St. Louis Rams 20, San Francisco 49ers 6: Defense, Gurley, Rinse, Repeat

A week ago, the St. Louis Rams rode a strong defensive showing early to a 10-3 halftime lead over the Cleveland Browns. More strong defense and some supporting offense from RB Todd Gurley (along with the Browns' four fumbles and 11 penalties) were enough to put the Browns away, 24-6.

Today, it was defense+Gurley a bit earlier with an offensive drive late on the back of Jared Cook (!) seeing the Rams out to a 14-point lead at halftime.

Fisherball is alive and well.

Of course, it started sloppy. The Rams' offensive was a mess early; their first five drives, consisting of 18 plays, racked up a total of 53 yards ending in four punts and a Tavon Austin fumble.

Then...Just Todd Gurley.

JTG's 71-yard touchdown looked to be the only offense the Rams would find in the first half, but a deep connectionfrom QB Nick Foles to TE Jared Cook set up Austin for a short TD.

It's tough to see how the Rams botch this at this point with the defense playing the way they are. And with Gurley getting his big run early, that should open up the rest of the offense.

But with the penalties slowing the game down to a crawl (eight for the Rams, 10 for the Niners), anything's possible...