49ers Rout Rams 27-7 in Melbourne NFL Debut — SkimNews
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- San Francisco 49ers crushed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in Melbourne in the NFL's first game in Australia, having spent a full week acclimating while the Rams arrived just 28 hours before kickoff after a 16-hour flight across 17 time zones.
- Myles Garrett finished with zero tackles, zero sacks, and zero QB hits in his Rams debut — only the fourth time in his career with that empty stat line — after a knee injury limited his training camp, though Aaron Donald's impending return could ease pressure on the 33-year-old edge rusher.
- Mike Evans caught 6 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown in his 49ers debut, with Brock Purdy going 6 of 7 when targeting him and four catches converting first downs.
- Matthew Stafford went 15 of 25 for 155 yards and one interception at age 38, a steep drop from his reigning MVP numbers of 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns last season.
- The 49ers' pass rush looked revived with Nick Bosa (torn ACL, 14 games missed last year) and Fred Warner (broken ankle, 11 games missed) back healthy, new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, and the return of Dre Greenlaw — after San Francisco totaled just 20 sacks in 2025, fewer than Garrett's 23 alone.
- The Rams' 20-point loss was the largest Week 1 setback by a Super Bowl favorite in 50 years, but the author flags context: Los Angeles doesn't play starters in the preseason and has averaged just 16.2 points in Week 1 over the past five seasons, and the 2003 Patriots bounced back from a 31-0 Week 1 loss to win the Super Bowl.
Why it matters: The 49ers' rout reshuffles the NFC West from a presumed three-team race into one where San Francisco looks like the favorite, while the Rams' aging core — Stafford (38), Davante Adams (33), Garrett (30) — faces scrutiny after the biggest Week 1 loss by a Super Bowl favorite in 50 years. Los Angeles's next four opponents (Giants, at Broncos, at Eagles, Bills) will test whether the Australian disaster was a jet-lag anomaly or a structural problem.
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