There were a lot of reasons why the 49ers blew out the Super Bowl-favorite Rams last Thursday night in Australia.
Among them was their success on 3rd down. While the Rams offense struggled, converting just 2 of 9 attempts, the 49ers went 7 for 12 on the money down.
5 of those 7 conversions came on completions to Mike Evans.
As we talked about during the offseason, Evans was a huge addition whose presence was going to make life easier for Brock Purdy in key situations:
“Mike Evans is the new edition that has to be the most exciting for the 49ers because they haven’t really had a receiver like him before. That is, a big, 6’5”, boundary-X receiver who you can line up with iso’s to the back side and rely on him to win his 1-on-1’s consistently. […] He’s still a difference-maker on 3rd down and in the red zone, and he still commands extra attention from the defense.”
Kyle Shanahan didn’t just use Evans as a back-side boundary-X receiver, though. In fact, 4 of his 5 third-down receptions came when he was aligned in the slot or inside the numbers. This seemed to be a point of emphasis for the 49ers based on how the Rams were playing things on defense.
L.A. predominantly used just two cornerbacks and either 3 or 4 safeties depending on if they were in nickel or dime personnel. Rams Defensive Coordinator Chris Shula also kept those cornerbacks outside whether playing zone (85-90% of the time) or man.
That allowed Shanahan to get Evans matched up on safeties when he put him inside.
You could see it on the 49ers’ first 3rd down of the game. Evans was aligned in the slot, which got him a 1-on-1 matchup against safety Quentin Lake:
On this next 3rd down, the formation and motion got him matched up inside on…no one: