The Rams open their 2026 season against the 49ers in Week 1 on Thursday night locally and Friday morning in Australia. Kickoff from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia, is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. pacific time Thursday/10:35 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time Friday on Netflix.
Ahead of the contest, here are 3 Keys to Winning for the Rams, presented by The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (CallJacob.com).
1) Slow down Christian McCaffrey
Due to injuries last year, running back Christian McCaffrey was the focal point of the 49ers offense, even more than he already was. This season San Francisco will have other high-octane players at the skill positions around him, assuming wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end George Kittle are healthy enough to play, and the Rams would benefit from slowing down their main contributor on offense.
In the two games between the Rams and 49ers last season, McCaffrey had 66 and 82 receiving yards, both over his season average of 57.4 yards, but 30 and 57 rushing yards, both under his season average in of 70.7 yards. The Rams also limited him to 2.6 and 2.5 yards per carry in each game, well below his 3.9 season average.
Although quarterback Mac Jones threw for over 300 yards passing in each game, Los Angeles neutralized the run game to a point where McCaffrey wasn't utilized to his fullest and will need to do the same in Australia to slow down a Kyle Shanahan-led offense.
2) Limit turnovers
The turnover battle played a big role in the outcome of last season's pair of games. In the first game, the Rams lost the turnover battle 2-0 in what ended up likely being the difference in the 26-23 overtime loss. The second game, where the Rams won 42-26, the Rams won the turnover battle 2-0.
The Rams mitigating costly mistakes in Week 1 to live up to their fifth best turnover margin in the NFL from a season ago (+11) would go a long way to helping out the defense.
3) Establish the run game to win time of possession battle
Anther way for the Rams' offense to help out their defense is to establish the run game to control the time of possession battle. In the Rams' win over the 49ers last season, they led the way by controlling over 32 minutes of possession. However in the loss, the 49ers controlled just over 40 minutes of possession. A major factor to that difference was the 126 rushing yards in the win compared to the 78 rushing yards on the loss.
Establishing the run for Williams and running back Blake Corum — the latter improving from 13 yards to 56 yards from the first game to the second — will help the Rams maintain control of possession to keep the Rams defense fresh and off the field, no matter the amount of depth the defense possesses.
