49ers rout Rams 27-7 in NFL's first Australia game behind Brock Purdy's 3 TD passes

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel caught touchdown passes from Brock Purdy, and the San Francisco 49ers routed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 Friday in the first NFL regular-season game in Australia. Purdy passed for 205 yards against the Rams’ ineffective defense at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 100,021 fans, the seventh-largest regular season crowd in NFL history. Australia’s sporting capital reveled in its first real taste of American football — and in a dominant win by the 49ers, who had already won many Aussies’ affection by traveling to Melbourne a week earlier than the Rams, who only boomeranged in on Thursday morning.

A party atmosphere prevailed even with a Friday morning kickoff necessary to hit the lucrative primetime television audiences in the U.S. The fans got another memorable chapter in this NFC West rivalry as the 49ers blasted the preseason Super Bowl favorite Rams with superior play on both sides of the ball. “It comes down to playing our style of ball and doing what coaches love to do and running our plays.

Obviously you have to respect the guys on the other side of the ball and we know what they can do,” Purdy said. We have to play them again later in the year and it will be a good one.” Kyren Williams scored the NFL’s first Australian touchdown on a 5-yard rush to begin the second quarter. but the Rams were a disaster Down Under.

Los Angeles hadn’t lost by more than seven points since November 2024. While Purdy’s offense managed enough big plays to win, the San Francisco defense frustrated NFL MVP Matthew Stafford into a 15-of-25 performance for just 155 yards. The Niners held the NFL’s best offense last season to one score, even stopping Stafford on a fourth-down quarterback sneak from the San Francisco 1 in the third quarter.

Reigning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett was practically invisible in his Rams debut after missing much of training camp with aches, recording zero tackles. Much of the pregame talk for this trip centered around the teams’ starkly differing methods of preparation: The 49ers ingratiated themselves to the local fans as their body clocks adjusted, while the Rams stayed home until less than two days before kickoff, keeping their body clocks on California time. I didn’t do nearly a good enough j…

Purdy throws three TDs in dominant 27-7 victoryCrowd of 100,021 packs Melbourne Cricket GroundStafford held to 155 yards as Rams offense sputtersMike Evans, Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel caught touchdown passes from Brock Purdy, and the San Francisco 49ers routed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 Friday in the first NFL regular-season game in Australia.Purdy passed for 205 yards against the Rams’ ineffective defense at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 100,021 fans, the seventh-largest regular season crowd in NFL history. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers enjoyed every moment of their weeklong Australian adventure. They gradually adjusted their body clocks, enjoyed Melbourne's sights and tastes — and then they dominated a division rival in the NFL's first regular-season…