Brock Purdy didn’t just outplay Matthew Stafford in Melbourne. He ran the show.
The 49ers rolled the Rams 27-7 in Australia, and by the time it was over, the travel chatter felt like a flimsy excuse for Los Angeles and a neat footnote for San Francisco. The 49ers had been in Australia all week.
The Rams arrived 28 hours before kickoff and stayed on Pacific Time for their short stay. One team looked adjusted, sharp and loose.
The other looked like it was still trying to find the runway.
Purdy finished 25 of 34 for 205 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, adding 29 rushing yards on five carries. His scoring throws went 39 yards to Demarcus Robinson, 5 yards to Mike Evans and 15 yards to Deebo Samuel.
Evans made his 49ers debut count with six catches for 49 yards, and five of those grabs moved the chains on third down. Samuel, back in the lineup, caught six passes for 48 yards and added a 45-yard kickoff return.
The supporting cast showed up everywhere. Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw all made their presence felt on defense, while Trent Williams once again looked like the standard at left tackle.
Warner finished with 11 tackles, a pass defensed and a forced fumble. Greenlaw added six tackles, and Bosa had four tackles, two for loss and a quarterback hit.
San Francisco piled up the numbers across the board: 379 yards to 290, 23 first downs to 15, 64 plays to 57, a 7-of-12 edge on third down and only one turnover compared with two for the Rams. The 49ers also committed fewer penalties, two to four.
Eddy Piñeiro added field goals from 20 and 56 yards, though he also hit the right upright and missed from 52 yards.
Stafford never found much room to breathe. He threw an interception, posted a 61.2 passer rating and came up short on two fourth-down tries.
On a fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 3:46 left in the third quarter, Warner and rookie Gracen Halton stopped him on a quarterback sneak. Then, with 7:54 remaining, Stafford’s fourth-and-9 pass fell incomplete and effectively ended the comeback bid.
He was 15 of 25 for 155 yards before Stetson Bennett took over with 3:29 left.
Kyren Williams gave Los Angeles its only touchdown on a 5-yard run, the Rams’ lone lead coming at 7-3. Puka Nacua caught five passes for 74 yards.
The Rams also got nothing from Myles Garrett in his debut. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year finished without a stat, spent much of the night matched up one-on-one with Williams and looked worn down in the fourth quarter. Garrett had not practiced much this summer because of knee swelling.
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For a defense that has long leaned on Donald as its centerpiece, the wait is the reality fans were hoping to avoid, even if it was always part of the plan. Donald last played in the NFL in 2023, and the earliest expectation for his return is Week 2, leaving the Rams to navigate the opener without one of the most important players in franchise history. [Read more 🡒]