MELBOURNE, Australia — Deebo Samuel did not need a long reunion tour. In his first game back with the San Francisco 49ers, he caught six passes for 48 yards and a touchdown as San Francisco beat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, according to the team’s official recap and the box score reported by NBC Sports Bay Area.
The 49ers arrived a week early. The Rams landed roughly a day before kickoff. That gap showed up on the field at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where 100,021 fans packed a venue Kyle Shanahan later called “gladiator-ish,” per The Washington Post.
How Samuel filled the Brandon Aiyuk void
Samuel spent 2019 through 2024 in San Francisco, then played 2025 with the Washington Commanders after a trade. He returned this summer on a one-year deal worth up to $7 million, The Associated Press reported, after Ricky Pearsall’s knee injury thinned the receiver room.
Brandon Aiyuk remains on the reserve/left squad list and did not play. In a July Instagram story, Aiyuk wrote that he would “not be reinstating with them nor ever doing any kind of business with them,” a line reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and CBS Sports. That is confirmed team status, not a new Week 1 development. General manager John Lynch has said the organization is focused on the players who reported.
Into that gap stepped Samuel and Mike Evans, who signed a three-year contract worth up to $60.4 million in March, according to AP. Evans caught six passes for 49 yards and a 2-yard touchdown in his 49ers debut. Samuel worked the short game Kyle Shanahan has always used to slow a pass rush: six of his seven targets came within nine yards of the line, per PFF.
I don’t think you can fly 16 hours and be ready to play.
Deebo Samuel, speaking with Australia’s Channel Seven after the game, as reported by Heavy and BBC Sport
He later told the Chronicle the night felt familiar. “It felt like I never left.”
How the 27-7 win actually unfolded
Eddy Pineiro opened the scoring with a first-quarter field goal. Kyren Williams answered with a 5-yard run early in the second quarter, the first regular-season NFL touchdown on Australian soil, putting the Rams up 7-3, per Reuters.
Brock Purdy threw an interception to Quentin Lake. Then he settled. A 39-yard strike to former Rams receiver Demarcus Robinson made it 10-7 at half. After Samuel’s 45-yard kickoff return to start the third quarter, Purdy hit Evans on a fade for a 17-7 lead, according to NFL.com.
The swing play was defensive. Los Angeles reached first-and-goal. Puka Nacua was ruled down just outside the goal line. The 49ers stuffed Matthew Stafford on a fourth-down sneak from the 1. San Francisco then drove 99 yards in 11 plays. Purdy scrambled right and found Samuel for a 15-yard score early in the fourth, making it 24-7. Pineiro later added a 56-yard field goal after Dre Greenlaw ripped the ball from Tyler Higbee.
Purdy finished 25-of-34 for 205 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Stafford went 15-of-25 for 155 yards with no touchdowns and was pulled late, per The Athletic. Christian McCaffrey ran 10 times for 68 yards. Rookie Kaelon Black added 14 carries for 65. Together they accounted for 133 of San Francisco’s 174 rushing yards.
| Player / Unit | Stat line |
|---|---|
| Brock Purdy | 25-of-34, 205 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT |
| Deebo Samuel | 6 rec, 48 yards, 1 TD; 1 rush, 12 yards |
| Mike Evans | 6 rec, 49 yards, 1 TD |
| CMC / Kaelon Black | 10-68 and 14-65 rushing |
| 49ers defense vs. Rams | 290 yards allowed, 2-of-9 on third down |
Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in a Rams uniform, did not record a tackle in his debut, the Los Angeles Times reported. That is analysis territory as much as box-score fact: San Francisco’s 21-personnel looks and short throws gave Garrett little chance to pin his ears back.
What it means heading to Week 2
This was not a secret offensive overhaul. Shanahan ran the same principles that made Samuel valuable the first time: get him the ball before the defense can set, then let him finish. Evans gave Purdy a true boundary target Aiyuk no longer provides. Robinson’s deep post punished a Rams secondary that never generated a sack.
San Francisco hosts the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 4:25 p.m. ET, per the NFL schedule. Rookie receiver De’Zhaun Stribling left Thursday’s game with an ankle injury and was ruled out, NBC Sports Bay Area noted. That could keep Samuel’s snap share high even after the flight home.
The Rams entered as a Super Bowl favorite after adding Garrett and reshaping the secondary. One night in Melbourne does not rewrite a season. It does show that an offense with Purdy, McCaffrey, Evans and a healthy Samuel can still control a game when the other sideline is a day late and a step slow.
