49ers @ Rams Week 2 Game Preview

San Francisco 49ers @ Los Angeles Rams

The Rams and 49ers meet for a divisional showdown on Sunday afternoon in what is one of the more intriguing matchups with an 8.5-point spread that I can remember. 

History is not on the Rams' side, however, as they’ve lost eight straight regular-season matchups against Kyle Shanahan’s crew. 

That being said, the Rams were one of the more surprising teams from Week 1, dominating another division rival when they beat the Seattle Seahawks by 17 points.

Matthew Stafford looked like his old self again, slicing and dicing the Seahawks' defense in all areas of the passing game.

A key component of this success was the fact that Stafford was kept clean. Seattle recorded no sacks and they generated pressure on less than 25% of Stafford’s dropbacks. This allowed him to push the ball down the field and record the third-highest average depth of throw among all QBs in Week 1. 

With Cooper Kupp out of the lineup for at least the first four games, the Rams were searching for answers at WR and they found it in the form of Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell who saw a whopping 61% of the team’s targets combined.

Nacua was particularly impressive in his pro debut, with his 40% TPRR and 140 air yards both ranking within the top 5 at the position.

The other big surprise for the Rams offense was that Kyren Williams was the clear lead back over Cam Akers. While Akers eventually ended up with more carries, that wasn’t the case while the game was close. 

Add in the fact that Williams dominated the backfield in passing situations and he could be in line for RB1 usage most weeks if this continues. 

Unfortunately, these Week 1 breakout stars are facing an entirely different animal in Week 2 against the San Francisco 49ers’ defense. 

This 49ers unit dominated the Steelers offense last week and is the number one overall defense in the Fantasy Life Unit Ranks.

So if you were fortunate enough to grab Nacua, Atwell, or Williams on waivers in your league this week, don’t panic if they fall short of what you saw from them in Week 1.

While the Rams looked like a team that could be in the Wild Card hunt come December, the 49ers confirmed their status as one of the few truly elite teams in the NFC. The defense was expected to be dominant, but the offense proved almost equally as potent. 

Watching on Sunday you’d never know that Brock Purdy had UCL surgery just 6 months ago as he commanded the field and distributed the ball to all the explosive weapons in this offense.

Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey each saw 5+ targets in Week 1. But it was Aiyuk who truly stole the show.

He caught all 8 of his targets and turned them into 129 yards and two TDs, which was good enough for the overall WR2 fantasy performance on the week.

In the backfield, fears of CMC splitting time with Elijah Mitchell turned out to be greatly exaggerated as McCaffrey handled the large majority of rushing and receiving work despite the game being in hand early. 

It’s worth noting that Mitchell did miss a chunk of the offseason with an injury. So I’m not willing to lock CMC into this level of usage every week, especially in blowouts. 

The 49ers have the long game in mind so we’ll have to see how the season progresses. It wouldn’t surprise me to see some weeks where Mitchell is more involved than we may like.

That being said, fantasy managers should be encouraged by the team’s willingness to unleash the full CMC experience in Week 1.

Although the 49ers are going up against a Rams defense that over-performed in Week 1, it is unlikely to remain an above-average unit this season

 You should feel confident starting any of the top-four options in this offense next week.