NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 49ers-Rams Week 5 TNF Recap

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook recap a gritty overtime edition of Thursday Night Football between the 49ers and Rams that saw San Francisco come away with an ever-valuable divisional game victory. Mac Jones displayed incredible toughness, Christian McCaffrey dominated the Rams second-level defense, and the Los Angeles running backs ultimately fumbled away the game, with no help from the special teams unit that failed to convert coveted points late.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Stafford gets under center at the 11-yard line. He takes it. He turns. He gives the Karen Williams. He gets packed.

I think he's short, Tim. I think he's short. And the 49ers stormed the field. It is all over. The 49ers have won it in overtime here in L.A. What an unbelievable win. High drama finishes in favor of the MASH unit, the 49ers, and they earned it. The MASH unit 49ers do get it done.

We'll put an asterisk on that earn because the Rams made a lot of mistakes. Welcome in to NFL Daily Thursday night football recap. Patrick Claibon here with Nick Shook, joining you for the comfort of our homes in a game that was in my adopted home of Los Angeles, California, where the 49ers should come up with an improbable win against the Rams, but Matthew Stafford falls to one and four at SoFi against Kyle Shanahan and these 49ers. Good to see you, man. What a finish. What a game. Yeah, good to see you too. I'm trying to think about one and four at Sofi against Kyle Shanahan. That one game he won would have been the NFC championship game on the way to their

Super Bowl victory. I believe so. I'm going to check that while we do this but yeah the the one being a doozy the one that mattered the most but the other ones yeah there are some weird ones in there and this was one of yeah this was definitely weird i mean i feel like um this was a bit of a marathon it was an odyssey of sorts i felt like i needed a nap after it was over um and it was also a fantastic chess match i think of two coaches from the same tree and and again another great example of why we i wish we could have every game in prime vision because it just opens up what you can see. And what you could see there was them both using their approaches,

whether they're going to come in in tight formation and try to capitalize outside the numbers, whether they're going to motion a lot, whether they're going to capitalize on one defense, suddenly switching to man in the fourth quarter and victimizing you with Devante Adams with some potentially illegal slash illegal screens, like setting some natural rubs,

all sorts of different things. It was just back and forth chess match. Chest piece moved here, another piece moved here. I felt like I was sitting in a park and guys are making a move and hitting the clock. Like it was a fantastic back and forth. with a really entertaining game, got weird at times. The finish, a little anti-climactic,

depending on who you were rooting for, I suppose. But a dozy of a Thursday night football game that may make us reconsider the state of the NFC West. Yeah, absolutely. Again, a game that I thought was going to be a rock fight shook. It was going to be like 15 to 12. Ultimately, they're going up and down the field. And so let's look at the history on those chess moves

and start this game with there's dealing. And then there's how Mack Jones started the game on the first few drives. He completed 11 of 13 passes, one to Jake Tonga's for a touchdown. Another one where coming into this game, considering the injuries and the way Kendrick Bourne had played, foreshadding for what we'll discuss as the game goes on, I thought this was going to be all CMC, and it started with a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey, and let's watch and listen to it.

Love the matchup McCaffrey's got right now. Max Jones throws McCaffrey. He's got it. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. touchdown 49ers and it's a two-scored lead here early in the second quarter all nineers at that point shook and when when the call can see the matchup on the goal line and everybody knows uh you know right it's not you don't want to be out there all alone with 23 surprise surprise the result of the touchdown yeah yeah it's a very standard rollout play that you're on the goal line you just hope to

create enough of a crease that your defender's never going to catch up and and undercut that play and of course that's what happened but it really set an early shocking tone that the 49ers were able to grab a 14-0 advantage. It felt like they had prepared perfectly for what they were going to deal with in terms of disadvantageous circumstances, not having Brock Purdy, not having Joanne Jennings, not having Ricky Pearsall. And being forced to play with Mack Jones, who, by the way, a couple weeks ago, suffered a knee injury that he was dealing with against the Cardinals that limited him in that game.

