Big stars are missing from both teams due to injury for the latest meeting in the Rams-49ers rivalry

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although the Rams-49ers rivalry has been decidedly tilted in San Francisco's direction in recent years, the games have still been must-see spectacles.

Both California teams have usually fielded a pair of rosters filled with NFL stars at the peak of their talents, even if the Niners usually win.

Both teams are missing several top players because of injuries when they meet on Sunday, putting a decided damper on the Rams' home opener in Inglewood.

The 49ers (1-1) will be without Christian McCaffrey (leg) and Deebo Samuel (calf) — and tight end George Kittle (hamstring) also could be sidelined or limited. The Rams (0-2) won't have their top two receivers and offensive playmakers, Cooper Kupp (ankle) and Puka Nacua (knee).

But Matthew Stafford and Brock Purdy both are healthy, and they'll try to do more with less in the biannual rivalry game.

“I think the biggest thing for me as a quarterback is (to) just go out there and trust," said Stafford, who will also be playing behind a third new starting lineup on his offensive line.

“I trust those guys that they’re going to do their job,” Stafford added. "There’s some high-level stuff that guys that I’ve played with for five or six years that you can talk about and feel good about doing. When you have new guys in different spots, some of that isn’t there. But you just go out there, trust that they’re going to be in the right spots, throw the ball and let them do their thing.”

The 49ers are still smarting from last week's 23-17 loss to Minnesota, and their offensive depth is already being tested without their star running back and their do-it-all receiver. McCaffrey and Samuel accounted for 3,340 yards from scrimmage and 33 TDs last season.

“Hopefully they’ll be OK, but I’m not sad that they’re not playing against us,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “They are still as good as it gets offensively in this league.”

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said the number of plays in the game plan won’t change, but there will be some that won’t make the cut this week without both players in the lineup.

“You eliminate some special things that you would only do for those guys, but the number (of plays) doesn’t change,” Shanahan said. “There’s things those guys do very well. Nothing other guys can’t do. But there’s kind of different percentages on how much you call them and things like that.”

McVay also has to make major changes to his game plan in the absence of Kupp and Nacua. Veterans Tyler Johnson and Demarcus Robinson are stepping up for the Rams, who are 0-2 for the first time in McVay's career.

Preparing for the Rams was a little different this year for Shanahan because of a key piece missing in the middle of the Rams defense. Shanahan won’t need to spend much of his week figuring out how to try to neutralize three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, who retired after last season. Donald’s 12½ career sacks against the Niners are tied for the most of any player and his presence impacted what San Francisco could do both in the running and passing game.

“It’s definitely a little different,” Shanahan said. “That’s been 99% of our brain power for a number of years, and it’s kind of weird just not thinking that way.”

Jimmy Garoppolo went 8-0 as a starter against the Rams during his six seasons with the 49ers. He will be watching from the Rams' sideline this time as Stafford's backup in his first game against San Francisco since his departure.

Garoppolo smiled at the idea of what might happen if he has to play against Nick Bosa and Fred Warner on San Francisco’s hard-nosed defense.

“The trash talk would get real, real quick I bet,” Garoppolo said. “That’s one thing I know that would pick up, just from knowing those guys. It would be cool, but Staff has got it right now. I think we’re in good hands. Staff has been balling, and he’s just got to keep going.”

Garoppolo also knows about the noise made by Niners fans at SoFi Stadium. Many older football fans in the Los Angeles area adopted the 49ers as their favorite team during the NFL's 21-year absence from the nation's second-largest media market.

“Being on this side of it, we've got to deal with the noise a little bit,” Garoppolo said. “Just being honest. We'll see what happens Sunday. Rams Nation came out pretty good in the preseason, so hopefully with the home opener and everything, it will be a pretty good crowd.”

San Francisco has won 10 of the past 13 meetings, but the Rams won the NFC championship game in January 2022 on the way to their Super Bowl 56 title. Los Angeles also won the teams’ most recent matchup in Week 18 last season, with Carson Wentz leading the Rams past Sam Darnold’s 49ers 21-20 while both coaches rested many of their top players — but not Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk — for the postseason.

The Niners still have talent without McCaffrey and Samuel. While Aiyuk remains a top receiver, Jordan Mason has rushed for 247 yards in two games in place of McCaffrey, and Jauan Jennings will fill in for Samuel.

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Tyler Johnson (18) runs against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy walks off the field after throwing an incomplete pass on fourth down during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay speaks on the sidelines during the first half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan walks on the field before an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) is sacked by Arizona Cardinals linebacker Dennis Gardeck (45) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) fumbles the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Both major presidential candidates are making appearances Thursday meant to fire up their core supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris is participating in a livestream with Oprah Winfrey, who has endorsed Harris and spoke at the Democratic convention in August. Donald Trump will be in Washington to address a “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America” evening event with Miriam Adelson, a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who founded the Las Vegas Sands casino and was one of the Republican Party’s largest donors.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

On Capitol Hill in Washington, Republican Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the chairman of the House GOP’s campaign committee, told reporters the report’s findings were “concerning.”

