Add The California Post on Google SANTA CLARA — The San Francisco 49ers regrouped Wednesday for their first practice since returning home from Australia, and they packed more than a division win into their luggage.
They brought home answers to two of their biggest questions.
Forget the health concerns surrounding their biggest stars — Kyle Shanahan knows he can count on Brock Purdy to run the offense, Christian McCaffrey to do big things anytime he gets the ball, Fred Warner to fly around the defense, Nick Bosa to get into the backfield and so on.
Of course, they all lived up to that billing and more in the 27-7 Week 1 win over the Rams.
But what might explain the margin more than anything, what turned an evenly matched rivalry game into an epic rout, were wins in two areas the 49ers never could have seen coming:
Just think about where the Niners are now compared to their state the week before kickoff.
They had lost two defensive linemen — Alfred Collins and Sam Okuayinonu — and were so short at the position that they had to fly in help from more than 8,000 miles away. They had tried out five candidates to start at left guard and had yet to declare a winner.
On both counts, the concerns felt less dire when the team took the practice field Wednesday.
Not only was the 49ers’ pass rush able to put constant pressure on Matthew Stafford, it was another story for the Rams’ defensive front coming after Brock Purdy.
Neither team recorded a sack, but the 49ers were able to generate pressure on 37.5% of the Rams’ dropbacks, compared to only seven of Purdy’s 36 attempts (19%) coming under duress.
Of course, Trent Williams won his matchups with a less-than-100% Myles Garrett.
But the unsettled interior of the 49ers’ offensive line took care of business, too.
Connor Colby played all 65 snaps at left guard and gave Shanahan no reason to rotate in rookie Carver Willis, the runner-up in the competition. According to Pro Football Focus, both of Christian McCaffrey’s biggest gains — a 16-yard scamper and another 14-yarder — came while running into one of the two gaps on either side of Colby.
“I thought he did awesome,” McCaffrey said. “Not just doing his job but going above and beyond, finishing guys downfield. He did an incredible job. I think the whole O-line really set the tone for that game.”
San Francisco finished with 174 yards on the ground on 30 attempts — 101 of those yards came on 18 handoffs between the tackles. On average, Niners ball carriers made it almost three yards (2.79) before even making contact with a defender, best in the NFL in Week 1.
“I thought they were unbelievable,” Shanahan said of the interior offensive line. “The pass protection especially, just a huge challenge going against that team and the way they were all tied together as a unit. A lot of good individual plays, but just how they did as a group throughout the whole game was really impressive. And they run-blocked very well too.”
If there’s one caveat, at least in the passing game, Shanahan’s screen-heavy scheme got the ball out of Purdy’s hands quickly and the Rams rarely rushed more than four.
But the undermanned Niners front seven didn’t need to blitz to break into the Rams’ backfield.
In Raheem Morris’ debut as defensive coordinator, you could count on one hand the number of times the 49ers sent someone other than a defensive lineman after the passer: Three times by Fred Warner and once apiece by cornerbacks Upton Stout and Deommodore Lenoir.
And yet, San Francisco was still able to hurry Rams quarterbacks seven times and hit them on seven other plays for 14 total pressures, already more than an eighth of the way to their total from last season, when they ranked third-from-the-bottom with a 16.7% pressure rate.
“I thought [Morris] did a real good job just mixing up the fronts, the looks, the stunts, picking the right times when to pressure, some four-man, some five-man,” Shanahan said. “He mixed it up really well throughout the game.”
Even Khalid Kareem, who began the week on Atlanta’s practice squad and made the journey to Australia on his own, got on the field for 19 snaps and came away with a hurry.
“Usually guys this time of year, you don’t expect a guy to be that ready,” Bosa said. “He told us about his travel beforehand too. He was all over the states before he came to Australia. It was rough. But he looked pretty good.”
The same goes for the two things thought to be the 49ers’ biggest issues.
