Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. St. Louis 13 at San Francisco 37 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW St. Louis Rams: The Rams looked and played flat. They couldn't get anything going offensively, and the defense could not contain the 49er offense running or passing. QB Jamie Martin is not a savior. If your fantasy team is struggling and banking on him being a waiver wire gem, you're out of luck. He struggled today just as Kurt Warner has been struggling all of September. The receivers weren't open very often, and they're never wide open. Remember (back in the day) when you'd see streams of St. Louis hi-lights where a WR would simply trot into the endzone? Those days look to be no more As bad as the offense is right now, the defense is no better. They were physically beat at every position. The 49ers offense line overpowered the defensive line. The 49ers backs took it to the linebackers. The 49ers WRs pushed around the DBs. It was a sad sight. RB Marshall Faulk left the game in the 3rd quarter after a pile up. He had bad back spasms afterwards, but returned to play a few series later in the game and then left for good with 6 minutes left in the game. San Francisco 49ers: The 49ers dominated a very flat Rams team on both sides of the ball. Garcia threw the ball well (18/26 for 214 yards, 1 passing TD, 1 rushing TD) and had no interceptions. The offensive line did a great job protecting Garcia and opening holes for RBs Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow. The San Francisco defense put more speed on the field than did the St. Louis offense. They played far more aggressively and seemed to want it more. RBs Garrison Hearst ( 13/116 rushing 1 TD, 4/17 rec) and Kevan Barlow (10/50, no TD's) ran all over the hapless Ram defense, especially in the second half of the game. Hearst was especially effective averaging almost 9 yards a run. Don't get too down on QB Jeff Garcia just yet. Garcia had a good day, picking apart the Rams secondary in the first half and going 18/26 for 214 yards and 2 TD's (one rushing) in the game with no interceptions. WR Terrell Owens had a good day receiving, going 7/89 but no TD's. He dominated the undersized Rams secondary, especially Dre Bly, who was matched up on him all day. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW St. Louis Rams QB: Jamie Martin (23/40 for 232 1 TD / 2 INTs) put on his best Kurt Warner impression and succeeded. Too bad for Rams fans it was the 2002 Warner that Martin was mimicking. If you snagged Martin cheap this year hoping for great stats, you will be disappointed. There are many things wrong with the St. Louis offense. Jamie Martin will be a mediocre (at best) QB while starting here. He looked a bit unsure of himself, although he did do a good job of spreading the ball around to his receivers. He did not take many shots at all downfield. He also threw two interceptions, which led to a field goal and a TD respectively. A third interception was negated by a roughing the passer call on the 49ers. Martin did toss a late game TD to back up RB Lamar Gordon. Another TD pass to Torry Holt was called back on an offensive interference call on Holt. His offensive line failed to provide good pass protection, and Martin had to rush a lot of his throws. Over all, a mediocre performance from Martin, who was not helped by a poor performance form his offensive line. RB: Marshall Faulk (18/73 rushing, 7/37 receiving, no TD's) was expected to carry the load for back up QB Jamie Martin, but was contained fairly well by the 49ers defense. Faulk was never allowed to gain any momentum in the game, and was held out of the endzone. Faulk left the game late in the third quarter with back spasms after a pile up, and returned briefly in the fourth quarter only to sit for the rest of the game with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter. There was no word during the game on how serious the back injury was, but the fact he played some after sitting for a while was encouraging. It appeared that if the game was closer, Faulk might have stayed in. Faulk owners should still keep an eye on his condition during the week. Lamar Gordon came in the game in replacement of Marshall Faulk. He went 6/15 rushing, and 3/51 receiving, and scored the Rams only TD of the game on a toss from Jamie Martin. Unless Faulk's back injury is serious, Gordon will not see any significant increase in playing time. Trung Canidate (0 for 0) only saw the field in special teams situations. WR: Torry Holt had a very quiet game, going only 3/38 and no TD's. The 49ers secondary covered him well, and the 49er pass rush hampered Jamie Martins ability to find any receiver during the game. TD pass was called back on an offensive interference call on Holt Isaac Bruce (4 rec for 32 / 0 TDs) faired about as poorly as Holt. He was part of a funny sequence though. After a catch, Bruce danced around a bit and then (while being tackled) flipped the ball to the agile Adam Timmerman who did little more than fall forward. OK, maybe it wasn't so funny. But seeing how far the Rams have fallen was tough to watch. Ricky Proehl (4/41, no TD's) got a lot of looks from Martin in the game, and Martin did take a few shots down the field at him. Martin seemed to like throwing Proehl's way in this game... something to keep an eye on. However, much like Holt and Bruce, he had little room after the catch. TE: Ernie Conwell was an active blocker but that was it. Total non factor in the passing game. Brandon Manumaleuna (2/20) did not get many looks form Jamie Martin in the game and was