49ers-Rams preview: Niners face NFC’s top offense, led by Todd Gurley and Jared Goff
By Chris Wilson
49ers QB C.J. Beathard vs. Rams QB Jared Goff
After an abysmal winless rookie season, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff took a significant step forward in 2017, as he led the Rams to an 11-4 record and a trip to the playoffs. Goff has continued to demonstrate his development in 2018, via improved production and efficiency in many important passing metrics.
During his Pro Bowl sophomore campaign, Goff led the NFL with 12.9 yards per completion and 7.7 adjusted yards per pass attempt. So far this season, Goff has increased those numbers to 14.4 and 9.2, respectively. Goff has averaged 321 passing yards per game and holds a passer rating over 110; the only significant areas where Goff has regressed are interception percentage and sack percentage:
| Year | GS | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | TD% | Int | Int% | Lng | Y/A | AY/A | Y/C | Y/G | Rate | Sk | NY/A | ANY/A | Sk% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 7 | 0-7 | 112 | 205 | 54.6 | 1089 | 5 | 2.4 | 7 | 3.4 | 66 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 9.7 | 155.6 | 63.6 | 26 | 3.75 | 2.82 | 11.3 |
| 2017* | 15 | 11-4 | 296 | 477 | 62.1 | 3804 | 28 | 5.9 | 7 | 1.5 | 94 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 12.9 | 253.6 | 100.5 | 25 | 7.24 | 7.72 | 5.0 |
| 2018 | 6 | 6-0 | 134 | 194 | 69.1 | 1928 | 12 | 6.2 | 5 | 2.6 | 70 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 14.4 | 321.3 | 110.9 | 11 | 9.07 | 9.15 | 5.4 |
| Care | 28 | 17-11 | 542 | 876 | 61.9 | 6821 | 45 | 5.1 | 19 | 2.2 | 94 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 12.6 | 243.6 | 94.2 | 62 | 6.78 | 6.83 | 6.6 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback C.J. Beathard took over for injured starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo at the end of Week 3. As long as Beathard stays healthy and provides the team with serviceable quarterback play, the Niners’ starting quarterback job will be his for the remainder of the 2018 season.
After a rough rookie season last year, Beathard showed stark improvement in his first start of 2018, although he was unable to lead the 49ers to victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Unfortunately, Beathard earned a failing grade the following week, as his four turnovers cost San Francisco the game against the hapless Cardinals.
Beathard’s third start of the season ended in a third loss, but the game was his best performance of the year. Beathard hung tough against the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as the second-year QB outplayed the future Hall-of-Famer for much of the contest. But in the game’s closing minutes, an ill-advised and poorly thrown pass by Beathard ended in an interception, which gave the Rodgers and the Packers the opportunity to drive down the field to win the game:
| Passing | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Week | Tm | Opp | Result | GS | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Sk | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | Rush | Yds | Y/A | TD | TD | Fmb | FF | FR | Yds | TD | |
| 2018-09-23 | 3 | SFO | @ | KAN | L 27-38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2018-09-30 | 4 | SFO | @ | LAC | L 27-29 | * | 23 | 37 | 62.16 | 298 | 2 | 2 | 82.9 | 1 | 10 | 8.05 | 6.70 | 7 | 19 | 2.71 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| 2018-10-07 | 5 | SFO | ARI | L 18-28 | * | 34 | 54 | 62.96 | 349 | 2 | 2 | 78.4 | 4 | 49 | 6.46 | 5.54 | 2 | 7 | 3.50 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2018-10-15 | 6 | SFO | @ | GNB | L 30-33 | * | 16 | 23 | 69.57 | 245 | 2 | 1 | 115.3 | 2 | 18 | 10.65 | 10.43 | 3 | 21 | 7.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
In order for the 49ers to beat Los Angeles on Sunday, Beathard will need to keep pace with Goff and the Rams’ passing attack. While the Rams’ offense will be without one of their top wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Goff will still have ample viable targets at his disposal, so the pressure will be on Beathard provide another high-caliber performance.