Now, they didn't need him last week, but they certainly needed him tonight, and he needed his inner strength to be able to get through this game. So it was really important for them to get off to that hot start. They basically realized we're going to take what the team. defense gives us. We're going to move down the field efficiently. And I think it caught the Rams by surprise for almost two full quarters before they could kind of figure, you know, regain their bearings and figure out how are we going to counter this? And that's when the chess match really began. Yeah. And one of those finding their bearings was a simple toss play from

Stafford to Blake Corm. It gets credited as a Stafford fumble. But Blake got caught looking for his future instead of the football. And it results in a turnover that the 49ers are able to enjoy that CMC touchdown off. So at that point, 14-0. Again, Mac Jones is dealing. And Kendrick Boren catches a couple of balls on the drive. And then there's a third down where he just puts one on the turf. And there's life for the Rams.

They come back and score on a drive where Stafford uses Ferguson on third down. It's Kyron Williams for a 13-yard score. From that point on, we have a really solid middle of the football game for both teams. Yeah, and that was when I feel like, like you said, new life and really an opportunity for them to get back into this game. What's funny, too, is there was another sequence where the Niners had a chance to potentially go up 21 to 7, and instead they are limited to a 17 to 7, and then they, actually, they kick a field goal, they could go it on 24 to 7. They kick a field goal to make it 20 to 7. And that was like one of those shifting points where you're like, they get in the end zone here, this game might be over. And instead, the Rams bow up and stop them, but it was those flash points within this game where it just like,

the tides just rise and fell, rose and fell throughout this game. And, yeah, it's interesting because another thing that developed throughout this game that I thought really changed the flow of it was the trench play. I know that's like my thing, right? But early on, early on, the Niners are destroying the Rams in the trenches. They're getting great surge. They're doing whatever they want.

They can't get pressure on Mac Jones. They're allowing him to get those balls out quickly. And then by the second half, the Rams realized we have to change the way that we're approaching this game. We have to move Jared Verse into the A gap. We have to mug him in the A gap and just confuse what Max Jones is looking at. And that's another point in the game in which it really changed. But yeah, the Rams needed that first entry back into this game for it to even be an entertaining contest. Yeah, there was, as we get into the second half, Nate Landman.

Great night for him. But we love calling him Landman, makes great play. on a third down where the 49ers ultimately had a fourth and one deep in their own territory. Kyle Shanahan goes for it, but then as they get a little farther down the field, Landman makes that play. And then the ensuing drive is All Stafford to Devante. This is that connection where, you know, there may have been some Bogot illegal screens out there to kind of free up Devonte, you know, at this point, the second half. But you really saw that connection really start to get going. in the middle part of the second half and it leads to a touchdown but carty comes out the extra

points no good and we all put a pin in that one because it just felt like at that point that would have given the rams a one point lead like this this is going to come back and absolutely brutalized loss yeah yeah the rams were kind of peeking around the curtain with their failure in the detail department there would be there was a sequence earlier in the game where they had three drops in a row that that killed one of their drives Corum dropped one of the flats. Kyron Williams dropped one that would have been a first down. They were missing tackles pretty consistently.

They're just a little detail things. They were not doing well. And then the ugly head rears itself again, and that is their field goal unit has not been consistent when it comes to blocking this season. That was their fourth kick blocked this season. We know what happened in Philly with the two kicks blocked. They had one blocked against the Titans.

This one keeps it a tie game and makes us all realize, oh, we're in for one now. Instead of a one-point advantage, we are firmly in the potential overtime zone which is exactly what we ended up getting but yeah it was the details and also on that drive I love the way that this game unfolded because for most of the night

the Niners are playing zone and for some reason they go to Man in that drive and Adams just completely torches them it's just Stafford and Adams like he's running great routes he's separating from a rookie corner we've got a dime from Stafford over the middle in between two defenders to Adams who broke free from another defender and I think even

