The Arizona Cardinals lost to the San Francisco 49ers 28-25 on Thursday. Some players stood out with their performance. Some did not when they perhaps should have.
Who are the studs and duds from Thursday night?
Stud: RB Kenyan Drake
This is an easy call. He had 162 yards from scrimmage. He rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He caught a team-high four passes for 52 yards. He was a spark plug for the offense against one of the league’s best defenses.
Dud: CB Patrick Peterson
We don’t know what the actual metrics will show about catches and coverage, but it was definitely not his game. He gave up several receptions to Emmanuel Sanders, who had a season-high 112 yards. He also gave up the 21-yard touchdown to Dante Pettis. The Cardinals had him moving around, even playing in the slot, and he has not played much in their defensive scheme because of his suspension, but what was more concerning was the seeming lack of effort.
Stud: S Budda Baker
Baker’s stat line looks fantastic. He had a game-high 13 tackles (two for loss) and three pass breakups. He wasn’t perfect — George Kittle beat him a couple of times — but he was active and made plays.
Dud: Kliff Kingsbury’s decisions
Kingsbury made a couple of questionable decisions that many would argue cost his team the game. At the end of the first half, he called timeout before the 49ers went for it on fourth down at the 1-yard line. However, the timeout right before the snap nullified a goal-line stand that would have ended the half. Kingsbury said he wanted to get a look at the offense and force them to perhaps burn their best goal-line play, but it backfired. The 49ers scored after the timeout and went into halftime with a 21-7 lead.
He was also criticized for challenging a spot late in the game that cost him a timeout. Had the play been overturned, it would have been fourth down and the Cardinals would have gotten the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game.
That decision didn’t end up mattering; the defense could not keep the 49ers from running out the clock.
Stud: LT D.J. Humphries
Humphries was not perfect. He had a pair of penalties, but he shut out 49ers rookie Nick Bosa. Bosa entered the game with seven sacks. He only had one tackle, no sacks and no QB hits. Humphries didn’t get much credit during the game but, looking at the stats, he more than did his job. Bosa was neutralized, Kyler Murray was protected and the Cardinals ran the ball well.
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