Halloween night was heart-breaking for many Arizona Cardinals fans. Quarterback Kyler Murray and company very nearly pulled off an epic comeback against one of the top teams in the NFL on prime-time television. It certainly would have been great for the Cardinals, though Sunday presents a chance at redemption.
The San Francisco 49ers are down many starters due to injury, while the Cardinals are coming in relatively healthy. LT Joe Staley and DT D.J. Jones have been ruled out, with many others questionable.
The biggest storyline is tight end George Kittle, who is officially listed as doubtful (even though head coach Kyle Shanahan told Arizona media he wouldn’t play earlier in the week). Another big injury is WR Emmanuel Sanders, who is in a ton of pain due to a rib injury sustained in Monday Night Football’s loss to the Seahawks. He is officially questionable.
Some other names for the 49ers on the injury front is RB Matt Breida (doubtful) and K Robbie Gould (doubtful).
The Cardinals must capitalize on San Francisco’s injury-plagued roster. They owe them one for the loss on Thursday Night Football.
Read on for our game preview:
The 49ers on Offense:
After the injury to Emmanuel Sanders on Monday Night Football, the 49ers offense was unable to get much done as they were kept in the game by their stout defense. The receivers behind Sanders in the depth chart had tons of dropped passes on crucial plays. If Sanders can’t go this Sunday, it will be the Kendrick Bourne and Deebo Samuel show against the Cardinals.
The Cards are catching a big break by not having to play against George Kittle, who some consider to be the best TE in the league. Does this mean Vance Joseph will get a little more creative in his play-calling this week?
QB Jimmy Garoppolo struggled against the Seahawks. He fumbled on a play that would turn into a touchdown for Seattle and had two dropped interceptions on their game-tying drive. Still, the Cardinals know they can’t take him lightly after he carved up their defense in their last meeting. Vance Joseph’s defense needs to generate much more pressure against Garoppolo than last game and force more of those turnovers.
The 49ers will likely turn to a mix of RB Tevin Coleman, Kendrick Bourne, and Deeobo Samuel this Sunday. Bourne had a touchdown reception last week but also suffered a few costly drops. On the other hand, Samuel had his best game of his young career with 8 receptions for 112 yards. This is still a favorable matchup for the Cardinals if Patrick Peterson plays at his normal level. Peterson was again under fire from the media this week because of a costly offsides penalty on a missed field goal by the Bucs. Despite this, Peterson had a solid game in coverage as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were very limited when he was on the field.
With LT Joe Staley out, the Cardinals have to be expecting a big game from Chandler Jones, who is currently tied for the most sacks in the league. Staley missed the game against the Cardinals a few weeks ago, and Jones had a solid outing. Chandler was great against the Buccaneers last week, and with a similar outing this Sunday, he may lead the league in sacks.
The Defense:
Defensively, the 49ers proved they are still incredibly dominant after yet another strong performance by their defense on Monday. For the majority of the game, MVP candidate Russell Wilson was unable to move the ball. When things were turning in favor of Seattle, the defense answered with a forced fumble returned for a touchdown. They are still arguably the best in the league.
Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury found success against this unit in their previous matchup, success that no other team has found yet. Robert Saleh’s 49er defense has managed to hold every opponent to under 350 yards and to 20 points or less- except the Cardinals (The Seahawks had 27 points on Monday, but only 20 of those came from their offense). Kingsbury found success with a balanced running attack featuring Kenyan Drake, giving Kyler Murray easier passing situations. This time David Johnson will be back in the fold, who will need to have a performance that makes fans forget about his outing against the Bucs.
The key players for the 49ers defense are all still the same since Halloween night, though there are some differences since then. No. 2 overall pick Nick Bosa has seemingly cooled down a bit after an incredible start to his rookie year. He hasn’t registered a sack in his last two games, vs. the Cardinals and Seahawks. Still, the Cardinals can’t give him the opportunity to get him going again, or he’ll have a massive game and harass Kyler Murray.
In their win over the Cardinals, the 49ers lost inside linebacker Kwon Alexander for the rest of the season with a pectoral tear.. He was one of their biggest offseason acquisitions and was playing some great football. In his absence, Fred Warner has seen an increased role and has been solid as well. He was the player who very nearly picked off a Kyler Murray pass that may have gone for six.
Final Thoughts
The Cardinals are pretty much out of the playoff race. It’s not so much because of their record, as some AFC teams with similar ones are still in contention for the postseason. It’s more due to the strength of the NFC West and the NFC as a whole. Still, the Cardinals would love to stick it to the 8-1 49ers and even the score on the year.
The 49ers are very banged up on offense, which the Cards have to take advantage of. Vance Joseph’s crew was embarrassing on third down against the Niners a few weeks ago. It would be a very bad look if they didn’t have a much better performance this time around. Kyler Murray and the offense are going to need a lot more help from Joseph and company as they try to put points up against arguably the league’s best defense.
I do believe the Cardinals have a good chance of winning this game. Kyler Murray and the offense seems to get better every week and the team is still playing hard for Kliff Kingsbury. Murray is in a close race with rookie running back Josh Jacobs for offensive rookie of the year, so a win here would really help his chances.
See you all in two weeks as the Cardinals will be enjoying their bye week after Sunday’s game.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