Herb Street mentioned on the call. He's like, now they're suddenly running man and it's killing them. And I don't think they did it very long. In fact, according to next gen, they only ran man coverage on 10 total defensive plays. And I can see why. But it was a great opportunity for the Rams to get back in the game for Sean McVeigh to quickly identify that and work in tandem with his quarterback to get Devante Adams open, which opened up the rest of their offense. Because for a while, too, Pook and Akul was not a major factor in this game. And then all kind of changed in the second half. Yeah, and especially in the second half, over on the Rams, defensive side of the ball. Braden Fiske had a good shot.

on Mac Jones in the red zone. Well, ultimately it was a scoring drop for the 49ers. Young as well as Turner all got hits on Mac Jones that started to really accumulate on the quarterback. At one point, I wondered if his knee brace shook had actually stabbed him in the calf, and that's what was what he was reacting to

is burst lands on top of him. And so the Rams were able to get a stop. So a tie game, eight minutes to go in the third quarter, a crucial third and one, and it's back to those details you were talking about, Shook, because Devante and Stafford are on different pages on an option route and they wind up punting the ball away

and I wonder how you felt about that play call because I mean, it's two vets, two guys who may be going to Canton, you just you take that L when you can get a change. Yeah, I'm so glad that you brought this up because that was the stretch in the game in which I felt Sean McVeigh, like many

Madden players, for example, fell in love with the past too much. He went away from the run way too heavy in that stretch of time. And I think it was because it worked so well in the previous drive that they're like, let's just keep riding the hot hand. And there was a pass, I think on that drive early in that sequence where he misses downfield where you're like, why are you taking a shot 15 yards down the field when it's first and 10?

I guess I understand that if the passing game is heating up. But second and third down, they're still throwing, they're still throwing, they just became unbalanced. And I think that really pained them in that stretch and allowed, because it was a back and forth. They punted away pretty quickly. the Niners punted away pretty quickly. There was a bit of a stalemate between the two sides

where I felt they both kind of got out of their comfort zone, out of their rhythm and had to reset. And luckily they did because it set up for a great final quarter. Yeah, and that final quarter after Stafforda and Devante can't leak up, it's a spectacular punt. SoFi's going nuts there at the two-yard line. And then we get the Mac Jones Drive shook, the absolute Mac Jones Drive,

which includes dumpoffs to CMC, a couple of balls to Kendrick Bourne. And Eddie Pee, you know, making a kick. His eyes getting big as saucers. He's crunk talking to everybody. He's just doing what Eddie Pinheiro does at this point. But the Rams get the ball. They have an opportunity.

And Alfred Collins, the rookie out of Texas, makes the play of the game on Kairn Williams at the goal line. Stafford takes, gives Kieran Williams, and he is, he fumbled it. The Niners are saying they got it. The play was shy of the line. to gain. Wait for a signal. They're unpiling everybody at the one. The 40-9ers come out of there. Alfred Collins has the football. Oh. And so with so many of these fumble situations, you know,

you get the shot of Carol Williams, getting brutalized over, just doing it to himself on the sideline. He's beside himself. I am of the mindset, joke. When Al Collins, not only hits the ball there. He hits the ball on a follow-through. He essentially punches Kyron Williams in the face. That was just a great defensive play where it's not like Cameron Williams wasn't protecting the football. It's just a big man got a great shot on the ball in a big moment and also recovered it. Just a huge play by the room. We all need to take a moment to thank Charles Peanut Tillman for his impact on the game. He's been retired for a while now, but it is evident in the way guys tackle every Sunday in every game. And this is the third time

I can think of a running back, getting the ball punched out in almost the exact same way on the goal line in the last two weeks. It happened to Ramadre Stevenson against the Steelers in week three. It happened to Brayland Allen against the Dolphins on Monday night at the end of week four. And now we go into week five and you see it in the

first game of that week and it's a crucial play because if he scores there, I think that game is largely over unless the Niners can find a way to get down the field, which I don't think they were going to be able to. And this is just an example of how these Niners, all these injuries that they've that they've suffered.

Like, they are a walking, traveling mash unit. And yet somehow guys step up and make plays in clutch situations like that. It is an absolutely phenomenal tackle. One of the best plays you're ever going to see from an interior defensive lineman with the game on the line coming in from behind and knocking out, and then also recovering it. And I think that it was so shocking in the moment, but it was also at the end of a sequence in which the Rams had all the momentum behind them.

