Rams failed to generate any pressure on 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo

Jimmy Garoppolo has now made 28 starts for the San Francisco 49ers and been sacked 64 times in those games. Garoppolo has been sacked in 25 of those 28 starts and Sunday’s 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams was the third time he had escaped being taken down behind the line of scrimmage by an opposing defense. It was the first time Garoppolo hadn’t been sacked since Week 2 of 2019 against the Cincinnati Bengals and he was sacked 13 times during his injury-shorted three-game 2018 season.

The only other time in his 49ers career that he wasn’t sacked was in Week 17 of 2017, a 34-13 win over the LA Rams.

The Rams had only two pressures on 33 dropbacks, their worst rate as a team since getting zero pressures on Garoppolo’s 33 dropbacks in 2017. Aaron Donald has both pressures on Sunday night and his teammates combined for none, not even when Donald was getting double teamed. It was difficult for LA to do much of anything because San Francisco was moving the ball successfully with passes behind the line of scrimmage and yards after the catch by players like George Kittle and Deebo Samuel.

Something they weren’t able to do with Nick Mullens, who was sacked eight times in barely two and a half games of relief for Garoppolo from Weeks 2-4.

Over the last three weeks, the Rams had 17 sacks, most in the NFL, and that helped them tie for the league lead entering Week 6. They go into Week 8 with the same 20 sacks they had prior to Sunday night.

Despite an impressive tackle for a loss last night, linebacker Leonard Floyd deserves some early season criticism as a free agency whiff after six games. He gets some bonus points for being the healthiest starting linebacker on the team, but Floyd does not get pressure like many of his predecessors on the defense under Wade Phillips did before him. Floyd has two sacks and six QB hits in six games and I can’t say that his general play outside of pass rushing situations stands out in a way that justifies a contract that carries over $3 million in dead money into 2021, when Floyd will probably be playing for a different team.

And yet Floyd is the only other player on the defense other than Donald who even has a reputation for maybe being a pass rusher, at least until Terrell Lewis is ready to contribute and gives us a glimpse of what he could look like as a pro.

The Rams next face Floyd’s old team, the 5-1 Chicago Bears. Quarterback Nick Foles has been sacked four times in four games.