not much of a factor. In addition, he has a really hard name to spell. K: Jeff Wilkins went 2/2 on field goal attempts and hit his only extra point attempt of the game. Pass Defense: Very ugly game for the Rams secondary. They even made JJ Stokes look good. Garcia picked them a part in the first half before going to a more conservative running game in the second half. The 49ers spread the ball around in this game, creating a lot of mis-matches in the secondary, especially between Dre Bly and Terrell Owens. The Rams really missed the presence of the injured all-pro DB Aeneas Williams in this game. Rush Defense: Uglier than the pass defense, if this was possible. The 49ers RBs ran over the Rams all second half. They allowed Garrison Hearst 116 yards rushing on only 13 carries for a 9 yard per carry average, and a TD. Those are not pretty numbers. Kevan Barlow (10/50) also ran all over the hapless Ram defensive line. The announcers commented a couple of times that the Rams defense really missed London Fletcher. Fletcher's good, but the Rams really were missing some heart. They basically laid down. It was a very poor performance by the Ram defense all around. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** San Francisco 49ers QB: Jeff Garcia had a good day, going 18/26 for 214 yards and two TD's with no interceptions. The Rams didn't put much pressure on Garcia, sacking him only once. When they did manage to get some pressure on him, Garcia easily evaded the rush, scoring on a six yard scramble. Garcia took advantage of mismatches in the Ram secondary, and most of his passes came in the first half with the 49ers switching to a more conservative running game in the second half. Garcia came out of the game late in the fourth quarter to give back up QB Tim Rattay some reps. Over all a steady although unspectacular performance from Garcia. Tim Rattay came in the game late in the fourth quarter after the 49ers had built a commanding lead. Coach Mariucci was only giving Rattay some game situation reps because of the 49ers lead... Rattay will not see any significant playing time unless Garcia gets hurt. RB: Garrison Hearst had a field day against a struggling Ram rush defense, going 13/116 rushing with a TD and 4/17 receiving. Hearst ran the ball extremely well behind the offensive line, who dominated the line of scrimmage. Hearst ripped off a nice 40 yard run early in the game. He looked very good running the ball, showing great power and breaking many tackles while averaging almost 9 yards a run. A very impressive performance. There has been talk all off-season and all September that Barlow is about to take over. It's not going to happen. Barlow's more exciting, but Hearst will receive more carries as long as he's healthy. Also, note the receptions. They make a great 1-2 punch for the 49ers. Kevan Barlow (10 for 50 / 0 TDs) is more aggressive with the ball than Hearst, but he is still not ready to overtake Hearst as the primary ball carrier. He was only targeted on 1 pass. WR: Terrell Owens, still Garcia's favorite target, had a decent day against a mis-matched Ram secondary, going 7/89 but was held out of the endzone. The 49ers played very conservatively in the second half, playing ball control offense and not passing much. He was totally mis-matched with Dre Bly for most of the game, and took full advantage of the situation. In one play, he caught a short pass then just shoved Bly to the turf and ran by him like he wasn't there, picking up the first down. He had double-digit targets and even rushed the ball on an end-around. His low yards per reception stems from there being several St. Louis defenders around him at all times. Owens is still a must start every game. JJ Stokes (2 rec for 64 / 1 TD) looked pretty good (don't get to say that very often). He had only two catches, but did get a lot of looks from Garcia this game. He scored the first TD of the game on a toss from Garcia, which was also Stokes' first TD of the year. Stokes made both his receptions count, his first catch was a nice 51 yard reception after the Rams pinned the 49ers on their own two yard line following a punt, most of which came on the run after catch. The other was a 13 yard TD toss from Garcia. According to the announcers, he sprained his MCL on the 52 yarder and left the field. He was cleared to return but never did. Tai Streets (2/17, no TD's) got only a few looks from Garcia and was not a factor in this game. TE: Eric Johnson was pretty quiet in this game, going only 2/23 and no TD's. He did get wide open at about the one yard line early in the game, but Garcia threw short to him... it would almost certainly have been a TD had Garcia gotten the ball there. K: Jose Cortez was perfect, going 3/3 in field goal attempts and hitting all four of his extra points. Pass Defense: The 49ers pass rush kept good pressure on back up QB Jamie Martin all game, forcing Martin to hurry many of his throws and knocking Martin down on many plays. They intercepted Martin twice, one was returned for a TD and one led to a field goal. (with a third interception called back due to a roughing call). The 49er secondary covered the field well and kept Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce out of the endzone. A very nice from the 49er pass defense overall. Rush Defense: The 49er rush defense held Marshall Faulk pretty much in check and kept him out of the endzone in the game. The 49er defense did not allow the Rams to establish any sort of offensive rhythm, and dominated the Rams offensive line all game. A very nice performance all around for the 49er defense.