Prime-time football has returned to the desert with a special Halloween edition of Thursday Night Football, as the Arizona Cardinals host the undefeated San Francisco 49ers. The matchup has stars on all sides of the ball, highlighted by Kyler Murray and the stout 49er defense.
The Cardinals are coming off a rough outing in New Orleans against the returning Drew Brees. It was a close game up until a controversial 4th-and-1 call resulted in Chase Edmonds getting stuffed behind the line of scrimmage. Drew Brees and the Saints took that opportunity to put the Cards away 31-9.
On the other hand, the 49ers are feeling good after a blowout victory over a good Carolina Panthers team. Rookie Nick Bosa had an extraordinary day with three sacks and an interception. The 49ers defense is second to only the New England Patriots in most defensive statistics, so Kliff Kingsbury’s offense will have a tough unit to prepare for.
Here is this week’s game preview:
An Impressive Win Streak for the Cardinals
The San Francisco 49ers have not beaten the Cardinals since late in the 2014 season when Ryan Lindley was filling in at quarterback for the injured Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. Even still, the Niners were only able to win by a field goal.
That is an eight-game winning streak against San Francisco, and the Cardinals have won nine of their last 10 against the Niners. That impressive stat will be heavily tested this come Thursday night, as this is the best 49ers team in that stretch.
Some notable memories from that time:
9/27/15: Carson Palmer and the Cardinals offense rolls over San Fransisco accompanied by two interceptions returned for touchdowns to win 47-7.
11/29/15: The Cardinals’ game-winning touchdown came from the likes of a 36-year-old Carson Palmer rushing touchdown, followed by a spike fail in the endzone. The Cards would win 19-13.
10/06/16: The last time the Cardinals played the 49ers on TNF, Drew Stanton threw two touchdown passes in relief of the injured Carson Palmer as the team won 33-21. David Johnson had a historic night for the Cardinals.
11/13/16: The Cardinals win on a game-winning field goal by Chandler Catanzaro after an impressive drive highlighted by a Carson Palmer scramble and an acrobatic catch by Michael Floyd. 23-20 was the final score.
10/01/17: Carson Palmer finds Larry Fitzgerald for a walk-off touchdown in overtime to beat the 49ers 18-15.
11/05/17: Drew Stanton and Adrian Peterson look sharp taking over for Carson Palmer and David Johnson as the Cardinals glide past the 49ers 20-10.
10/07/18: The Cardinals get their first win of the Steve Wilks experiment as David Johnson’s two rushing touchdowns guide the team to a 28-18 win.
10/28/18: Josh Rosen leads an impressive comeback highlighted by a few vintage Larry Fitzgerald moments, including the iconic “Fitz Spike” after a successful two-point conversion attempt. The final score was 18-15.
So, this 49ers team is extraordinarily better than the ones the Cardinals have beaten in recent memory. They are undefeated.
The 49ers on offense
Coach Kyle Shanahan has the Niners playing old-school football, relying on an efficient running game and a stout defense. Last week, running back Tevin Coleman had four total touchdowns.
The main threat to opposing defenses is TE George Kittle, who is one of the best at his position. He’s nearly on pace for a 1,000-yard season, but only has one touchdown. A few would-be scores have been called back on penalties.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo has done his job this year. Though the 49ers are a run-first team. He’s thrown nine touchdown passes to seven interceptions, which isn’t very good. Still, Jimmy G has been great off play-action with the success the 49ers have had in the running game.
San Francisco acquired WR Emmanuel Sanders in a trade with the Denver Broncos last week. Sanders is still a very effective receiver who can take over drives (as seen by Cardinals fans in the blowout loss to the Broncos last year). It’ll be interesting to see if Vance Joseph chooses to commit Patrick Peterson to traveling with Sanders.
Overall, the 49ers are going to stick to running the football if the Cardinals let them. They must contain Tevin Coleman and force Jimmy Garoppolo to beat them in long passing scenarios.
The 49ers defense
Man, has this group been impressive over the last few weeks. The Niners defensive line has been all over opposing quarterbacks. Nick Bosa and Dee Ford are disruptive on the edges with Pro-Bowl DT Deforest Bucker lining the interior. There really isn’t one player you can commit to double-teaming.
The secondary is highlighted by one of the best in Richard Sherman. Sherman is having a much better year than his injury-riddled 2018 season, and he is living up to the big contract the front office gave him.
This unit is ranked first in yards allowed per game, passing yards allowed per game and second in total points allowed. They’re incredibly talented on all fronts and will look to continue their dominance in front of everyone in prime time.
If there’s a hole in the defense, it could be in the running game. The 49ers are 11th in total rushing yards allowed. That’s still an impressive number, but there could be some running lanes for the newly-acquired Kenyan Drake.
Final Thoughts
The Cardinals would return .500 with a win, although they’ll have to play much better than they did last week to have a chance. The 49ers defense is as good as they come, particularly in getting to the quarterback.
It really stings that both David Johnson and Chase Edmonds are likely to miss the game, although the addition of Kenyan Drake was a great move. The 49ers are banged up at running back themselves, as both Matt Breida and Raheem Mostert did not practice on Tuesday.
The Cardinals defense kept the team in the game for a good portion of Sunday’s loss to the Saints. They’ll need to contain the running game, which the 49ers have been relying on to move their offense. Jimmy Garoppolo must be put into difficult passing situations for them to have success.
Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury have a chance to prove a lot of doubters wrong against this defense on primetime TV. Kingsbury’s play-calling needs to improve in the redzone and the offensive line has to do a better job of protecting Kyler Murray than they did on Sunday.
Could we see another vintage game from the great Larry Fitzgerald? The Cardinals legend has 11 career 100-yard receiving games against the 49ers, which is tied for the most in NFL history against a single opponent. He could break one of Jerry Rice’s records with another 100-yard outing. Fitz has 173 receptions for 2,306 yards and 18 touchdowns against the 49ers. Murray and company will need him to have another one of those games come Thursday.
This is a very difficult game for the Cardinals. They’ve shown flashes of being a good team. They must put it all together this Thursday.
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