MELBOURNE, Australia — The coup de grace on Thursday was a tandem affair.One 49ers linebacker, Dre Greenlaw, held up Rams tight end Tyler Higbee after a short reception early in the fourth quarter, allowing the other, Fred Warner, to swoop in and punch the ball loose.The 49ers recovered, kicked a field goal and the Rams’ last real chance for a comeback was snuffed out.“No doubt, no doubt,” Greenlaw said after the 27-7 win when asked if he purposely tried to set up his buddy by propping up Higbee. “I knew what was coming. That’s exactly what the mindset was.”
Fred doing Fred things 👊
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 11, 2026The sequence was symbolic in a game that had the feel of a 49ers family reunion.Warner and Greenlaw — close friends since San Francisco drafted Greenlaw in 2019 — were together again after both missed most of the 2025 season with injuries, Greenlaw’s coming as an unhappy member of the Denver Broncos. Warner led all tacklers Thursday with 11, and he was in the middle of the pivotal third-quarter goal-line stand that helped turn a close contest into a rout. Greenlaw chipped in six stops of his own.Deebo Samuel also made his mark after his one-season stint with the Washington Commanders. He tied Mike Evans for a team-best six receptions. Both also caught a Brock Purdy touchdown pass with a third from Purdy, a perfectly placed 39 yarder in the second quarter, going to receiver Demarcus Robinson. Samuel also had a 45-yard kickoff return to begin the second half.“It felt like I never left,” he said afterward. “Honestly, I’d been gone for like seven months.”
