It was third-and-1, the ball at the Niners’ 11-yard line, the game tied at 20, and Mac Jones broke the huddle with an assuredness few had seen of late from the former first-round pick out of Alabama. He took the shotgun snap, planted his foot on his fifth step, and ripped the ball to Kendrick Bourne, who was running a dig, inside Rams defensive back Quentin Lake, and just outside and over the outstretched right hand of linebacker Omar Speights.
It was good for 18 yards, a first down, and kept alive a drive that ended in a 59-yard Eddy Pineiro field goal that was crucial in San Francisco’s 26–23 overtime win over the Rams in Inglewood, Calif.
