It should have started with a bang, but instead it was the buzz that Myles Garrett could muster in Melbourne. On Thursday, the Rams were eliminated in the Australian Open in San Francisco, and the biggest factor in the loss was Garrett, who was not perfect.
It wasn’t just a bad performance for the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. It was historic. You have to go back about eight years to find a performance this bad from Garrett.
The lack of pressure allowed Brock Purdy to complete over 73 percent of his passes, and the line allowed Christian McCaffrey to average 6.8 yards per game. At no point did the 49ers seem to bother the pass rush, and more or less just the defense was isolated. Although there may be a good reason for this.
Leading up to Thursday’s game, there was much speculation as to whether Garrett would play as the pass rusher had been dealing with knee inflammation for much of the season. Ultimately, the team decided to leave Aaron Donald at home while he was on game speed, but play Garrett. He admitted he wasn’t at 100 percent following the game, but didn’t let that be the reason for his poor performance.
We know what Myles Garrett brings to the table and hitting the panic button following a weird game in Australia is stupid beyond belief, but that doesn’t change the fact that Garrett was horrible against the 49ers. Let this roll around for another week as he plays with his near-hell teammates, but either way it’s been a horrible start to his tenure in Los Angeles.