With Brock Purdy injured, could the Rams move up the NFC West standings?
The San Francisco 49ers will play at least one game without Brock Purdy, meaning that the close 4-way race in the NFC West could be up for the L.A. Rams to grab if he’s out for an extended period of time. The 49ers will start backup Brandon Allen in their key matchup this weekend against the Green Bay Packers.
Allen spent 2017, 2018, and most of 2019 with the Rams.
Brock Purdy has been ruled out of 49ers-Packers
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 22, 2024
This will be Allen’s 10th career start.
He went 1-2 with the Broncos in 2019, 1-4 with the Bengals in 2020 (under former Rams assistant Zac Taylor), and 0-1 with Cincinnati in 2021. This will be Allen’s first action of any kind since the three plays he had in 2022.
The NFC West is currently separated by inches:
Cardinals, 6-4
Rams, 5-5
Seahawks, 5-5
49ers, 5-5
The Seahawks and Cardinals play this week, so an Arizona would could all but eliminate the Seahawks from serious contention. The Cardinals are 2-0 in the division, the best such record in the NFC West, so going 3-0 with a win over all three division opponents would be huge for Arizona.
The 49ers, coming off of a loss to Seattle, are hitting two of their toughest games on the schedule: At Green Bay and At Buffalo.
Without Purdy, that could be two losses and that would put the 49ers at 5-7, essentially dead in the water and looking to next year.
The Rams face a difficult matchup of their own this week against the Eagles, but a win would do wonders for L.A.’s chances of finishing ahead of San Francisco in the standings and potentially everyone else.
