Former Patriots Mac Jones, Kendrick Bourne fill up box score as 49ers beat Rams
Thursday Night Football featured big performances from a pair of former New England Patriots.
Former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones filled in for injured San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy for the third time this season. He was successful once again, completing 33 of 49 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns, all while playing without star tight end George Kittle and the team's top three wide receivers.
Jones' top target on the night was a familiar one. He found former Patriots teammate Kendrick Bourne 10 times for 142 yards on the night. The Patriots released Bourne before the start of the season.
With Jones and Bourne leading the way, the 49ers earned an overtime win. Eddy Piñeiro hit a 41-yard field goal in overtime before San Francisco stopped Kyren Williams on fourth down with 3:36 to play, and the short-handed 49ers hung on for a thrilling 26-23 victory.
"We talked about how tough we had to be for four quarters," quarterback Mac Jones said. "It came down to who was going to be the toughest team, and I think it was us."
Jones was also playing through a leg injury, having to be helped off the field at one point during the game. But he still helped the team improve to 4-1 on the year.
The Rams gave the ball to San Francisco to begin overtime, and Jones drove to set up Piñeiro's fourth field goal with 5:51 left.
Los Angeles marched down the field, and facing fourth-and-1 at the San Francisco 11, coach Sean McVay elected to go for it — only to call a running play that he regretted almost immediately.
"I'm pretty sick right now," McVay said.
Bourne's 10 catches and 142 yards were both career highs. Jones was filling in for Purdy, who is "week to week" with his toe injury, head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed.
Purdy sat out for the third time in four games with the toe injury. San Francisco also played without injured receivers Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk — but Jones, Bourne and a fired-up defense did just enough to reassert the Niners' dominance in this matchup.