5 PTW in the 49ers' NFC Championship Battle in Los Angeles
Both the San Francisco 49ers (10-7) and the Los Angeles Rams (12-5) eked out road playoff victories with game-winning kicks to move onto the NFC Championship.
Although the entire broadcast is likely to be centered around Tom Brady’s future, let’s look at players actually playing this weekend.
Here are Five Players to Watch in 49ers-v-Rams part three:
Tyler Higbee, Tight End, #89 — Los Angeles Rams
Los Angeles tight end Tyler Higbee has at least 40 yards and three first downs in six straight games.
The 49ers normally defend tight ends well, allowing the third fewest receiving yards to the position this season. Yet three of Higbee’s five touchdowns were against San Francisco.
When the 49ers focused on eliminating Dallas’ outside threats in the Wild Card round, tight end Dalton Schultz took advantage with seven catches for 89 yards.
Don’t be shocked if Higbee is the beneficiary of the hyper focus on Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr.
Linebackers Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair, as well as safeties Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt cannot let Higbee get going early like he did in Week 18.
Troy Reeder, Linebacker, #51 — Los Angeles Rams
Los Angeles has an elite defensive front and the best corner in the NFL, but its major weakness in the middle is too much to ignore.
Linebacker Troy Reeder (46.2 PFF grade) has missed 14.2% of his tackles this season, and surrendered 52 catches on 64 targets for 432 yards and three touchdowns in coverage (per Pro Football Reference).
The Rams won last week thanks to late offensive and special teams heroics, but the game would have ended much earlier had Reeder not missed an open-field tackle on fourth down, which allowed Leonard Fournette to break loose for a game-tying score.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan loves to exploit weak linebacker play in the middle of the field with his many physical offensive weapons.
Reeder must bring down Elijah Mitchell and Deebo Samuel on rushes, while also manning zones that George Kittle, Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk love to occupy.
K’Waun Williams, Nickel, #24 — San Francisco 49ers
In two games vs San Francisco, Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford has a 133.3 quarterback rating when targeting Kupp, who has 18 catches on 20 targets for 240 yards, 10 first downs and a touchdown.
Yes, the 49ers were without starting nickel K’Waun Williams for their regular season finale victory, but Kupp was successful no matter who was in coverage.
He had 11 catches on 13 targets for 122 yards in Week 10 when Williams played, and seven catches on seven targets for 118 yards and a touchdown in Week 18.
Williams has struggled in man coverage this season, especially in the playoffs. Despite the interception vs Dallas, the slot corner has allowed 142 yards and a touchdown on 10 catches (14 targets) in the past two games (Pro Football Reference).
Kupp isn’t the Rams’ only slot weapon. Williams will see two strikingly different alternatives in the 6’6 Higbee and the deep threat Van Jefferson (47.2 yards per game).
Jefferson (25% of snaps in slot per PlayerProfiler) is particularly concerning, as Williams does not have the speed to run with Jefferson (questionable/knee).
Jauan Jennings, Wide Receiver, #15 — San Francisco 49ers
Aiyuk (six catches on seven targets for 107 yards) and Samuel (too many stats to list) had monster games in the 49ers’ must-win Week 18 victory over the Rams, but the hero at the end was Jennings.
The 2020 seventh-rounder had a career-high six catches on seven targets for 94 yards and two touchdowns, both being game-tying scores.
Not only did Jennings take advantage of Los Angeles’ weaknesses at safety and linebacker, he burned the Rams’ undersized corners and provided impact second-level blocking.
Star corner Jalen Ramsey is undeniably great, but Los Angeles’ other three corners, Darious Williams (5’9), David Long Jr. (5’11) and Donte Deayon (5’9), are not big enough to cover Jennings (6’3), nor evade his blocks to bring down outside runs by Mitchell or Samuel.
Expect Shanahan to take advantage of these matchups again.
Trent Williams/Colton McKivitz, Left Tackle, #71/68 — San Francisco 49ers
Otherworldly left tackle/fullback Trent Williams (ankle) has been a DNP all week.
In the event Williams does play, the 49ers must hope his ankle provides enough mobility to sustain the Rams’ relentless defensive line.
Having your best pass-protector's availability in question is never good, especially when you’re playing Aaron Donald and Von Miller.
The future Hall-of-Famers are in excellent form. Miller has 7.0 sacks in his past six games while Donald has 8.0 in his past eight games.
A healthy Williams provides quite the battle outside. Yet if the All-Pro is unable to go, the 49ers need reserve offensive lineman Colton McKivitz to once again be an unsung hero against superior pass rushers.
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