Wilson Comes Off Bench, Haunts Rubley : 49ers: Rookie defensive end joins San Francisco defense to beleaguer Ram quarterback.

Until Sunday, San Francisco rookie defensive end Troy Wilson could boast of only one NFL statistic--a special teams tackle last week against Phoenix.

But Wilson came off the bench Sunday and terrorized Ram quarterback T.J. Rubley in his first NFL start.

Wilson, playing in only his third game since recovering from a back injury suffered in mini-camp last spring, finished with three of San Francisco’s seven sacks in the 49ers’ 40-17 victory at Candlestick Park.

Rubley completed 15 of 26 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown, but the 49ers intercepted two of his passes and had him running for cover all afternoon.

“I went out there with a mission, that I needed to make something happen,” Wilson said. “And I’m glad I did it.”

Here’s what he did:

--He sacked Rubley three times for losses totaling 18 yards, and repeatedly chased the elusive quarterback out of the pocket.

--He regularly pressured Rubley, who completed only two of nine passes for 20 yards in the first half as San Francisco built a 23-3 lead.

--Sacked Rubley for an 11-yard loss on the Rams’ final first-half possession, which eventually led to Mike Cofer’s 25-yard field goal as time expired.

“I’m not sure how bad Rubley was rattled,” Wilson said. “We just kept the pressure coming. We certainly weren’t going to let up on him.

“We tried to force him out of the pocket. Once we flushed him out, he was bound to run into somebody.”

Somebody such as left tackle Ted Washington, who sacked Rubley for a six-yard loss early in the second quarter, one of four first-half 49er sacks.

Linebacker John Johnson didn’t have the welcome mat out for Rubley either. As Rubley dropped back to pass inside the Ram five, Johnson charged in unblocked from the right side.

“I came off the corner and I noticed the quarterback didn’t see me,” Johnson said. “Instead of just sacking him, I wanted to make a play on the ball.”

Rubley cocked his arm, ready to pass, but the ball never got to the line of scrimmage. Johnson knocked it loose and recovered it on the Ram two-yard line, setting up a touchdown by fullback Marc Logan that made it 20-3.

Last week, Rubley had raised eyebrows around the league when he replaced starter Jim Everett in the third quarter and threw two touchdown passes in a 16-13 loss to Detroit.

The Rams waited until Wednesday to announce Rubley’s start for San Francisco, giving the 49ers only four days to prepare for his scrambling style.

“As far as preparation, we were just getting ready for an NFL player,” San Francisco Coach George Seifert said. “It wasn’t like we were going against an inexperienced quarterback. He proved last week that he can move the club and score.

“We put in a couple rushes to account for his escapability, but other than that, we did nothing special to defense him.”

As it turned out, the Rams created an opportunity for the 49er defense.

Wilson and left end Dennis Brown (six tackles) routinely beat the right side of the Rams’ offensive line, which sorely missed veteran right tackle Jackie Slater, who’s out because of a torn pectoral muscle.

He was replaced by Robert Jenkins, who had not started a game in nearly two seasons. And when Jenkins left after the first series with a sprained left toe, he was replaced by second-year player Darryl Ashmore, who has spent most of the season on the inactive list. That left Ashmore and Leo Goeas to stop Wilson and Brown.

“It certainly was a weak point for them,” Wilson said.

Until Sunday, the Rams had given Everett some of the best protection in the league. They ranked fourth in the NFL in sacks allowed with 10 in seven games, five sacks fewer than the league average.

San Francisco’s defense, with only 16 sacks in seven games, switched its defense from a 3-4 alignment, which it had used since the early 1980s, to a 4-3 alignment designed to better stop the run and put more heat on the quarterback.

Rubley felt plenty of it.

Not only did he have to contend with heavyweights such as Brown (6 feet 4, 290 pounds) and rookie right tackle Dana Stubblefield (6-2, 305), but also with lighter, speedier linemen such as Wilson (6-4, 235).

“I don’t think the Rams’ offensive line could handle a big front like ours,” said Stubblefield, who finished with three tackles. “They couldn’t double-team all of us at the same time. And once we go one-on-one, we’re going to get to the quarterback, put a hit on him and make him nervous.”

So how nervous was Rubley?

“He started second-guessing his passes,” Stubblefield said. “You could see it. You could see him looking both ways, wondering what was coming.”