, press coverage, get
aggressive, do something to interrupt the flow
of this because they're just getting the ball out too quickly.
And then the backbreaker to me
was the DeMarcus Robinson touchdown
against quarters. Like,
The old joke is like, what?
You can't beat quarters over the top.
Well, they beat quarters over the top.
Of course he can, though.
Camp Kitchens is keeping his eyes in the backfield,
25, 30 yards down field and letting Robinson run right behind him.
Revenge game, DeMarcus Robinson in a big spot.
And it was because the 49ers are injured.
Heck, let's listen to that DeMarcus Robinson touchdown
because that actually was the longest throw in terms of air yards for a touchdown
in Brock Purdy's entire career.
So we might as well give him some props.
Let's watch it.
Purdy, in the sense two receivers right.
He sends Black out in the formation.
Steps back.
He's going to go for a deep show.
He's going to go for all.
He finds him.
And it's the former Los Angeles Ram to Marcus Robinson
in the painting red 49ers end zone
at the far end of the MCG
that has 100,000 Aussies
on their feet and a lead for San Francisco.
This is what we expect a little bit more of,
from these two quarterbacks.
Top 10 guys, an MVP, a guy who very much deserves his place on quarterback island.
Thank you very much.
They waited far too long to put him on there.
I'm looking at you, Audrey.
I'm looking at you, Greg Rosenthal.
But you made the right decision in getting him on there.
Wow.
QB Island with an international shout out.
That is our friend Will Gavin, of course, on Talk Sport.
Look, Will, we would have put you on the show for sure.
Those pipes are incredible, even if you didn't shout us out.
But thank you for doing that.
What a great live call there.
And yeah, it was a reminder.
I think of how Purdy is so perfect for this offense.
Yes, he can execute what Kyle Shannon does.
But he also adds a little bit extra with the running, with the extra plays.
And it was just a great performance by the two of them.
It's all about Purdy and Shanahan.
Yeah.
And he did a little bit of everything in this game.
He did have a long scramble.
But the beauty of that play itself is that Purdy's under center.
He takes a seven-step classic drive.
drop back, something that you feel like you haven't seen since the late 80s,
and steps up and just fires a beautiful strike to DeMarcus Robinson,
giving Will Gavin the best man in sports at describing the setting in which a player
scores a touchdown. That is the end zone, the opportunity to call a touchdown for the 49ers
and give us a shout out as well.
That's a great moment for him to be calling this game because I forgot he's a 49ers fan.
All right, let's move off the 49ers.
We're almost giving them too much attention here
because this was the super team in the Rams that lost.
And it wasn't all good for the 49ers.
We should point out, DeJohn Stribling left this game on a cart.
It looked serious.
They're calling it an ankle injury.
The 49ers have gotten criticized for how they handled injured players.
I mean, he was hurt early in this game
and then went back out there and got hurt again.
I think you can question them allowing him to do that.
Jake Tanges, who's a very good tight end,
really their primary tight end tonight
before he went down with an injury,
left with a knee injury too.
And so we don't know how severe that is going to be.
For all the players that came back
before we get off the 49ers,
I thought George Kiddo kind of did look the rustiest.
He didn't look like he necessarily had the juice
when he was out.
I saw him fall once or twice and going out on routes.
He got back from that Achilles quickly.
We'll see.
He had some really good blocks.
he's going to be important for them.
Let's talk about the Rams.
Like what, I'll ask you just,
what aspect of the team,
we kind of went over Garrett
and the gameplay
and how they neutralized them,
so take him off the board.
What aspect of the team,
the operation,
the players,
like, disappointed you the most
from this no-show, frankly.
I mean, to get beat this bad,
it's a pretty big no-show from this team.
I kind of felt like
the way that McVeigh's offense
operate in this game
was kind of like
when you watch somebody
who's just picking random plays in Madden
and that's not to like
knock on him and his approach
but the running games
working early and then
the Niners adjust
and they get Stonewalled
a couple of times
and then they're just like
late to adjust
Stafford always looked frazzled
his and another thing
that I didn't like about this
Rams performance
was the fact that I felt like
Stafford's arm lacked
a little bit of zip
the interception
that he threw down
the right sideline
he like left it
He hung it up in too far to the outside, which left it out there to get picked off.
And there was just a lot of disjointed action from this offense, which you don't usually see from
the Rams.
And a lot of credit goes to Rahim Morris, but it just, it kind of felt like I was watching a team
that maybe wasn't quite as prepared or as willing to adjust quickly to the situation as the
Niners were.
Okay.
I mean, did he looked a little, did he look a little like a 38-year-old man?
Yeah, he did.
Especially he went under pressure.
He really did.
I mean, let's hold the airplane talk for now because they did something similar and absolutely boat race to Jaguars last year.
I want to give Sean McVeigh and the Rams, they're like going to be annoyed to anyone's asking them.
Let's take them at their word that that wasn't that big of a factor.
They just got dog walk.
So like that is a bigger problem.
That's worse.
Right.
That really is worse.
And I don't buy that like it has no effect, but there's no way for us to really know.
Stafford was off all night.
He missed Puka on a deep shot on like his first deep throw by about 20 yards.
