By The Los Angeles Rams outlasted the San Francisco 49ers 12-6 in a rainy affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Thursday night.
In a game that featured two teams playing on four-days rest, both offenses struggled to get much going throughout.
San Francisco managed to score a field goal, on a drive that was kickstarted when quarterback Brock Purdy connected with tight end George Kittle for a 33-yard gain. Several plays later, 49ers kicker Jake Moody nailed a 53-yarder to give San Francisco a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Rams would tie the game in the second quarter following a successful 48-yard field goal by Los Angeles Kicker Joshua Karty.
However, that’s as much offense as both teams would generate, as both teams combined to punt the ball a total of seven times in the opening quarter.
Rams quarterback Matt Stafford called it a “tough” game, pointing to the weather for having an affect on the play.
“Obviously, we didn’t start great. I hit two 49ers in the chest early on, which is not great,” Stafford said, joking about his early struggles. “But, you got to keep being resilient and bounce back. The defense did a hell of a job keeping us in it early.”
Los Angeles scored three field goals in the fourth quarter, while getting a key interception with just over five minutes left to seal the victory.
According to the Amazon broadcast, Thursday night’s game was the first time in 152 meetings between the two teams that neither scored a touchdown through the first three quarters.
Despite not scoring a touchdown, Rams head coach Sean McVay praised his team for being able to win in a “variety of ways.”
“We just had a 44-42 game – we have a ton of respect for this group,” McVay said. “I thought the defense just came big time and time out. Josh Karty to be able to hit four field goals. … We love to be able to finish with touchdowns but sometimes you got to win ugly. There’s no style points.”
With the victory, Los Angeles improves to 8-6 on the season, winning seven of their last nine games, and now hold a 50% chance of clinching a playoff spot, according to NFL.com.
“We can go out and play with anybody. It’s about us not being ourselves” said Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner. “Everything that happened tonight, that’s us playing our brand of ball. That’s us not kicking ourselves in the foot. At the end of the day that’s the type of team that we are.”
Meanwhile, the 49ers drop to 6-8 and sit in last place in the NFC West with their chances for a playoff berth falling to under one percent.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media after the game that linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to play when called upon in the third quarter.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said.
Campbell, a nine-year veteran, had started in 12 of the team’s 13 games in place of the injured Dre Greenlaw, who made his season debut on Thursday after tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl last season.
“When someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” Shanahan added. “That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football, that’s pretty simple. I think our team and myself, we know how we feel about that. So, I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.”
Shanahan said he wasn’t sure if the team would release Campbell.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle called Campbell’s decision ‘selfish.’
“That is one person, who just decided not to play for his teammates,” Kittle said. “It’s one person making a…selfish decision. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that and I hope I’m never around anyone that does that again.
This story has been updated with additional information.
