Rams vs. 49ers: Highlights, game tracker and more

The Los Angeles Rams faced the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Sept. 21 on Thursday Night Football in Week 3. Here are the highlights from the game.

Coming into the season, it’s safe to say that no one expected much from either the Los Angeles Rams or San Francisco 49ers. However, the Rams showed in Week 1 that they may be more impressive than expected with a big win over the Colts. Meanwhile, the 49ers lost their two opening games, but showed promise in taking Seattle to the brink. Those results led to their matchup on Thursday Night Football in Week 3.

As is customary for the Thursday game, fans around the country were downplaying how this matchup would play out. At best, it would be a defensive battle with two struggling offenses. Worst-case scenario, it would be a slog between two atrocious NFL teams. How wrong all of that was to think.

The 49ers started things off brutally as Brian Hoyer threw an interception on the first play of the game. On the next play after a return inside the 5-yard line, Todd Gurley punched in the touchdown to give LA the early lead. In fact, it looked as if the Rams might run away with it early. Where the Niners offense wasn’t able to get all that much going, LA seemed in a groove and able to move the ball both on the ground and through the air.

However, San Fran kept doing whatever they could to keep things in-range. Even when the Rams pushed the lead to 17-7, they kept fighting. As a result, they weren’t down tremendously bad as they headed into the locker room, trailing 24-13 in a game that could’ve been much worse.

With that said, they were really unable to close the gap early in the second half. They were getting their offense going, but couldn’t stop the Rams as they continued to move. Then came an absolutely crazy finish after Sammy Watkins added his second touchdown of the night to push the LA lead to 41-26.

That’s when Hoyer and the 49ers put together an exceptional drive that led them down the field in under 1:30, culminating with a highlight-reel catch by Marqise Goodwin and then a 1-yard touchdown by Trent Taylor. On the ensuing kickoff, San Francisco made a special teams play, forcing a fumble and recovering. They then moved that down to score on a Carlos Hyde touchdown, but missed the two-point conversion to stay down by two points.

Needing the onside kick, it was a perfect attempt and, to let the craziness climax, the Niners recovered it.

At this point, though, the Rams defense had seen enough. They put together three stalwart plays to bring up fourth down and the game for the 49ers. Hoyer dropped back, but Aaron Donald continue to be a terror as he broke into the backfield and brought down the quarterback. When Gurley broke for a first down on the next drive, that was all she wrote as LA moved to 2-1 with a wild win.

Highlights

Next: NFL 2017: 20 Bold predictions for Week 3

Entering this game, the Rams have impressed far more than the 49ers. However, both teams could use a shot of momentum from this Thursday Night Football matchup. Thus, the outcome of this matchup should be quite important for the rest of their seasons.