I thought, oh, that's weird.
And he skies went over Devante Adams' head.
He starts against pressure in the first half, one for seven with an interception.
And it wasn't all quick wins.
The 49ers got their shares of wins.
When I really looked at it, I think they won plenty in pass rush.
And the ram did an okay job plenty, too.
Like, it was a good battle.
It wasn't one-sided.
And that's better than where the 49ers have been.
But what was happening was Stafford was just holding onto the ball for a while.
You know, he just, the last offensive drive of the game, he sort of like double clutches, like, can't get off his first read, just holds it and ends up like just skying the ball.
I don't know.
He just wasn't comfortable and he's holding onto the ball.
And you do start to wonder, Chuck, like, do they have enough weapons?
Is that crazy to think?
because it's like Puka and dot, dot, dot, right?
Yeah, I think it was on power rankings this week.
I said that it's a little concerning when the Rams make a trade for two to at well
just because they want somebody with experience on their roster as a position.
And it's a little bit too reliance on those top two guys.
And it shows in situations like this in which you need them to get open and they're not getting open.
And then your quarterback doesn't know where to go with the football because the guys that he can always
trust to get open, aren't open.
And when he tries to throw them open, he's having an off day, night, day, whatever.
And ultimately, what it does is just undercuts your entire offensive operation.
That's part of why this offense felt so disjointed, is that they could not find any
consistent rhythm, save for their one touchdown drive.
Can I give you some snap counts?
Go ahead.
Look, they weren't on the field much.
That was part of the story is the 49ers got almost 400 yards on only nine drives.
they just held on to the ball.
But the Rams wide receivers,
after Puka,
Devante Adams 31 snaps,
Jordan Whittington 24,
Xavier Smith 15,
Kanata Mumfield, 16.
Like, what were your favorite plays
by Mumfield and Xavier Smith and Wittington?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
It was like they weren't even there.
And Adams is not necessarily a guy
that's beating one-on-one coverage enough when he's not, like, in the red zone.
I think they're going to be fine.
I think the tight ends are going to be very dynamic.
The running game looked great tonight for the most part.
They just ended up not being able to stick with it.
But it is a little worrisome that this is a team that really wanted to trade for AJ Brown.
I think it was for a reason.
I think that is something, I think, that's a bit of a problem, even assuming Stafford plays
better in future weeks.
Two things that you can kind of find the next-gen stats that explain that.
13 personnel, 21 plays, 36.8% of their plays.
Success rate 67%.
Success rate in 11 personnel, 25%.
It speaks exactly what you're talking about.
I'm surprised they didn't have two tight ends on the field more often.
Four plays.
Four plays.
And that success rate mirrors what they were at 11.
This is a team that they know where their bread is buttered.
And unfortunately, so do the 49ers.
And it does explain why the running game looked good.
It's just that they didn't stick to it.
it quite enough because they were a little predictable.
Like I hate to say, but they were a little predictable.
I thought it was interesting that they were distributing carries between Kyron and
Blake Corum almost evenly.
Kyron finishes with 11, quorum with 10.
Corum had a higher per carry average, and I think that speaks to quorum on the field.
Maybe don't take the running game or the running threat as seriously as you do when
Kyron's on the field, although Kyren's the three down back.
It felt like they could just never really find their sweet spot.
They're the getting the slaughter in the pocket of what they want to do offensively and get
comfortable. And when you're most reliable or most productive personnel grouping is also a bit
predictable and you find yourself trailing, that's what happens. So I'm not worried about the running
game at all. That's a great run blocking offensive line. The success rate was plenty high. They had one of
the highest success rates last season in NFL history. And it was basically right there tonight.
They just got taken out of that game. They obviously need Stafford to just be more accurate,
comfortable, you know, fine guys open.
We do have an injury update, by the way.
John Strivelling's Achilles is intact.
There were some people that thought it might be an Achilles
injury.
Kyle Shanan said it is an ankle injury after the game.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that everything's going to be fine.
I loved at the end of the game when Luke Keeckley, who did a great job,
I think, on the Netflix call.
I think if this is the plan, Noah Eagle and Luke
Keekely moving forward.
I accept.
I accept Netflix overlords.
For a first game, great job.
Good energy.
Knows the game really well.
I like this duo.
This is going to be their duo.
I thought it was very telling of like what a kind of player he was where he was like taking
the situation very seriously with three minutes and 30 seconds ago and the Rams got the
ball back by 20.
He's like, all right, you got to come out here.
You got to play fast.
You got to try to score before the two minute warning.
And then he looks up and Stets and Bennett's in the game.
And he's like, what?
And he's like, why are you trying?
But that's like, that's what Luke Kikley would be.
The previous four minutes, he's talking about how,
it's really important that they get a stop soon
because every time they get a first down,
that's about worth of two minutes of game clock off the clock.
And I'm like, Luke, they're down 20 points.
They have no shot.
There's six minutes left in the game.
You can just give up.
And I think he'll adjust that somewhat.
But I also think like it shows what kind of player is.
And he gave some great insights in terms of some of the terminology.
in the Shanahan tree.
