{"id":843997,"date":"2026-09-11T10:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843997\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:22:11","slug":"49ers-observations-purdy-evans-star-in-australia-win-vs-rams-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843997\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers observations: Purdy, Evans star in Australia win vs. Rams \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOX SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n

The 49ers made a loud statement nearly 8,000 miles from home, beating the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 on Friday at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 25 of 34 pass attempts for 205 passing yards with three touchdown passes — one to Demarcus Robinson, one to first-year 49er Mike Evans, who caught six passes for 49 yards in his San Francisco debut, and the last one to Deebo Samuel Sr.<\/p>\n

Running back Christian McCaffrey led the ground attack with 68 yards on 10 attempts, while rookie Kaelon Black was a formidable sidekick with 65 yards on 14 carries in his NFL debut.<\/p>\n

The 49ers’ defense, with a healthy Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, clamped down on the Rams’ offense, limiting reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford to 15 completions on 25 attempts for 155 yards and one interception.<\/p>\n

The 1-0 49ers now will travel home and enjoy a long break before hosting the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 20 at Levi’s Stadium.<\/p>\n

Here are the takeaways from the 49ers’ impressive season-opening win:<\/p>\n

Purdy-Evans connection<\/p>\n

It did not take long for veteran newcomer Evans to become Purdy\u2019s favorite target.<\/p>\n

And he might be needed even more than expected due to a likely significant non-contact injury to rookie wide receiver De\u2019Zhaun Stribling.<\/p>\n

Evans made five catches for successful third-down conversions through the first 35 minutes of the opener against the Rams.<\/p>\n

The 49ers took a 17-7 lead early in the third quarter when Purdy put a pass up for the 6-foot-5 Evans in the back left corner of the end zone. Evans made the touchdown catch over cornerback Jaylen Watson, whom the Rams signed as a free agent from Kansas City in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Deebo Samuel, in his first game back, got involved with a 15-yard touchdown reception to extend their lead to 24-7 early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Osa, Bosa form strong front<\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 best offseason pickup might turn out to be defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, whom the 49ers acquired in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys for a third-round draft pick.<\/p>\n

Odighizuwa pressured Stafford relentlessly in the first half with three quarterback hits. Bosa, in his first game back after tearing his right ACL in Week 3 last season, turned up some pressure, too.<\/p>\n

Cornerback Renardo Green came up with a big play in the first half when he intercepted Stafford\u2019s pass intended for Puka Nacua.<\/p>\n

But when the 49ers needed a big goal-line stand near the end of the third quarter, it was rookie Gracen Halton and Warner who stopped Stafford for no gain on a push up the middle.<\/p>\n

Stafford\u2019s only play in the first half came when he teamed up with Nacua for a 41-yard gain after safety Ji\u2019Ayir Brown gambled and lost as he went for an interception along the right sideline.<\/p>\n

Black, a reliable back<\/p>\n

It appears that coach Kyle Shanahan already has more confidence in Black than any other running back the 49ers have had behind McCaffrey.<\/p>\n

Black entered the game after just a handful of plays on the 49ers\u2019 first drive. Black proved to be effective from the beginning. He had seven carries for 36 yards in the first half.<\/p>\n

He ran the ball three consecutive times for 18 yards to set up Purdy\u2019s 39-yard touchdown pass, which came after a play fake to Black.<\/p>\n

If the first game is any indication, the 49ers might actually lower McCaffrey\u2019s workload this season.<\/p>\n

O-line contains Garrett<\/p>\n

Purdy had plenty of time to throw, and McCaffrey and Black had room to run.<\/p>\n

And, even more surprising, Aaron Donald had about as much impact on the game as Myles Garrett.<\/p>\n

Through three quarters of action, Garrett was completely shut out from the stat sheet. He had no tackles, no sacks, no nothing.<\/p>\n

Donald, who recently came out of retirement and stayed back in California for the Week 1 game, had the same stat line.<\/p>\n

The 49ers game-planned around Garrett to do their best to make sure he did not wreck the game. Garrett was the NFL\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year last season while with the Cleveland Browns. The Rams acquired him in an offseason trade following his 23-sack season.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOX SCORE The 49ers made a loud statement nearly 8,000 miles from home, beating the Los Angeles Rams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[345006,1246,1819,46828,349,99],"class_list":["post-843997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-49ers-observations","tag-australia","tag-brock-purdy","tag-mike-evans","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}