Rams vs. 49ers: Full Week 16 preview, analysis and breakdown
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers host the Los Angeles Rams in a prime-time Week 16 showdown at Levi’s Stadium, and Niner Noise breaks down the contest with the latest news and matchups to watch.
While it stunk, the San Francisco 49ers‘ Week 15 loss to the visiting Atlanta Falcons wasn’t too bad a setback in the grand scheme of things. Despite dropping from the No. 1 seed to No. 5 in the NFC playoff picture, the Niners can still win out their remaining schedule and will likely reclaim both the top seed and the NFC West divisional crown.
Winning out is going to have to include beating the visiting Los Angeles Rams this Saturday, however.
At 8-6, the Rams’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. They’re not eliminated just yet, but the Niners could essentially deliver the final blow by pulling off a home win in the prime-time flexed game Saturday night.
A few weeks ago, this might have seemed like a tall task. Los Angeles was playing better football, had a revamped defense and was getting more from quarterback Jared Goff. But that was before the Rams lost a 44-21 debacle on the road versus the Dallas Cowboys last week, which showed many of the same problems head coach Sean McVay’s squad has been dealing with seemingly all season.
The 49ers have been dealing with problems, too, especially in the injury department. And while a number of setbacks are of the season-ending variety, the Niners are going to be getting some much-needed reinforcements back, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
With that as a backdrop, Niner Noise breaks down this NFC West showdown by looking at the numbers, quarterback comparison, injury report, matchups to watch and much more.