ST. LOUIS - Austin Davis has made the most of his improbable shot the St. Louis Rams, passing for 300 yards each of the last two games. The degree of difficulty is about to go up. Way up. The San Francisco 49ers enter Monday nights game with the NFLs No. 2 defence, making the going very tough even without key players from last season. Catch all the action on TSN1, TSN3, and TSN4 starting at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Patrick Willis leads the way for San Francisco (3-2) which has stepped up its play lately. Last week, they did enough to compensate for a sputtering offence that leaned on five field goals and converted on a fake punt deep in their territory in a 22-17 victory over the Chiefs. Alex Smith found the going tough especially in the second half and Jamal Charles was held to 80 yards rushing. Patrick Willis, lets start there, coach Jim Harbaugh said. He is the kingpin in the middle. Harbaugh said tackle Justin Smith and linebacker Ahmad Brooks have also stepped up their play, plus nose tackle Ian Williams has been a find. Linebacker NaVorro Bowman has resumed running and getting closer to returning. Davis passed for 375 yards and two touchdowns last week at Philadelphia, nearly bringing the Rams back from a 27-point deficit in a 34-28 loss. The previous game, he passed for 325 yards although he was intercepted twice. Several players have proven reliable targets, including wide receivers Brian Quick, Kenny Britt and Austin Pettis and tight ends Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks. The 49ers took advantage of the extra day of preparation to learn more about a player who was fourth on the depth chart during the preseason before the job dropped into his hands due to injuries to Sam Bradford and Shaun Hill. Coach Jeff Fisher reversed field after the Rams bye and said Davis was his quarterback for the rest of the year, after repeatedly saying Hill was that guy when he returned from a quadriceps injury. Davis was a volunteer high school coach this time last year, getting re-signed by the Rams after Bradfords first season-ending knee injury. So its still a nice rags-to-riches tale, but with a body of work to analyze. Weve really weve got as much tape on him as we would have if the other guy had still been the quarterback, defensive co-ordinator Vic Fangio said. So, its really not a whole lot different than any other week. The Rams (1-3) are a lot more concerned about solving the 49ers defence than Davis performing on national TV. Its just the next challenge, the next chapter, offensive co-ordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. Its just obviously a very good defence. Again, he doesnt have to do it by himself, we have to do it as a team. The game plan wont change much, if at all, to account for San Franciscos strengths. Running back Zac Stacy is probable coming off a calf injury that sidelined him last week and Benny Cunningham also been effective. Theyll certainly make some plays, they always do, Schottenheimer said. They will be tough stretches Im sure. This is probably an elite defence, but weve played some good defences. For a change the 49ers didnt beat themselves last week, committing just two penalties for 10 yards last week. Penalties remain a season-long concern for the Rams, whove also made enough critical mistakes to put a damper on hopes Fishers third season will be the long-awaited breakthrough. The defence has been a puzzlement, prone to giving up big gainers and limited to a single sack despite aggressive schemes under new co-ordinator Gregg Williams. Theres enough on his plate that Fisher isnt paying much attention to the 15-year anniversary recognition of the 1999 Super Bowl team. The team was honoured at a function Sunday night and will be the focus of halftime Monday night. Im actually thinking about the 49ers, Fisher said. Ive been here for a few years now. Im reminded on a daily basius inside the building, so Im used to it now. ___ AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Wholesale NHL Jerseys . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit. NHL Jerseys 2020 .L. - Defending womens champion Alberta improved to 3-0 at the Canadian junior curling championships with a 10-3 win over Ontario in Sundays afternoon draw. https://www.cheapnhljerseysjustwholesale.com/.com) - Roosevelt Jones had 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead No. Cheap NHL Jerseys . Im very excited about the playoffs, particularly in the Western Conference with amazing match-ups, as well as the wonderful local story in the Toronto Raptors. It should be a blast. Here are my predictions, but based upon my lousy prognostications during the NCAA Tournament, you might be better off going the other way on some of mine - particularly with the Raptors, who I hope and pray are able to win an incredibly difficult match-up. Authentic NHL Jerseys . Johnson shared an update after his surgery Tuesday on Twitter. He also wrote, "now lets get on the grind." The running back told The Tennessean he was having surgery in Pensacola, Fla.New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Carmelo Anthony tallied 31 points to help the New York Knicks continue their improved play of late with a 100-92 victory over a short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder squad. Anthony, who sat out Saturdays game at Charlotte to rest his ailing left knee, added 10 rebounds in the Knicks fourth win in five outings since they lost a franchise-worst 16 in a row from Dec. 14-Jan. 15. Execution. I think thats what it came down to, Anthony said. Defensively, we have been locking in. While Anthony was back on the court, the Thunder played without reigning league MVP Kevin Durant for a second straight contest due to a sprained left toe. Russell Westbrook did all he could to offset Durants absence by pouring in 40 points, which still wasnt enough to prevent Oklahoma City from a potentially costly loss to one of the NBAs bottom-feeding teams. We just gave them too many opportunities, Westbrook said. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. (We) made some mistakes defensively. Langston Galloway chipped in 18 points for New York, while former Thunder forward Lance Thomas put up a season-best 17 against the team that traded him to the Knicks earlier this month. New York trailed 71-70 early in the fourth quarter and were clinging to a one- point lead shortly thereafter before Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed consecutive treys to jump-start an 8-0 run that staked the Knicks to an 82-73 advantage with six minutes left. Westbrook scored the next seven points to single-handedly close the gap, but New York countered with a back-breaking 10-0 sequence that Hardaway, who netted 11 of his 14 points in the final frame, capped with another triple thatt put the Knicks up 92-80 with 2:35 remaining.dddddddddddd. The Thunder put themselves in an early bind with a sloppy first quarter in which they turned it over eight times and were down 17-11 just over seven minutes in. Oklahoma City closed out the period on an 8-3 flurry to pull within one, however, and an 11-2 surge capped by Reggie Jacksons steal and run-out slam near the midway mark of the second gave the visitors a 32-24 lead. Anthony and Galloway then led the Knicks on a 13-4 run, with the latters triple with 3:08 to go in the half putting New York back in front. The Thunder answered on back-to-back buckets from Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, though, and went into the break owning a slim 45-43 edge. The game remained extremely tight throughout the third quarter, which featured six lead changes and neither team ahead by more than four points. A Dion Waiters 3-pointer with 41.2 seconds left sent the Thunder up by two, but Hardaway countered with a trey of his own on the other end to send the Knicks into the fourth holding a 68-67 lead. Game Notes Westbrook also had 40 points in a 115-111 Thunder loss to Portland on Dec. 23 ... The Thunder fell to 9-16 this season when Durant misses a game ... Jason Smith posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Knicks, while Lou Amundson finished with 10 boards and four blocks in the win ... Oklahoma City had won the last three meetings between the teams by an average of 22.6 points ... Guard Jose Calderson also returned for New York after missing the Charlotte game with a bruised knee, recording eight assists in 27 minutes. ' ' '