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Sean McVay's job became easier this week leading up to Sunday's game between the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Without wide receiver Deebo Samuel and running back Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco won't have two of its biggest stars when they take on McVay's Rams in Week 3.
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While the 49ers' offense will be without two key cogs, it still has plenty of playmakers and McVay knows the Rams' defense still will have its hands full on Sunday.
"Those are great players that are tremendous assets for them," McVay said Wednesday of Samuel and McCaffrey's absences. "Kyle [Shanahan] does a great job at being able to utilize the versatile skill sets that both of them have and the multitude of issues they can present to put pressure on a defense. But they've got a lot of other guys that they do a great job doing that with as well.
"You look at the way their backs have stepped in and done an outstanding job of really continuing to produce at a really high level in the first two games. Kyle's always heavily leaned on the run game and does a great job of mixing it up. You still have a movable piece in [Kyle] Juszczyk, [George] Kittle and [Brandon] Aiyuk are nightmares and I think Jauan Jennings is a very underrated player."
While Samuel and McCaffrey's absences certainly benefit the Rams, McVay and his coaching staff now have to game plan for a 49ers' offense that looks quite a bit different.
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"It's a challenge, it's really a challenge with those two guys out," McVay added. "Hopefully, they'll be OK but I'm not sad that they're not playing against us. But they are still as good as it gets offensively in this league."
Shanahan and the 49ers have McVay and the Rams' number in recent years but with a depleted San Francisco offense coming to town, Los Angeles will look to make life difficult for the 49ers coach and quarterback Brock Purdy.
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