5 winners (and 3 losers) from 49ers' commanding Australian win over Rams

If the San Francisco 49ers are supposedly the third fiddle in what's anticipated to be a tight race in the NFC West this season, they certainly didn't look the part after walloping the "home team" Los Angeles Rams in the NFL's first-ever game in Australia, 27-7.

In fact, it's hard to find much fault when looking at the Niners' overall efforts. Offensively and defensively, head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad was the superior team, and special teams performed admirably enough, too.

About the only wincing points were potentially serious injuries suffered by tight end Jake Tonges and wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling, who were carted off the field during the first half.

Most importantly, though, San Francisco pulled off a victory over a key divisional rival, which may have serious consequences, come January.

Here are five winners and three losers from the affair.

Winners and losers from 49ers' convincing win over Rams in Australia

Winner: QB Brock Purdy

Aside from a poorly thrown interception in the first half, Purdy vastly outplayed his counterpart, reigning MVP Matthew Stafford, by tossing three touchdowns on 25 completions while even scrambling for 29 yards on the ground.

And his 39-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson was a thing of beauty—Australian 49ers fans had to love seeing it:

Watching Purdy wholly outperform Stafford on an international stage certainly has to make the former's critics wince just that much more.

Loser: WR De'Zhaun Stribling

If there's good news regarding Stribling, Shanahan told reporters the receiver's Achilles was intact, so his injury doesn't appear to be of the season-ending variety.

Still, even an ankle issue could be devastating for the rookie's first year in the pros.

Stribling was awfully impressive during the rookie season and has a trajectory that points toward him being a major fixture in the Niners offense for years.

Hopefully, the injury is a mere minor setback, but it's potentially a brutal blow to the start of a promising career.

Winner: WR Mike Evans

Purdy and Evans looks like it'll be a thing to watch this season. The longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneer who switched coasts this offseason was a key go-to, hauling in six passes for 49 yards and a touchdown, often making contested catches look easy.

While Evans missed much of training camp and the preseason with minor injuries, and health will remain a concern, there's no doubting the fact his presence is working wonders for San Francisco's offense already.

Loser: DE Myles Garrett

Without question, the No. 1 offseason move that convinced nearly ever NFL pundit Los Angeles was the Super Bowl favorite was acquiring the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Garrett, from the Cleveland Browns.

Well, Garrett was a non-factor. Literally.

True, in-game reports suggested Garrett wasn't 100-percent healthy for the contest, but the fact he was held off the stat sheet—zero tackles, zero sacks, zero QB hits—is astounding.

Apparently, it's the first game he's played since 2018 where he failed to log a single quarterback pressure.

Winner: 49ers O-line

Left tackle Trent Williams deserves a ton of credit for helping shut Garrett down, but L.A.'s pass rush is potent enough not to rely solely on Garrett.

That didn't matter, though, as Purdy was kept upright throughout, not sacked at all and only hit twice. True, Shanahan's game plan focused on quick passes, screens and such to keep Los Angeles' pass-rushers honest, but Williams and the rest of the offensive line more than held its own.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the 49ers churned out 174 yards on the ground, averaging 5.8 yards per attempt, meaning last year's run-blocking struggles appear to be a thing of the past.

Loser: Rams PR department

The Rams' decision to travel late certainly backfired, and it appeared to do so in several ways.

One can argue L.A. opting not to arrive early and acclimate to the time change made head coach Sean McVay's club sluggish throughout all four quarters, and perhaps there's some truth to that.

But, arguably the bigger difference was the fact the Niners got out there early, met with the fans and won several of them over in advance of the game. When kickoff arrives, it was evidently clear the majority of fans in attendance at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Grounds were pulling for the red and gold.

Not the blue and yellow, despite Los Angeles having marketing rights to Australia.

Perhaps the Rams may want to rethink how they represent themselves down under moving forward.

Winner: RB Kaelon Black

Make no mistake, Christian McCaffrey remains San Francisco's bell-cow running back, but it was refreshing to see Shanahan employ a legitimate one-two punch out of the backfield.

In fact, Black's 14 carries outnumbered CMC's 10, although the latter made more of a difference in the receiving game with five catches for 20 yards.

Still, the 49ers have mostly lacked a true No. 2 option behind McCaffrey since his arrival to the Bay Area in 2022, and the fact Black not only rushed for 65 yards on those 14 carries, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt, but also helping disspell the notions of him being overdrafted goes a long way toward his overall importance.

Excellent performance from the rookie.

Winner: Australian 49ers fans

This could be applied to the thousands upon thousands of Aussie fans who turned out to watch the first-ever NFL game down under, but especially for those Australian Niners fans, Week 1's win had to be incredible.

Quite literally, every San Francisco player who was asked about the subject postgame had nothing but amazing things to say about the experience, especially the fans, who made their presence felt before, during and (probably) after the game.

From the hospitality to the passion for an American sport, the Aussie Faithful showed up and showed out.

They deserved to see their beloved 49ers win on their home soil.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow