Nick Bosa says San Francisco 49ers protection has the personnel to be ‘finest within the league’

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Very similar to he would not when given a transparent path to an opposing quarterback, San Francisco 49ers defensive finish Nick Bosa did not hesitate Monday night time when he was requested what the ceiling for this Niners protection might be.

“I believe it is best within the league,” Bosa mentioned. “That is form of our mindset yearly, and this yr we’ve the personnel to do it. Not that we have not up to now however simply all three ranges are elite gamers.”

Given what the Niners protection did to the NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams in Monday night time’s 24-9 win — on prime of what they’ve achieved via the season’s first 4 weeks — Bosa’s perception is backed by loads of proof.

The Niners have gained seven consecutive regular-season video games towards the Rams, although they misplaced essentially the most significant contest between the groups in January’s NFC Championship Recreation. It is their longest win streak towards the Rams since profitable 17 consecutive regular-season contests from 1990-98.

In opposition to these Rams, who entered with a banged-up inside offensive line and have turn into more and more depending on receiver Cooper Kupp, the Niners did not fairly pitch a shutout. However they got here shut.

The Rams reached the crimson zone 3 times however settled for a discipline purpose on every journey and, for the primary time in quarterback Matthew Stafford’s 25 begins since arriving in Los Angeles in 2021, the Rams didn’t rating an offensive landing.

Bosa and his teammates have been throughout Stafford for a lot of the sport, racking up 17 pressures (second-most since Stafford grew to become a Ram) and sacking him seven instances. Bosa accounted for 2 sacks and 9 pressures, as he leads the league in each classes with six and 23, respectively.

The Rams managed simply 257 yards of offense and averaged 3.5 yards per play. Even in a sport that was inside one rating for a lot of the night time, the Niners offense felt just like the protection all the time had issues below management.

“There was actually some extent, I believe it was 14-9 and it isn’t that we relaxed on offense — however you’re feeling assured within the guys on protection,” quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo mentioned. “These guys, I do not watch a lot of it however the couple performs I do see, it is hell for the quarterback. I really like having them on my facet, hate going towards them in follow, nevertheless it makes us higher so it is a good group over there. They’re powerful.”

To place the ending touches on the night time’s efficiency, San Francisco’s protection additionally lastly was in a position to generate some takeaways. Final week, Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner lamented the dearth of turnovers (they’d one whole of their two losses) and mentioned that will be the subsequent step for the protection to make the leap from good to nice.

Rising second-year security Talanoa Hufanga delivered a type of at simply the precise time, selecting off a Stafford display go and returning it 52 yards for a landing with 6:27 to go to increase San Francisco’s lead.

It was the Niners’ fourth pick-6 up to now six regular-season conferences with the Rams, as they’ve had at the least one in every of the previous 4 seasons.

“That was the distinction,” Warner mentioned. “It was a decent sport during, we had performed first rate protection and held them out of the top zone however we knew that in an effort to take it and win the sport, we needed to get the ball and we did.”

Fittingly, defensive finish Samson Ebukam put the sport away with 1:58 to play with the staff’s seventh sack, forcing Stafford to fumble as defensive finish Kerry Hyder Jr. recovered.

And whereas Monday’s efficiency might need been essentially the most full for the Niners protection, it was simply the most recent in a string of dominant performances. By 4 weeks, San Francisco is first within the NFL in factors allowed per sport (11.5), yards per sport (234.5, tied with Buffalo), sacks per drop again (10%) and yards per play (3.81), amongst different classes.

All of that for a gaggle that’s anticipating beginning free security Jimmie Ward to return from a hamstring damage this week and has cornerback Jason Verrett returning quickly from a knee damage.

“I do not assume they’ve given up 20 factors in a sport to date this yr,” tight finish George Kittle mentioned. “It means so long as we rating 21 factors a sport we’re going to win some soccer video games. It’s simply on us to place factors on the board and maintain on to the soccer.”