PFF grades, stats for 49ers-Rams

The San Francisco 49ers had an awful offensive day against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, and the Pro Football Focus review readily reflects that. On the other hand, the 49ers defense put together a strong performance. It was hung out to dry by the 49ers offensive woes, but Vic Fangio's unit comes to play.

If you have any questions about PFF grades or stats, let me know. I can't go in and copy and paste all their content here because they make a living off that information. However, I can provide some details. And if you have any questions about their process, let me know and I can talk to Jeff Deeney, who is available to answer questions as best he can.

Usual disclaimer: No one stat or grade or measurement is the be-all, end-all when analyzing performance. However, each stat can provide a little something extra to figuring out the bigger picture. If you get a minute, I highly recommend reading this 2-part series (Part 1, Part 2) at our Eagles blog, taking a look at their system.

Offensive line woes

The Rams got plenty of pressure on Colin Kaepernick, sacking him eight times on the day. The Rams brought blitzers on 21 of 47 snaps (44.7 percent), including 6+ rushers on 13 of the plays. In spite of that, 5 of the Rams 8 sacks actually came when they only rushed four. Kap had a poor performance, including three sacks, but when he was blitzed, he had a passer rating of 112.5. At times it seemed like the 49ers figured out ways to counter the pressure, even mixing in a screen pass to Frank Gore at one point. Unfortunately, they could not find any semblance of consistency.

For those wondering, here are the offensive line grades for the game:

Joe Staley: 0.0 overall, -0.2 for run, -0.1 for pass, 0.3 for penalty
Mike Iupati: 0.4 overall, 0.3 for run, 0.9 for pass, -0.8 for penalty
Marcus Martin: -4.1 overall, -0.8 for run, -2.4 for pass, -0.9 for penalty
Alex Boone: -3.1 overall, -0.7 for run, -1.6 for pass, -0.8 for penalty
Anthony Davis: -3.0 overall, -1.7 for run, -0.6 for pass, -0.7 for penalty

Michael Crabtree drops

The 2014 season has been a bit of a struggle for Crabtree. While he is second on the team with 37 receptions, the big problem is drops. Crabtree had two dropped passes, which gives him seven for the season. His drop rate is 15.9 percent, which is second worst behind Mohamed Sanu. PFF stats show that Crabtree had 2 drops last season, 9 drops in 2012, 11 drops in 2011, 8 drops in 2010, and 5 drops in 2009. Those numbers include playoff games.

Chris Borland has a monster day

The 49ers rookie started in place of Patrick Willis for the second consecutive week, and he put together a monster performance. Borland finished the game with 17 solo tackles, 12 of which were stops. He currently has a 21.1 percent run stop percentage. He does not have the snaps to qualify, but the top qualifying inside linebacker is at 13.6 percent. Borland's 16 stops this season are tied for third on the 49ers, with only 2.5 games worth of defensive snaps.

Aaron Lynch is on fire

The 49ers continue to get huge performances from their fifth round pick. The rookie outside linebacker had five pressures on the day, including one sack, one hit, and three hurries. This all came in just 20 pass rush attempts. On the other hand, Ahmad Brooks had zero pressures on 20 of his own pass rush attempts.

Secondary handles their business

The 49ers secondary did solid work on Sunday. Perrish Cox and Chris Culliver combined to give up three catches for 24 yards, with Cox also snagging an interception. Antoine Bethea had an interception as well, and graded out at +4.3.