On defense, the Rams are facing third downs at an average of 12.6 times per game (middle of the league by slim margins); however, they’re also allowing conversions at an average of 5.4 times per game (24th-worst in the NFL, tied with Cleveland) and eight in their last game alone. On average, that is about a 43 percent conversion allowance rate on third down. Against the 49ers, who only ran the ball for an average of 3.5 yards per carry and more as a clock-killer and less so as a play-creator, third down was the ultimate killer for the Rams. Jimmy Garoppolo converted all five first-half third downs, and ultimately 8-of-13 attempts were successful. He did so by getting the ball to his “Joker” players at a quicker rate than usual (his time to throw was second-lowest in his career), and between the Rams at times not being in an effective enough position to counter those players — at times cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who the Rams literally have tried to make an “unavoidable” player to quarterbacks, was getting completely schemed out of plays — but also, the non-Ramsey players in the second and third levels at which the 49ers then directed the action points were not containing on those plays (whether because they weren’t prepared, or simply were not executing remains a Raheem Morris question to be answered later in the week). The 49ers were also better prepared in countering the spots they believed the Rams’ defensive staff would pick for Ramsey, particularly on passing downs, and tried things like aligning top receiver Deebo Samuel out of the backfield to negate Ramsey as a “cover” player against him because of the run threat Samuel poses. The fourth-and-6 touchdown (out of empty formation) by Samuel showed Ramsey completely out of the play, and three other Rams defensive backs missing their initial contain of Samuel at the catch point on the inside throw. There’s a balance still to be struck within this Rams defense, between scheme and execution, and they’re running out of times to show they have found it on a consistent basis.

Not every team has a Samuel, or a George Kittle, and certainly most teams don’t have both. But, McVay allowed, the Rams would be naïve to imagine that others won’t at least try to scheme certain players away from Ramsey in similar ways moving forward, particularly on those crucial third downs. The Rams have to be prepared for that.