The Los Angeles Rams followed up their big win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a poor performance against an injured San Francisco 49ers team in Week 12, falling 23-20 to drop to 7-4 on the season.
The game was particularly disappointing for the Rams because their defense played so great, coming up with three turnovers including a fumble returned for a touchdown.
L.A.’s offense, on the other hand, was the issue as they turned the ball over four times, with Jared Goff committing three of them.
As great as the Rams defense was though, they could not come up with one final stop to send the game to overtime with the 49ers driving down the field and kicking a field goal as time expired to win the game.
The Rams had no answer for 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who broke tackle after tackle to the tune of 11 receptions for 133 yards. On a lot of those plays, Rams star cornerback Jalen Ramsey was watching from the sidelines.
He had not missed a single snap on the season before this game but was limited to 50 of the team’s 72 defensive snaps against the 49ers. Sean McVay revealed the reason for that, and it appears Ramsey was dealing with a minor injury, via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic:
Sean McVay said Jalen Ramsey reported a bit of a “hip thing” in pregame warmups yesterday that limited his snaps a little and was new info to the staff. Also said nothing lingering came out of the game injury-wise. Williams was rotational specific to personnel.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) December 1, 2020
Along with Aaron Donald, Ramsey is the heart and soul of the Rams defense, so hopefully he is not forced to miss any time. He has been the lockdown corner the Rams had hoped he would be all season, well on his way to being named a Pro Bowler and All-Pro once again.
The Rams will be facing some tough receivers in the coming weeks, including DeAndre Hopkins when the Rams travel to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, so if Ramsey is unable to go then that would be a big loss. He is as competitive as they come though, so there is no doubt he will do everything in his power to be out on the field on Sunday.