They were cruising down the field. Stafford's hitting Adams. he's hit in Pook. A Kairn Williams bounces a run that was supposed to go left to the right side for a 20-yard gain. They looked destined for the end zone. The Niners could not stop them. And with three feet between the Rams and the lead

and possibly a win, the Niners find a way to respond and keep this thing in a close game. There was daylight between Kairn Williams and the end zone if Collins does not get that ball out. I'd like the case. Collins not only got the ball back, but he prevented the touchdown

because Williams was going in. And, you know, those. who believe in the Mo might ask why it did not provide the Rams with a touchdown because you have to make the plays. You have to do the things. The preceding plays can't make the subsequent play for you. And Alfred Collins understands that. And yeah, shout out to Charles Peanut Tillman, who recently left Cash Patel's FBI, not necessarily aligning with its vision for law enforcement. And so at that point, the 49ers get the ball back. Yay, congratulations. The problem is the Rams had all three of their timeouts.

And Kyle Shanahan, with a quarterback who has struggled to get on and off the field shook at that point, Alex to be very conservative. I also wonder how you feel about that series from the 49ers where they essentially ran about 12 seconds off of the clock and got staff at the ball back around midfield. Yeah, I mean, the entire passing game, the whole evening was predicated on getting the ball out quickly. but when you're backed up against your your own goalpost, you're on the one yard line, the Rams have no reason to respect the deep shot when they know that you have no room to navigate in the pocket and find something deep. So they're going to play press coverage. They're going to create tight passing windows, and it wasn't until that third down

when they got the ball out and got closer to, well, actually it was a prior drive, but like they were in this situation a couple of times because of great puns and then the great punt and then the turnover and it wasn't until the third down after the great punt that they were able to throw the ball toward the sticks. and in that situation, why would I trust Mack Jones to do anything but hand the ball off three times and at least make them burn their timeouts, punt the ball down there, give him, you know, 60 yards or so to work toward, to get into field goal range. You know that their field goal unit's not good and exhaust them of their timeouts so that they at least have to move up tempo and feel the pressure of having to go no huddle in that sort of situation. It made sense, it's a tough situation to be in, but at that point you're at risk management and with a three-point lead clinging to it on the road, even though it was kind of a home environment,

it made the most sense to me, even if it was definitely not aggressive. And so the Rams get the ball back. There's a Cardi field goal. We go into overtime. In overtime, Mac and CMC link up. There's another completion to Kendrick-Born. Eddie P puts one through, and we're thinking, okay, Stafford of the Rams, get the ball back. They have an opportunity to go and score.

And then we get the sequence that ultimately led to the game deciding play, Shook. there was a we discussed before we got going here immediately after the game there's a a third in short they they get not a lot of the yard it's a fourth and one ultimately for the game Sean McVe is calling the play immediate as soon as the receiver catches the ball short of the line to game the play calls immediately plays in motion Kyle Shanahan calls time out They go to a different play. What do you think took place there between Sean McVeigh and Kyle Shanahan in that timeout?

Because I think that timeout by the one in the game. Yeah, I think it did too. And I think your theory that we discussed before is absolutely right, that they were going to run the play that they were in repeatedly to Cooper Cup in the Super Bowl. And they have a guy to do that. They have two guys that they can team up to make that happen again in Devante Adams and Pooka Nakua. And I think they got the look that they wanted. And Kyle knew, again, this goes back to being from the same coaching tree,

having so much experience coaching against each other. He knew exactly what was coming, and he was going to do everything within his power. Burn that last timeout to stop it from happening right before his eyes. And yeah, I agree, because that timeout forced Sean to think twice to come out and try to draw them offside, and that didn't work. And at that point, it gets weird because you're like, well, I've already committed to going for it on fourth and one. I've already taken the confidence out of my kicker's brain that I think that he can kick it, even though it was a makeable field goal. You're almost overly committed to it and you have to do it now. you've already kind of sealed your own fate.

