Let’s keep this same energy in D.C. Faithful!
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 14, 2019
See you Saturday for a free Invasion event: https://t.co/xPlLLhaWPn pic.twitter.com/P7ORsx00t7
Last week, I fully expected the Saint Louis Los Angeles Rams to hang the first loss of the season on the Santa Clara San Francisco 49ers. After all, the 49ers were coming off of a costly Monday Night Football win against the Cleveland Browns, a game that saw them lose FB Kyle Juszczyk and RT Mike McGlinchey to injury. To add to the logistics, the Rams had a mini-bye due to their loss in Seattle. And the game was at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum!
Well, that last part turned out to be advantage 
49ers. As for the game, the Rams scored on their opening drive and spent the rest of the afternoon getting manhandled. Los Angeles went 0/9 on third downs and 0/4 on fourth downs. QB Jared Goff threw for 78 yards on 24 attempts, the worst yards per attempt figure by any passer (3.25) since the start of the 2018 season. That doesn’t include four sacks by the 49ers. The Rams didn’t have underutilized RB Todd Gurley, and the 49ers had seven TFLs overall.
Now, it was easy to get distracted by the 49ers getting to 5-0 and not focus as much on the Rams getting their stadium taken over. You know, the team that Los Angeles actually pretended to care for until they let all the way down in the Super Bowl. But there was no such thing happening on Sunday Night Football, where a primetime viewing audience got to see what a real frontrunner crowd looked like at whatever the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers are calling their soccer field this season. Pittsburgh Steelers fans are infested throughout the nation, so a primetime “home” game for the Chargers was the perfect environment for such an invasive species to thrive.
Then the Chargers entered the fourth quarter trailing 24-0, a humiliating display of turnstile pass protection to go along with the usual brand of suspect depth and incompetent special teams play – against a Pittsburgh team starting a QB who was starting games at Samford in 2018.
As someone who abhors declaring a favorite team and relishes arrogant fanbases eating crow, this all warms my heart. Los Angeles media loves pushing how much they didn’t need the league to care about them, and how much it didn’t matter which one of these teams showed up here. Well, Los Angeles doesn’t support either one of these teams consistently, but they’re still showing up to the games. Honestly, that’s awesome. Los Angeles is a dope place to watch a visiting team run the building. 
I’d love for the Chargers to be the team that breaks through and wins it all in Los Angeles, just to see the reactions. Alas, you saw the game Sunday. That’s never happening. As for the Rams? They have Jalen Ramsey now. I guess his back is better – maybe he can block and be Todd Gurley too…
TEAMS OF THE WEEK:
NE, BAL, HOU, DEN
WAS, GB, NO, SF
TOP PERFORMERS:
NE run offense (QB Tom Brady)
CAR offensive line (QB Kyle Allen)
BAL run defense (OLB Pernell McPhee)
SEA pass offense (WR Jaron Brown)
NO pass defense (CB Marshon Lattimore)
HOU run offense (QB Deshaun Watson)
WAS run defense (SS Landon Collins)
MIN pass offense (WR Stefon Diggs)
ARI special teams (K Zane Gonzalez)
SF pass defense (FS Jimmie Ward)
DEN run defense (NT Mike Purcell)
NYJ pass rush (OLB Jordan Jenkins)
PIT pass rush (ILB Devin Bush)
GB pass defense (CB Kevin King)
Looking ahead to Week 7
Open Dates – Carolina, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay:I honestly don’t care who Carolina’s QB is at this point; RB Christian McCaffrey is off to the wildest start by any player through six games since Priest Holmes in 2002. McCaffrey is one of six players since at least 1950 with 900 yards from scrimmage and nine total TDs. Holmes, the 2002 Offensive Player of the Year, is the only one not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Cleveland is disappointing for so many reasons, but a big reason is the poor run defense; according to Pro Football Reference, no team has missed more tackles through six weeks. This Steelers team would be fortunate to finish .500, and a big problem has been RB James Conner. After averaging 4.5 yards per rush in each of his first two seasons, Conner is down to 3.2 yards per rush this season, and he hasn’t cleared 60 yards rushing in any game this season. It looks like the Buccaneers will end this season like they have every season this decade, and that’s without a playoff berth. Only Atlanta and Miami allow more points per game, and as great a start OLB Shaquil Barrett is off to (9.0 sacks), the entire rest of the team has only 4.0 sacks combined.
Chiefs at Denver: The Kansas City Chiefs are too unbalanced right now, and with QB Patrick Mahomes at less than full strength, that is costing them ground in the AFC. On offense, Kansas City’s lack of rushing volume plays right into the hands of a Denver defense that hasn’t lost or allowed more than 40 rushing yards since getting embarrassed by Jacksonville 1 RB Leonard Fournette in Week 4. On defense, Kansas City allows 5.0 yards per rush, and that suggests a strong game from Denver RB Phillip Lindsay if the Chiefs don’t get off to a fast start on the road.
Raiders at Green Bay: The Raiders are coming off of a bye, while the Packers are coming off of a win aided by deplorable officiating Monday night. The key to this game will be QB Derek Carr’s willingness to challenge Green Bay’s secondary down the field. Carr leads the NFL with a 73.3 completion percentage, but ranks 35th in average pass length.
Ravens at Seattle: The Ravens acquired CB Marcus Peters from the Rams. Peters already got torched once by Seattle QB Russell Wilson, who has thrown 14 TD passes without an INT. There’s no way Wilson gets out of this game without an INT, especially with FS Earl Thomas making his return to CenturyLink Field. The key matchup in this one will be Baltimore’s run defense against a Seattle that is average in terms of efficiency but will keep running more than they should.
Eagles at Dallas: The NFC Least. The Giants are starting their first round rookie while Washington refuses to start theirs, while there is no way this division gets a Wild Card spot again. Philadelphia’s secondary has been bad, especially CB Rasul Douglas, but Dallas may not have WR Amari Cooper at full strength. That leaves the Dallas offensive line against Philadelphia’s pass rush. If the Cowboys couldn’t handle the Jets up front, they shouldn’t be able to handle the Eagles. I can’t wait to be back here next week to describe how the Eagles blew it against this team.
Patriots at New York Jets: We’ve already seen this mismatch once this season, but that was at Gillette Stadium with Luke Falk starting for the Jets. This time around, QB Sam Darnold is back for a home start. The question will be whether or not the Jets can get to New England QB Tom Brady. They could not in Week 3, failing to sack him in 42 dropbacks.