The Rams might not be the smartest team in the room after all.
After Los Angeles chose to wait until the very last minute to fly to Australia to play the 49ers, they were blown out in a tough-to-watch 27-7 game, and their prized trade acquisition, Myles Garrett, made zero impact.
Garrett was held without a tackle in Week 1’s game, having been easily thwarted by the 49ers’ pass protection and a non-factor in the run game.
“I’ve got to be better,” Garrett told reporters postgame, via ESPN. “I’ve got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be and I’ve shown that I’ve been before.”
It appears Garrett is dealing with some sort of injury, which coach Sean McVay described as knee swelling but declined to divulge anymore details.
Garrett was seen wearing a sleeve on his left knee during practices through training camp.
“Myles Garrett is not in the game as this drive begins. He’s been subbing in and out throughout,” Netflix’s new sideline reporter Tom Pellissero said on the broadcast Thursday. “Every time that he leaves the field, he really seems gassed. Remember, he barely practiced in training camp with what the team called a knee injury. He told us it’s ‘lower leg stuff’ and admitted that it is still causing him some pain.”
Garrett had zero sacks or quarterback hits during their season-opener, something that only happened twice last year while a member of the Browns where he won Defensive Player of the Year.
His game without a tackle was his first since Week 11 of 2024 and just the fourth of his career.
The Rams, of course, decided to fly to Australia from Los Angeles two days before the game and not acclimate to the time difference, while the 49ers got there more than a week early and looked like the much fresher team.
“When I was out there, I was a little bit more focused on myself and trying to stay healthy than what they were doing, and that showed,” Garrett said. “I wasn’t who I needed to be for my team.”
Many had primed Garrett for a career year as he is lining up beside Byron Young, Kobie Turner, and eventually Aaron Donald, who was inactive for Thursday’s game as he prepares his return from retirement.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was pressed on just 19 percent of dropbacks (seven total), and three of them were by Garrett as he was stifled by left tackle Trent Williams.
The future Hall of Fame left tackle said that he “couldn’t tell” that Garrett wasn’t 100 percent and that he was still “really hard to block.”
The 49ers now get to fly home happy with a few cupcake matchups awaiting them against the Dolphins and Cardinals in Weeks 2 and 3.
Meanwhile, the Rams have a much tougher greeting upcoming when they face the Giants on “Monday Night Football,” followed by the Broncos on a short week.
