The San Francisco 49ers were the team most impacted by injuries last season.
That isn’t supposed to carry over. For the most part, a rash of injuries is just bad luck. And that bad luck has hit for a second straight season in San Francisco.
To this point in the season, the team dealing with the most injuries is arguably the 49ers again, though the Ravens and Bengals have had their seasons thrown off with injuries too. The 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan did a great job to get to 3-0 given all the players who were out or playing hurt, but San Francisco lost last week and took on even more injuries. Brock Purdy, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings were all ruled out for Thursday night’s game. Mac Jones will start at quarterback. And Nick Bosa, arguably the 49ers’ most valuable player, is done for the season.
The Los Angeles Rams won’t send a sympathy card. They’re 3-1, tied with the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks for first place in the NFC West, and this is a great chance for them to catch an injured 49ers team having to travel on short rest. The Rams are a blocked field goal by the Eagles away from being undefeated. They’ve looked very good. Gaining a game on a key contender in the division would be a big step early this season.
It would seem, on first glance, that a 49ers team dealing with a ton of injuries is more desperate to squeak out a win. But the opposite might be true. The pressure is on the Rams to not drop this game against a depleted team, especially at home on a short week. The pressure, in a way, is off of the 49ers. They’re not expected to win considering all they’re dealing with. It would be a bad loss for the Rams, so they become the team that needs this win a little more.
The 49ers enter this game either without all of the following players: Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s the entirety of the 49ers’ preferred group of starting skill-position players, aside from one pretty big name. If you thought the 49ers would take it easy this season on McCaffrey, who missed most of last season with injury, the opposite has been true. McCaffrey leads the NFL with 100 touches. He has 530 yards and two touchdowns, and given all the talent on the inactive list this week, he will be practically the entire 49ers offense. McCaffrey had 31 touches last week, and it’s tough to ask him to repeat that with only three days rest. But the 49ers will give him as much as he can handle in a big divisional game.
The 49ers just can’t seem to stay healthy. QB Brock Purdy will miss this game, along with wideouts Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings. Mac Jones will start at QB, and all of a sudden the Rams are 7-point favorites at BetMGM, up from a lookahead line of 3.5. No surprise, the public is backing Los Angeles to cover. The Rams have covered both games at home, while the 49ers are 2-0 ATS on the road.
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It looked like a wonderful matchup on the schedule, San Francisco at the L.A. Rams. But the San Francisco injury report could turn this game into a blowout. Here are three fantasy angles to watch for.
How many touches can Christian McCaffrey handle? Hes already collected 100 for the year, tops in the league. And for the Week 5 opener, McCaffrey has to carry an offense thats missing Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings. Also be mindful that McCaffrey is averaging just 3.3 YPC.
How high is Puka Nacuas ceiling? The unstoppable Nacua is on pace for an absurd 179 catches for 2,138 yards, which would both be league records. Of course hes only caught one touchdown pass, with a second score rushing. But Nacua looks ready to reprise the monster year Cooper Kupp posted in 2021 (145 catches, 1,947 yards).
Can Matthew Stafford come along for the ride? Although Nacua has been unstoppable and Davante Adams also ranks as the WR12, Stafford has merely given us one QB finish inside the top dozen this year (QB20, QB19, QB14, QB2). Sharper red-zone play is needed if Stafford is going to become a weekly fantasy staple.
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