Rice believes 49ers got their swagger back in win vs. Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Heading into Sunday night's clash with the Los Angeles Rams, everyone had left the 49ers for dead. Well, almost everyone.
It's hard to blame people for throwing the 49ers on the scrap heap after they were hammered by the Miami Dolphins in Week 5. Kicking off a treacherous schedule run, the 49ers needed to beat the Rams to get back .500 and vault themselves back into the playoff picture.
They did just that, winning 24-16 on the back of a brilliant game plan by coach Kyle Shanahan and a lot of YAC from Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. The 49ers now head to New England to face a 2-3 Patriots team that fell on its face Sunday against the Denver Broncos.
49ers legend Jerry Rice believes the win Sunday against the Rams was huge for the 49ers' mindset as they face the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks over the next two weeks.
"It was big. It was probably I would say a 10," Rice told 95.7 The Game's "The Morning Roast." "It was a 10 because they needed to win that. They needed to get that feel again. Because they got the Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks, the Packers and the Saints and then they go into their bye week. This team right now, with what they accomplished yesterday, the momentum can throw them right into the Patriots. And it's one team at a time. You don't look at the entire four and say we are going to win all four. You take them one at a time. But I think momentum-wise and from a confidence status that really helped them yesterday."
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The 49ers certainly got their swagger back against the Rams.
San Francisco's offensive line handled the Rams' vaunted front and Shanahan orchestrated an offense that got the ball out of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo's hands quickly and into the hands of the 49ers' best playmakers.
On defense, the 49ers' secondary was buoyed by the return of Emmanuel Moseley and the great play of Jason Verrett, while the front seven did just enough to make quarterback Jared Goff uncomfortable.
RELATED: Grading 49ers' offense, defense in win vs. Rams
Looking more like the 2019 49ers than at any other point this season, the 49ers now are 3-3 and feeling like they can indeed turn things around after their ghastly 2-3 start.
The Patriots, Seahawks, Packers and Saints await them over the next four weeks. If they can get into their bye week at 5-5, a successful final six weeks should get them into the playoffs at 9-7.
Injuries and sloppy play but the 49ers behind the eight ball. But they have awoken from their slumber and now have the swagger and belief in themselves to survive a brutal stretch against expected playoff teams.
