When Jeff Fisher took over a struggling St. Louis Rams team last winter, Jim Harbaugh's empire-in-the-making was already underway in San Francisco. One year later, the Rams have played the 49ers as tough as any team west of the New York Giants, taking their division rival to overtime twice and netting a 1-0-1 record in the process. It's no coincidence, Fisher is building his young team -- especially on defense -- to compete with and defeat Harbaugh's operation. "This is a carryover from three weeks ago," Fisher told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports after Sunday's 16-13 victory. "We joked about taking three weeks off and getting right back after the 49ers -- we didn't know it would take another five quarters. This young team believes we can go in and play with anybody." Especially San Francisco. The Rams did a superb job of throwing new looks at a 49ers attack that usually dominates in that category,Harbaugh's offense is fun to watch because of the way they disguise their intentions with multiple pre-snap formations that equate to an advantage for a young passer like Colin Kaepernick. Source: NFL.com
it is a smart method to focus on building your team to beat division opponents since you face them 2 times a year every year. however, if you've watched the rams play this year, they are not nearly as awful as they were the past few years and have only layed a couple of eggs all year. they're competitive with most everyone so i'm not sure if 'the way they are built' fully explains it.
Watching the game yesterday I believe the rams D matches up really well with what the 49ers O does. However they have work to do on offense. Remember SF GAVE them 7 points. The offense could only manage 3 fgs in 5 quarters of play. Btw trade akers and 100k in cash for Zuerlin.
