The NFL Network has been loving Thursday night football this season and after the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles set a network record for viewership last week, in Week 4 the crew will pick up with the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams and play-by-play man Brad Nessler and analyst Mike Mayock will be on the call.
The Thursday night games are usually interesting matchups and after the Andy Reid reunion in Philly, this game in Week 4 will have an NFC West matchup and it comes after the Rams did not lose to the 49ers last season in two games. The Rams pulled out a win and also finished in a tie with San Francisco in two games last season and now the Niners are coming into the game at 1-2 and looking to avoid three straight losses.
Since Jim Harbaugh took over, the team has not had a streak like that and after defeating the Packers 34-28 in Week 1, the team has scored just 10 points on offense and list 27-7 at home to the Colts on the road, dropping the game to Harbaugh's former Stanford QB Andrew Luck and now they will play against Sam Bradford to try and turn things around. The team has played better on defense than offense this season and now Colin Kaepernick will try and rebound.
Kaepernick helped lead the team to the Super Bowl last season and while he started off well with over 400 yards passing and three TDs against the Packers, he has not been good over the past two weeks in the losses, as the 49ers have allowed over 25 points in each game while scoring seven or less. Kaepernick opened the season with a 27-of-39 performance with 412 yards passing and three TDs for a 69.9 percent completion rate, but since then he has not been efficient, throwing four interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Kaepernick has had just 13 completions in each of the past two weeks with throwing totals of 28 and 27 and he passed for just 127 yards against the Seahawks in Week 2 before tossing 150 against the Colts this past weekend. Kaepernick has not been effective over the past two weeks and now the loss of Michael Crabtree is starting to set in, as Vernon Davis has also been dealing with an injury.
Anquan Boldin has not been great since opening the season with 13 catches for 208 yards and a touchdown on 17 targets, as he has been targeted just 12 times since then and has just six catches for 74 yards. The team will need a better game from him on Thursday night and if Kaepernick can get things together, the 49ers will avoid the tough 1-3 start after the Seahawks started their season 3-0 after defeating the Jaguars last week.
Mayock and Nessler are a solid team and Mayock is one of the best analysts in the game, as he never gets too crazy like some other broadcasters and he always gives good analysis and information. The two have been working together for some time and it shows and on Thursday they will handle the broadcast duties from the 49ers and Rams game in St. Louis.