St. Louis at San Francisco

Oh no… what an unfortunate matchup for those poor, poor Rams.  St. Louis can’t move the ball against teams like the Browns or the Cardinals; what do you think will happen on the road against a motivated 49ers defense?  Sam Bradford would have better luck digging out of Candlestick Park with a rusty teaspoon then he will actually scoring enough points on the 49ers to grab a win.  I’m still not entirely sure how the Rams beat the Saints; the more I watch both teams play, the more puzzled I get.  The Rams come off a bad loss to a Cardinals team that was a one trick pony… all they did was hand the ball off the Beanie Wells over and over again, and that was more than enough to get a win.  The 49ers come off a loss in the Harbaugh Bowl on Thanksgiving, and Jim is probably looking to punish someone for losing out on the family bragging rights… don’t stand on the tracks when the train’s coming through.  Unfortunately for these Rams, they’re not just standing on the tracks; someone tied them down crotch first toward the locomotive.

The Rams will try to establish the running game with Steven Jackson, and unfortunately that’s exactly what the 49ers will expect and will load up the box to stop him.  Bradford hasn’t shown the capability to beat anyone this season, so the 49ers can probably just man up against the receivers and win most of the battles.  The only time that won’t work is if Bradford can find Brandon Lloyd, which he usually does between 6-8 times per game.  The 49ers won’t sweat that, as 6-8 catches by Lloyd isn’t going to win any games if the other receivers can’t combine to get more than that.  Lloyd is obviously the only decent start here, and even that is borderline; if you have other options for Jackson, you should use them.

For the 49ers, they’ll also establish the run early, which is about as easy as clubbing a baby seal when you’re talking about running on the Rams.  This could very well be the best game of the year for Frank Gore; the only real worry for Gore owners is that the 49ers won’t actually need him to roll up a ton of yardage to beat the Rams, and Kendall Hunter will split more often than he normally would.  Both Gore and Hunter should be good plays here, so if you need a flex, you could probably do a lot worse than rolling with Hunter this week.

Unfortunately for the 49ers passing game, they probably won’t be needed much.  In fact, it wouldn’t be all that surprising for Alex Smith to throw for less than 25 passes and 200 yards or less; which means this stands to be more of a mediocre game for Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis, though you’d be hard-pressed to not start them due to the soft matchup.  Both Crabtree and Davis should still get up into the double digits for points, but don’t expect world-beating numbers.  In the end this will probably be a laugher of a game, but more of the 23-6 ilk than a higher scoring affair.

Good Start:  RB Frank Gore, RB Kendall Hunter, WR Michael Crabtree, TE Vernon Davis

Middle of the Road:  RB Steven Jackson

Bad Start:  All other Rams, WR Braylon Edwards

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