In the most contested races for control of the U.S. House, many Republican candidates are speaking up about women’s rights to abortion access and reproductive care in new and surprising ways, a deliberate shift for a GOP blindsided by some political ramifications of the post-Roe v. Wade era.

Looking directly into the camera for ads, or penning personal op-eds in local newspapers, the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from some of the more aggressive anti-abortion ideas coming from their party and its allies. Instead the Republican candidates are working quickly to spell out their own views separate from a GOP that for decades has worked to put restrictions on reproductive care.

It’s a remarkable about face as the Republican Party works to prevent losses this November that could wipe out its majority control of the House. It comes in a fast-moving election season with high-profile and gripping stories of women’s lives being upended and endangered by abortion restrictions.

Read more here.

Former President Donald Trump has heavily courted conservative evangelicals since his arrival on the political scene almost a decade ago. Now he is selling Trump-themed Bibles, touting the overturning of Roe v. Wade and imploring Christians to get out the vote for him.

Trump has maintained strong support among white evangelical voters. According to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 white evangelical voters cast a ballot for him in 2020. But a small and diverse coalition of evangelicals is looking to pull their fellow believers away from the former president’s fold, offering not only an alternate candidate to support but an alternate vision for their faith altogether.

Grassroots groups like Evangelicals for Harris have run advertisements and Zoom call to shore up evangelical votes for the vice president. Despite some policy differences with Harris, they argue she is the better choice this election.

“I certainly don’t agree with her on all matters of policy,” said Lee Scott, who identifies as evangelical and is ordained in the mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “I am pro-life. I am against abortion. But at the same time, she has a pro-family platform,” citing Harris’ education policies and promise to expand the child tax credit.

Read more here.

Trump’s campaign appears to be distancing itself from Robinson in the wake of the CNN reporting, which AP has not independently verified.

In a statement to AP, which reached out for comment on the reporting, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the GOP nominee’s campaign “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country,” calling North Carolina “a vital part of that plan.”

Leavitt went on to contrast Trump’s economic record with that of Harris, but did not mention Robinson by name or answer questions as to whether he would appear with Trump at a Saturday campaign rally in Wilmington, or had been invited to do so.

As CNN published a report that Trump ally and North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted strongly worded racial and sexual comments on an online message board, Harris’ campaign reminded voters of the gubernatorial nominee’s linkages to Trump.

In one X post, Harris’ campaign played video clips of Trump praising Robinson - including calling him “better than Martin Luther King” - over headlines from CNN’s reporting.

Another showed Robinson and Trump standing side-by-side giving Trump’s signature thumbs up pose, with the campaign adding a corresponding emoji to the post.

CNN reported Thursday that Robinson, who would become North Carolina’s first Black governor, attacked civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in searing terms and once referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”

Robinson has stumped in North Carolina with Trump several times and spoke at this summer’s Republican National Convention. But he wasn’t with Vance as the GOP vice presidential nominee campaigned in Raleigh on Wednesday, and Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to a question seeking comment as to whether he would appear with the presidential nominee on Saturday in Wilmington.

Election officials in Wisconsin are asking the state’s liberal-controlled Supreme Court to decide whether independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name should stay on the presidential ballot without waiting for an appellate ruling.

Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Donald Trump. He’s been trying to get his name off ballots in key battleground states like Wisconsin. A Dane County judge ruled Monday that state law mandates candidates must remain on the ballot unless they die. Kennedy has filed an appeal with the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Election Commission asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to take the case directly. They argued that the case needs a fast, final resolution since clerks have started sending absentee ballots to voters.

The state that handed former President Donald Trump one of his narrowest losses four years ago is immersed in election controversies even before the first ballots of this year’s presidential race are cast.

The turmoil springs from a revamp of the state election board that gave Trump allies a majority. They have been making changes to election rules that have raised alarms among Democrats and others.

Georgia Republicans say they are just trying to ensure the accuracy of the vote this November. Democrats say the GOP’s tactics are laying the groundwork for another attempt to overturn the will of the voters should Trump once again lose a close election.

President Joe Biden said Thursday the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates was “an important signal” that inflation has eased as he poked at Donald Trump’s economic policies as a failure in the past and sure to “fail again” if revived.

“Lowering interest rates isn’t a declaration of victory,” Biden told the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. “It’s a declaration of progress, to signal we’ve entered a new phase of our economy and our recovery.”

The Democratic president emphasized that there was more work left to do, but he used his speech to burnish his economic legacy even as he criticized Trump, his Republican predecessor who is running for another term.

“Trickle down down economics failed,” Biden said. “He’s promising again trickle down economics. It will fail again.”

