NFL Week 10 Game Recap: San Fransisco 49ers 31, Los Angeles Rams 10

The Los Angeles Rams failed to give a warm welcome to new teammates Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. The Tennessee Titans dominated the Rams on national television in Week 9, and the San Francisco 49ers proceeded to do the same in Week 10, smashing the Rams 31-10 on Monday night.

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The playoff race is as murky as ever after chaos struck early in Week 10 and subsequently continued on Monday Night Football.

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San Francisco 49ers

Quarterback

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo didn't have to do any heavy lifting in this outing, finishing with only 20 dropbacks. Garoppolo finished with a 2.08-second average time-to-throw, a 6.6-yard average depth of target and zero deep pass attempts. He completed 12 of his 13 passes less than nine yards downfield for 115 yards.

Running Backs

In addition to making some plays as a receiver, wide receiver Deebo Samuel made a dent on the ground, churning out 36 rushing yards on five attempts. One of those runs went for a touchdown while another two moved the chains for San Francisco.

Runnin back Elijah Mitchell led the way with 27 carries while Jeff Wilson received 10. Mitchell had the 49ers' only explosive run plays of the night, taking two of his carries for a gain of 10 or more yards. All 91 yards of his came after contact.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

The 49ers' passing offense filtered through dynamic receivers Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. Those two performed well in what was a run-centric offense versus the Rams. Samuel and Kittle combined for eight of San Francisco’s nine first downs/touchdowns through the air.

San Francisco’s top two pass-catchers on MNF

Offensive Line

Trent Williams was the only starting 49ers offensive lineman who didn’t allow a single pressure on San Francisco’s six true pass set reps. The rest of the unit allowed five total pressures on such plays. Overall, the group allowed seven pressures on 20 dropbacks. Guards Daniel Brunskill (three) and Laken Tomlinson (two) both allowed multiple pressures.

Defensive Line

Star edge defender Nick Bosa was largely unproductive outside of his one sack. He finished with an 11% pass-rush win rate for the game while avoiding Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth for almost the entire game. Bosa still did account for four of San Francisco's seven pressures from edge defenders, which goes to show how little the Niners' defensive front impacted this game.

Linebackers

Fred Warner finished a middling PFF grade for the game (upon first review). He was downgraded on nearly half of his run snaps and allowed four receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown. Azeez Al-Shaair, meanwhile, was a bit cleaner in both facets. He allowed only one first down in coverage while accumulating three passing stops and finishing with more positives than negatives against the run game.

Secondary

Have a day, Jimmie Ward! The Niners safety came away with two interceptions while allowing zero catches on three targets in coverage against the Rams. Ward moved all over the field, playing eight snaps in the box, 12 in the slot and 33 at free safety. Wherever he was at, he played mistake-free football.

Rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga also held his own in coverage on Monday night. Hufanga didn’t allow a catch while forcing an incompletion. He’ll join Ward as San Francisco’s highest-graded defensive backs in this game.

Slot corner K’Waun Williams, on the other hand, did not have a strong night. He was picked on, as he allowed 10 on 11 targets for 91 yards. In addition to that, Williams was penalized twice.

Los Angeles Rams

Quarterback

The Rams passing offense could not get in sync. Quarterback Matthew Stafford and his receiving unit both made their fair share of their mistakes that ultimately led to their downfall. 

Stafford endured six total drops for the game — the most in a single game with the Rams and tied for the fourth-most of his entire career. And one of those drops turned into a Jimmie Ward pick-six.

Stafford interception targeting OBJ ????
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— PFF (@PFF) November 16, 2021

Stafford, meanwhile, produced three turnover-worthy plays for the second consecutive game. He didn’t complete any of his four deep pass attempts, which included a deep shot to Odell Beckham Jr. early on in the contest that was intercepted. Beckham stopped his route on a broken play, and Stafford heaved the ball in the direction that he thought Beckham was headed.

Least efficient passing offense from the Rams in 2021 (w/ rank for the week)

Running Backs

The Rams were forced into come-from-behind mode for a large portion of the game, which caused them to abandon the ground game. The running back room only saw nine carries Monday night — five to Darrell Henderson Jr. and four to Sony Michel — only two of which went for a first down. 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Van Jefferson (43 routes), Cooper Kupp (42) and Ben Skowronek (33) all played more than Beckham, as expected, but the former Cleveland Brown was targeted at a decent rate on his limited snaps. As noted above, Beckham was a part of an interception early on, and he proceeded to see a couple of more targets throughout the rest of the game.

Odell Beckham Jr. in his Los Angeles Rams debut

Jefferson and Kupp were each responsible for two drops while Skowronek and tight end Tyler Higbee each had one.

Kupp was the Rams' most productive receiver with 2.90 yards per route run for the night, which was 1.26 yards more than the second-most (Beckham).

Offensive Line

The Rams offensive line held its own with a massive 44-dropback workload. The unit as a whole lost 12 reps collectively — nine of which were charged as a pressure. Soon-to-be 40-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth was the top performer, as he didn't lose a single pass block in the game. Whitworth was the NFL's highest-graded tackle in pass-protection entering Week 10 and that’s not changing after Monday night.

Defensive Line

Von Miller overcame a minor ankle injury to play his first game in a Rams uniform. Unfortunately, he was on the receiving end of a major pancake courtesy of tight end George Kittle:

George Kittle destroyed Von Miller ????

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— PFF (@PFF) November 16, 2021

But outside of that, Miller performed admirably all things considered. 

Von Miller in his Los Angeles Rams debut

The Rams' interior defensive line was one of the lone bright spots throughout the evening. Aaron Donald was disruptive against the run, boasting a 45% positive grade play rate. He recorded four run stops — two of which were tackles for loss. Marquise Copeland and Greg Gaines also got in on the fun with Donald. Copeland posted five run stops while Gaines recorded two.

Linebackers

Ernest Jones and Troy Reeder both finished the game with poor grades against the run and in coverage (upon first review). Jones was out of position on a handful of San Francisco’s rushing attempts, allowed a first down in coverage and missed a tackle. Reeder’s run defense was an even bigger issue, as he finished with a 25% negative and 8% positive grade play rate (upon first review).

Secondary

Coverage wasn’t a big factor for the Rams given the way the game played out, but Jalen Ramsey still managed to produce a standout performance. Ramsey forced two incompletions while allowing zero yards across 18 coverage snaps. He did have a facemask penalty, but that wasn't enough to ruin what was quality night from one of PFF’s highest-graded defensive backs.