ST. LOUIS -- Linebacker Aldon Smith matched Fred Dean's 49ers single-season record when his second-quarter sack gave him 17½ this season. It was Smith's only sack Sunday, and it came with the 49ers leading 7-0 in an eventual 16-13 overtime loss to the St. Louis Rams.

After lining up at left end and pushing right tackle Barry Richardson into the pocket, Smith used his right hand to pull down Sam Bradford for a 6-yard loss at the Rams' 10-yard line.

That sack gave Smith 31½ in his 28-game career, the most ever by a player in his first two seasons. Reggie White held the previous mark of 31.

Sacks didn't become an officially recognized stat until 1982, which explains why the 49ers don't credit Cedrick Hardman with their record even though he had 18 sacks in 1971. Dean set his mark in 1983.

Smith is five sacks shy of Michael Strahan's single-season NFL record from his 2001 spree with the New York Giants. Smith, who came close to sacking Bradford a couple other times, declined an interview request.

  • Even though Colin Kaepernick appeared to escape an end-zone sack by throwing the ball out of bounds, officials huddled and awarded the Rams a third-quarter safety. It was the wrong call, according to Fox analyst Mike Pereira, the NFL's former supervisor of officials.

    "It's an interesting play, and I do think San Francisco has a gripe," Pereira said on Fox. "Because on intentional-grounding plays, when you're out

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    of the pocket, the line of scrimmage -- which was the 17 -- extends out of bounds. It does appear to us that it landed beyond the 17. So, really, by rule, (the ball) is considered to have gotten back to the line."

    Referee Carl Cheffers said a sideline official told him the ball did not make it back to the line of scrimmage, however. "No aspect of that is reviewable," Cheffers said. "The result of the play is not a scoring play. It's a penalty enforcement that results in a score."

  • Kicker David Akers declined to blame a pelvis injury for the 51-yard field-goal attempt he pulled wide in overtime. Akers made 23- and 33-yard attempts earlier in the game. "Yeah, I feel all right," Akers said. "I don't put anything on injuries."

    Akers noted that the injury flared up last game at New Orleans and that it traces back before that. Akers has made only 21 of 30 field-goal attempts this season, including 1 of 5 from 50 yards or more. Last season, Akers was 7 of 9 from at least 50 yards, and 44 of 52 overall.

  • Wide receiver Mario Manningham aggravated a right-shoulder injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. Manningham (five catches, 37 yards) said he was struggling with it after the game but declined further comment.

  • Running back Frank Gore averaged a season-low 2.5 yards per carry on a season-high 23 attempts (for 58 yards). He scored his sixth rushing touchdown this season on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.

    "They put their whole team in the box," Gore said. "They played hard. We've got to give it up to them. They stuck around and kept playing hard. We kept hurting ourselves here and there."

  • The 49ers committed a season-high 11 penalties for 97 yards, and they've been penalized at least 10 times in three of their past five games.

  • Michael Crabtree had his second 100-yard game this season, tallying seven receptions for 101 yards.

  • First-round draft pick A.J. Jenkins suited up for the first time since the season opener, but he and Alex Smith were the only active 49ers who didn't play.

  • Rams leading receiver Danny Amendola, who had 11 catches against the 49ers in their last meeting, didn't play because of a heel injury.

  • The Rams' Steven Jackson also ran for his lowest average this season, managing 48 yards on 21 carries (2.3 average).