Kobie Turner, Rams hope to stop 49ers’ ‘smoke and mirrors’ offense originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Los Angeles Rams’ defense will have its hands full against the 49ers’ high-powered offense Sunday at SoFi Stadium, even with star playmakers Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel out of action.
Both teams are familiar with one another’s schemes on both sides of the ball after numerous battles as NFC West rivals over the years, so there won’t be many surprises for either team in Week 3.
And that includes Rams second-year defensive tackle Kobie Turner, who expects to see plenty of disguised play calls from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and his offense.
“They have a lot of smoke and mirrors, and I think a lot of that gets cleared up in our game plan, making sure we’re locked in and knowing where our adjustments are, where our opportunities are,” Turner told reporters Wednesday. “It’s going to be huge for us this week. So it’s just knowing the game plan, and then teams are going to get runs on us, it’s how you take that next step and stop the bleeding. And again, how can we run to the ball, and maybe there’s a gap that’s open or somebody gets reached and cut out their gap, how can we run to the ball and make them snap it one more time.
“The 49ers always have been a tough offense, at least for my two times playing them, and they’re very multiple, so it’s being able to lock in on the details of our scheme and continuing to lock in on our fundamentals. Really it comes back to the same four things: hitting blocks, pursuing the ball, making tackles and getting takeaways.”
The 49ers’ offense, similar to the Rams under coach Sean McVay, uses a lot of pre-snap motion that is designed to trick opposing defenses and disguise the play calls.
Turner and the Rams’ defense have seen it all before and will need to be on top of their assignments if they want to escape with a win over their division rivals.
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