The San Francisco 49ers were banged up when they upset the Los Angeles Rams in prime time (and overtime) a couple of weeks ago, and they were banged up again for the reverse fixture this past Sunday in Week 10. But this time, we got a very different result. The injury-plagued Niners fell 42-26 to the well-drilled Rams, who had zero penalties and zero turnovers on the day.
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The Rams had 10 drives in the game. They punted twice, kneeled to end both halves, and scored touchdowns on all six other possessions. Their defense didn’t play great, but we’re still talking about the No. 2 scoring unit in the league (11th in total defense). The offense has been unstoppable, ranking fifth in both scoring and total offense.
But perhaps their most impressive stat this season is that they’re once again leading the league in fewest penalties. They’ve committed just 41 so far, about 15 percent fewer than the next-best team. They also topped the league in that category last year with just 91. FS1’s Colin Cowherd even likened the discipline of Sean McVay’s squad to that of the Patriots during the Bill Belichick era.
“The Rams are the least penalized team in the league. No penalties. When I used to cover the Patriots … they went years, and I was like, ‘Nobody fumbles for New England.’ And I used to tell friends, is it a stick’um thing? … No, they’re well-coached. The Rams for the second year, are the least penalized team,” Cowherd said on his podcast, The Herd.
High praise, to be sure. But it’s not just the fact that the Rams were disciplined that made the Week 10 performance impressive. It was the context. Not only were they on the road, but they were on the road in a tough division rivalry game against the 49ers, who are also a pretty well-coached side.
“You go into a heated rivalry game, no penalties, no turnovers… It is so efficient, you can see the coaching with the Rams,” Cowherd expressed.
On top of their sparkling injury record, the Rams are seventh in the league with just seven turnovers in nine games. Just like the minimal penalties they commit, that lack of turnovers is largely the product of one thing: good coaching. And McVay is widely viewed as one of the best in the business.
And if you surf through the top 10 or so teams with the fewest penalties this year, you can see that coaching plays a major factor. You’ve got several long-tenured guys like Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid, Todd Bowles, John Harbaugh, and Nick Sirianni up there. And you’ve also got well-regarded young coaches like Dave Canales and Mike Macdonald.
And avoiding penalties is clearly a path to success, as the team with fewer penalty yards has won nine of the 13 games played so far in Week 10.