The hospitality union UNITE HERE says it has knocked on more than 1 million doors on behalf of Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy, saying that it expects to reach 3.5 million voters in 10 states by Election Day.

Gwen Mills, the union’s president, said the ground game has been more aggressive than in 2016 and 2020 campaigns. She said the process started earlier than in previous elections and more of her members are taking longer leaves of absence from their jobs to contact potential voters. The union has roughly 300,000 members and 1,800 of them are active in canvassing for the vice president.

Harris is relying on aggressive union outreach to help drive turnout in a close race against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

The Teamsters union snubbed Harris on Wednesday by declining to endorse either major presidential candidate. But the United Auto Workers, American Federation of Teachers and the umbrella organization AFL-CIO are all working for Harris.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott announced Thursday morning that he’s leading a bill meant to provide protections to presidential and vice presidential candidates and spouses at the same level of protection provided to the sitting president.

Scott introduced this bill with 11 other Republican senators, and he said in an interview that he’s been texting back and forth with Trump. He said that from these conversations, he understands that Trump is “committed to winning the race and committed to fighting.”

In this interview, he said that his bill would push these protections for Trump as a major presidential candidate, but he clarified that his bill wouldn’t apply to former presidents, including former President Barack Obama or President Joe Biden after November.

Scott also said he supported the state investigation on the assassination attempt and believes that federal prosecutors needed to be more transparent about details to avoid misinformation.

“Here’s a guy that’s now twice, in what 64 days, somebody tried to kill him,” Scott said. “This is not normal, and we’ve got to figure this out.”

Donald Trump is no longer planning to visit a Polish-American shrine in Pennsylvania Sunday where he would have crossed paths with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

That’s according to a person familiar with Trump’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the trip, which had not been formally announced. It’s unclear why the change was made, but Trump will be in Pennsylvania Monday for a pair of campaign events in the critical battleground state.

Duda’s office has said he will attend a Roman Catholic Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa followed by the unveiling of a monument to the anti-communist Solidarity movement.

He’ll be in the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly happening in New York.

Trump’s campaign is making its argument that Hispanic voters are better suited to pick the GOP nominee over Harris this November.

During a call held with reporters Thursday to mark National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Harris “has tried to undo” Trump’s achievements that benefit Hispanic Americans and that the “world was just a safer and more stable place” under the Republican president’s administration.

Rubio cited Harris’ co-sponsorship while in the U.S. Senate of a bill aimed at making it easier for the Cuban military to benefit and profit from American tourism and “making all kinds of concessions to Venezuela.”

Trump’s campaign held the call to mark National Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual tradition that showcases the diversity and culture of Hispanic people. The month is celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

Rubio and former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado gave remarks on the call in both English and Spanish.

Immigration wasn’t a focus of Thursday’s call, but it has been a major line of contrast between Harris and Trump. Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual leadership conference on Wednesday, Harris criticized Trump’s promise to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, questioning whether he would rely on massive raids and detention camps to carry it out.

Trump has promised to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if he’s elected in November but has offered no details on how such an operation would work.

Vice President Kamala Harris is stepping up her efforts to win over voters who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enlisting prominent members of the faith to make the case in pivotal Arizona that Donald Trump does not align with the church’s values.

Her state campaign announced on Thursday an advisory committee to formalize the outreach to current and former members of the church, widely known as the Mormon church.

With nearly 450,000 church members in Arizona, about 6% of the state’s population, Latter-day Saints and former church members could prove critical in what will likely be an extremely close race.

Latter-day Saints have traditionally voted Republican and are likely to remain part of the GOP coalition. Clustered in solidly Republican states, they have long been a major force in GOP primaries and local politics across the West, but they have not held much sway in national elections. In 2020, about 7 in 10 Mormon voters nationally supported Trump, according to AP VoteCast, while about one-quarter backed Democrat Joe Biden.

Leaders of a Democratic protest vote movement against the Israel-Hamas war said Thursday that they would not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris ’ presidential bid but strongly urged their supporters to vote against Donald Trump in November.

The “Uncommitted” movement drew hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries earlier this year in protest of President Joe Biden ’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The group’s leaders urged the administration to change its policy on the conflict, warning that some Democratic voters might otherwise abstain from voting in November, particularly in swing state Michigan.

Despite months of discussions with top Democratic officials, discontent within the protest-vote ranks only grew after the Democratic National Convention when they were denied a speaker on stage and other demands weren’t met.

Harris’ “unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her,” movement leaders said in a statement.

Group leaders also made clear in their statement that they strongly opposed supporters voting for Trump or a third-party candidate who “could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency.” Instead, they urged voters to register “anti-Trump votes and vote up and down the ballot.”

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign event at Nassau Coliseum, Wednesday, Sept.18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) leadership conference, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Leadership Conference, at Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) leadership conference, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)