He was absolutely fantastic, I think, for a first-timer.
So former NFL Daily guest and around the NFL guest,
Luke Keekley, we're big fans of his.
And I thought he was great.
Before we get out of here, any other big takeaways?
Are you a little worried about the Rams?
Or how much of it are you putting on this really weird situation
of going to Australia?
because they didn't seem like they had juice.
They didn't seem like they had a great plan overall.
It was a unique situation.
But it was also the worst loss they've had.
Nick, I looked this up since week two, I believe, of the 2024 season when Kyler Murray beat them like 41 to 10.
Do you remember that game?
It's crazy that that happened.
I do, actually.
That's the game I use the squirrel analogy to describe.
about watching Tyler Murray play football.
And the Rams rebounded and ended up, you know,
making the playoffs that year and being a good team down the stretch.
But it's the first time they even lost by two scores
since Saquan Barkley ran all over them late in that same season.
It was November that season.
And then they finished that season strong.
They gave Philadelphia a good game in the playoffs.
And they have been money since.
Like, as much as you want to just throw out, it's week one.
it's absolutely true.
They're in a loaded division.
They just lost to the 49ers.
And the reality is they didn't have a game this bad all last season,
like not even close to this bad.
So you just don't like putting that on your resume
if you want to be that elite of a team.
But I will point out,
because what was the narrative with the Rams this entire preseason was
Pooka's not really got a lot of action.
They're worried about his so-as.
Miles Garrett worried about his knee.
He's not getting a lot of action in camp
and obviously not in preseason games.
A year ago, it was Matthew Stafford's back,
was giving him issues.
They won in week one last year, 14 to 9.
Stafford was better, and they did win the game against Houston,
but they still only won 14 to 9.
That was against the Texans defense,
but that's a good point, Chuck.
You always make good points.
They have been notoriously slow starters.
Yes.
Under Sean McFa.
In fact, they've had a losing record
through four or five games about half the time.
Almost every year lately,
they've been two and two, two and three,
one in three, one and two.
too, like they have started slow.
It's absolutely a fair point.
And yet that is not going to quiet down the shouty shows,
as we like to, as our PFF, our former PFF friends,
that check the mic like to call them.
The shows are going to go nuts on the Rams.
The L.A. media, you know, the Rams fans are going to go nuts.
It is going to be like a bit of a panic of this supposed super team over the next week
and a half.
But that's why it's so nice for the season to start.
Yeah, it's going to last until next Monday when they host the Giants in prime time.
And they'll play better and everything will be fine.
I tend to agree.
This loss is valuable, though, for the other team.
And they are now already trailing the Seahawks and the Niners in the division.
Yeah.
To everyone who has been checking out all of our content this week, we really appreciate you.
And we have not been able to provide an injury update, but we did learn.
from Ian Rappaport, our friend, that Sam Darnold is expected to miss at least one game,
but that he will be back sooner than later with his hip injury.
So that is on the real high end of best possible outcomes.
It does sound like this is going to be a three-team race.
I can't remember a division.
And I had my doubts, I got to admit, like the offseason and the offseason and the August,
injuries spooked me a little bit with San Francisco.
The vibes weren't great.
And this one game, you can say it's only week one to have this kind of statement
win, and most importantly, for all those guys to show proof of concept right off
the bat.
Yeah, Debo might not be like Debo all season long, but Nick Bose is back.
Mike Evans has the juice.
And then Fred Warner and his old friend, Dre Greenlaw, helping him out.
like it's just a different team.
It's a different 49ers team.
And the Rams are going to have to go to Santa Clara.
They're going to have to win that game
or else they got swept by the 49ers
and they're in trouble.
It doesn't take long until we got narratives, Nick.
If this is a lesson,
don't willingly surrender a home game in a division
to get an international game.
Man, they are going to be crabby.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on this Thursday night
or if you're in Australia,
you know,
I want to hear from you guys on social
in general how the experience was.
Congratulations to everyone
who put that game together.
I thought it looked great.
You know,
they're at a cricket stadium.
And so there's a huge gap
between the field.
It didn't exactly fit perfectly
as an NFL game,
but it is absolutely packed there.
And they knew what they were cheering for.
Any big hit,
any big special teams play,
they were absolutely in it
and we sent them a lot of superstars.
I wish it was a closer game
but there was a point in the second quarter
where I'm like,
is this the best international
collection of players
and potentially game
we've ever had for them?
The game didn't turn out that,
you know, great
because it was so one-sided.
But you had a lot of future
Hall of Famers on that field.
You had premier head coaches.
You had two Super Bowl contenders.
You don't usually see that
and I thought Australia did a great job hosting.
It was the highest stakes
international game I think we've ever seen.
And I think it was, despite the lopside score, a success.
I totally agree.
And a team in the 49ers that's going to be climbing up the old shooky power rankings.
That's coming next week.
Let's hit that music, Eric.
Let's get out of here.
We will be back for the next time.
In this feed, if you're listening to the podcast with our pick show, Nick is now
making picks against the spread each and every week.
We obviously didn't pick either of these first two games.
We agree.
We have one lock, and you'll have to check it out on Friday.
We'll see you then.
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