How did 49ers’ offensive line shut down Myles Garrett in Rams debut?

MELBOURNE, Australia – Trent Williams claimed he didn’t know Myles Garrett’s official stat line. Well, there really wasn’t one.

No sacks. No quarterback hits. No tackles on 40 defensive snaps.

Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year and the Los Angeles Rams’ huge acquisition from Cleveland, got shut out in the 49ers’ 27-7 season-opening win Friday morning at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Afterward, Garrett confirmed he played through knee pain.

“He’s still really hard to block,” Williams said. “He’s one of those players where it’s just, no matter what he’s going through, it’s still not an easy out for anybody.”

Williams has been the NFL’s marquee left tackle for decades and figured to potentially serve as the 49ers’ kryptonite to Garrett’s ways. On the other side of the offensive line is right tackle Colton McKivitz, and Garrett didn’t beat him, either, on eight matchups.

“I was 8-for-8. Was he close once or twice? Eh, the ball is gone, so we did our job up front,” McKivitz said. “We were moving the ball well. Confidence got built in the second half.”

Quarterback Brock Purdy was not sacked all game, and he only got hit twice, completing 25-of-34 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns, though he did throw an interception, too.

This was Garrett’s 135th career game, and only the fourth in which he had neither a tackle nor a quarterback hit.

“When I was out there, I was a little bit more focused on myself and trying to stay healthy than what they were doing, and that showed,” Garrett said. “I wasn’t who I needed to be for my team.”

Credit is also due to coach Kyle Shanahan’s fast-break and deceptive schemes. ESPN reported that the 49ers used 19 quick snaps, six crack blocks and multiple looks to offset the Rams’ pass rush.

“They did an unbelievable job. You got to mix it up,” Shanahan said. “You got to get rid of the ball quick, which I thought Brock did a great job of (with) the receivers getting open.”

Rams defensive end Kobie Turner acknowledged Shanahan’s “really good” game plan.

“A lot of times they get the ball out quick. There’s a couple of times they held on to the ball,” Turner said. “… When you look at the way they chip, stayed tighter in their formations to keep us from working how we normally do on the inside, they had a really good game plan.”