Arizona Cardinals make a division power changing statement with a 23-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at University of Phoenix Stadium. This is a picture that the Cardinals are no longer bringing up the rear in the division, and no longer an automatic win for the usual power-house leaders of the NFC West.
The first half of this game was touchdowns verses field goals, as both teams on their first two possessions moved the ball up and down the field and getting into the red-zone. The Cardinals were not able to break thru to score touchdowns and got two field goals, as the 49ers looked like they were unstoppable scoring two touchdowns. This start was due to the offensive game plan the Niners came out in, catching the Cards off guard with a no-huddle up-tempo attack. Spreading out the defense and dinking and dunking their way down the field for two consecutive 10 plus play touchdown drives.
Cardinals continued to be dominant in stopping the run but were not able to get quarterback Colon Kaepernick down on the ground as he ran thru lots of whiff tackles of the Cardinals defense. Kaepernick was perfect to start the game as he completed his first nine pass attempts and finished the game 29-of-37 with 245 passing yards, one touchdown and a 103.3 quarterback rating.
The 49ers lead at half time 14-6, and that would be the last time they would score in this game as they went into meltdown mode in the second half. The Niners are having issues with discipline and scoring in the second half and penalties continue to pleague them. One key drive in the third quarter when they were deep into Cardinals territory, receiver Anquan Bolden head-butted Tony Jefferson and got flagged for the personal foul that set the Niners back for a Goal to Goal at the 30 yard line. Then to add salt to the wound, the Cardinals DE Tommy Kelly blocked an almost sure three point attempt slamming up the middle and getting his big hand on the ball. That was most definitely a momentum changer.
As we predicted in our preview of this game, rookie John Brown would be hard for the 49ers secondary to keep up with, and he was electric today as he scored two touchdowns using his speed to break away from defenders. Brown would finish with four catches for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
Quarterback Drew Stanton proved to be a starter in this league as he withstood a physical pounding from the Niners defense and kept getting up. Two personal foul cheap shot hits on back-to-back plays, Stanton endured as he continued to step up in the pocket and find his targets. He was near perfect except when he missed Jaron Brown on a deep route down the sideline, Brown had a five yard step on his defender and the ball sailed over his stretched out diving arms. Other than that Stanton was stellar and winning a game of this caliber may start the rumors of a quarterback controversy. Stanton completed 18-of-33 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns and much respect from his teammates. After the game Coach Bruce Arians said “I told you he was tough as nails” referring to Stanton.
The defense had a great second half after they finally got adjusted to the new scheme the 49ers came out in, the blitz was the primary weapon for pressure that finally got Kaepernick off of his comfort zone, and kept him in the pocket pretty much the entire second half.
Last year the momentum was changed by a Larry Fitzgerald fumble late that caused them the game, and the same thing almost happened again as the star receiver was trying to get that extra yard on a slant play and got hit and lost the ball on the five yard line. Last year’s team would have folded and allowed that to dictate the rest of the game, but the defense stepped up and shut down any threat the Niners tried to muster up.
Tony Jefferson was the defensive MVP as he made tackles that were very physical in this game. The most crucial of them all was on the drive after the Fitzgerald turn-over, where the game was in the balance and the score was 20-14 with under four minutes to play. A blitz right up the middle and he did a great job wrapping the legs of the running Kaepernick not allowing him to elude him.
The Cardinals shut out the 49ers in the second half and scored 17 un-answered points to finish the game and bring their record to 3-0 on the year and atop the NFC West division.
They go into the bye week on an emotional high, with the Denver Broncos facing them when they return. The team will have two weeks to prepare for the greatest regular season quarterback on the planet, and the way this defense is performing it seems like a pretty even match-up.
