NFL Week 6 for the NFC West was a week of rest, sort of. The Arizona Cardinals, fresh off a stinging loss to the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks, relishing in their road victory over the New York Giants, had a bye. Their players were at home or with family and/or friends and may or may not have even watched any football. However, the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams furthered their 2011 reputation.
San Fran, at 4-1, was matched up on the road against the 5-0 and darlings of the entire NFL Detroit Lions.
What happened? The Niners showed that they really might be for real, while the Rams, facing the wold champion Green Bay Packers on the road, showed they really are overmatched.
As one could expect, the Rams were dismantled by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 24-3. The Rams still are winless at 0-5 and don't have a bye week anymore to help them prepare for any of their remaining games.
The Niners? They played toe to toe with the Detroit team that has been steamrolling teams in the second half of games, and pulled off the winning drive, scoring a touchdown on fourth down. The Niners extend their lead in the West and improve their record to 5-1 overall with a 25-19 win over Detroit.
The San Fran story continues to be a good one, as coach Jim Harbaugh has taken a team with essentially the same personnel as 2010, a season in which they were 6-10 (two wins of which were over the terrible Arizona Cardinals), and turned them into an almost shoo-in for the playoffs. And this is only six weeks into the season.
No wonder Harbaugh was so excited after the game (which caused Jim Schwartz to almost come to blows with him).
San Fran has a 2.5 game lead in the division, which should be comfortable. They still have the bulk of their division schedule forthcoming. But no one is really even close to threatening them with good play.
Next week the 49ers will have their turn on bye while the rest of the division is back in action.
Read some of the reactions to the games on Sunday in the NFC West:
Green Bay defeats St. Louis 24-3, Rams fall to 0-5 - Turf Show Times
Another loss, another set of questions, another list of disappointments. The Rams came out of the locker room and were more prepared than any game this season. They quickly moved downfield after a touchback to the Packers' 28, setting up a key 3rd and 11. The Rams took a timeout to ensure the personnel on the field had the proper playcall...an inside draw. It was gutless, conservative and entirely uninspiring, and it sums up this team pretty well.
Niners Nation - For San Francisco 49ers Fans
The Lions begin the fourth quarter in the middle of a big drive, in the 49ers zone. Patrick Willis makes a huge play to breakup a pass to Brandon Pettigrew, but Dashon Goldson is called for delay of game when he kicks the football, and the Lions end up with a first down after that. Then it's Nate Burelson over the middle who catches a touchdown, but it looks like he loses control of the ball after stepping out of bounds. I'd say it's incomplete, but Jim Schwartz challenges it, and they overturn it. The Lions take a four-point lead after a failed two-point conversion.