The call itself on fourth and short was very regrettable. And that doesn't even come down to the results. It comes down to the fact that you did not win the trench battle for most of the night, save for when you had some improvisation on the part of your running back. And their right side of their line gets completely caved in by Michael Williams. And Kyra Williams, as soon as I saw it from the snap, the prime vision camera is directly over the play. And you can see the right side line just get caved in.

And I'm like, as soon as the ball snapped and they hand it off, I just went going nowhere, not going to get it. I've never had a chance. And I think that that was when Kyle and Sean caught themselves in a staring match, neither refused to blink, and one of them paid the price for it. And these two have had some great ones. They've gone back and forth. And it reminds me last year, Shook, when there was a Hurt Rams team,

they got an out of nowhere win against the 49ers. The rolls have reversed. The 49ers got their revenge. And they got a win. And the Rams will, you know, have a chance to go on the road and take on a hurt Ravens team, which, you know, a lot of folks dealing with injuries right now on October 12th, and the 49ers are going to be on the road to take on the Buccaneers on that same day.

The extra rest needed after this one, because they got the bonus football on Thursday night with Al and Kirk on the call and, you know, Sam on the call, for those of us, ball knowers who are also watching on Prime Vision, which is, I mean, superior yeah before we say goodbye um you guys got to watch the prime vision version of the broadcast it's it's everything we wanted as children um and we get it we get it once i could i could probably do without some of the overlays following the players in certain certain instances because it like complicates the picture a little bit but everything else is just you can see how defensive how defensive defenses roll their shells and their coverages they'll show quarters they roll it to three

You see a safety come down and try to play the robber. You can see stunts. You can see how pre-stamp motion diagnosis man and how they instantly have guys open. The Rams or the 49ers, Sam comes on and starts talking about how down here the 49ers like to run condensed sets and target outside the numbers. And they instantly go to Bourne for a completion that sets him up for a first down and an opportunity to get some points on the board. And I'm like, this is beautiful when it happens because he's right. He goes back to it again and it doesn't quite work out for them. But I'm like, this is the marriage of analytics and advanced metrics scouting.

and watching it all play out in real time. And I think it's such an informative tool. This game itself is so worth watching. Going back and watching, if you have NFL Plus, watch the Prime Vision replay of it, because it will help you learn so much about the chess match that we just watch so much more than the traditional broadcast gives you. And I think it's just a great example of how two coaches

can go back and forth in a game, and you can watch it all unfold before your eyes. And it also makes you realize how fast these games go. Because when you're watching on TV, you're seeing shots at the sideline shots, the coach shots of fans then they're breaking the huddle that's not really happening when you're watching Prime Vision and you realize oh my god this play clock

this 30 seconds is for real between these two guys and I want to make one last note because the story at halftime was all about Mac Jones and an essential reason why the Niners won this game is because of the play of Mac Jones it's also because of how Kyle Shanahan's schemed up to get Mac comfortable but I don't think it happens if he doesn't have his old

Patriots teammate Kendrick Bourne out there because they hooked up for 10 catches for 142 yards, and he was an absolutely vital part of this offense. And it just goes to show that even when you're without your top two, top three receivers, if you want to count Brandon Ayyuk, that guy you picked up because the Patriots let go can play a huge role in your offense, and a lot of it has to do with familiarity in a big spot. Yeah, a key part, because I remember there was the game before Kendrick Bourne signed, and they asked Kyle in the post game, you know, what's going on with Kendrick Bourne. It's like, we tried.

And I'm assuming Kendrick was telling them, you know, yesterday's price was not today's price. And ultimately, they found the correct price that led to a win on Thursday night football. A thank you to Guy Hibberman and Tim Ryan of KSFO for the calls a spectacular win for the 49ers of a spectacular football game for us all to watch again on Prime Vision. So you won't be going into work on Friday and talking about the 49ers wanting it more. You can talk about manipulating the middle of the field defender within this college. for Nick Shook. Playbond,

forward to wrapping up these games for week five coming up on Sunday. Enjoy the rest of you Friday. See you in the football team. Bye. Hey, everybody.

Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends,

and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies.

Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.