Defense, because there are so many directions that can go offensively.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
Arizona’s offense is no match for San Francisco’s 49ers defense. The Cardinals have reached a critical juncture because of their offensive talent. Zach Ertz and Marquise Brown were already out entering Monday night, and losing Rondell Moore to a groin injury meant Colt McCoy only had DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green, and Greg Dortch at his disposal. Amazingly, Arizona converted 8 of 16 third downs, but it wasn’t surprising to see the Cardinals — playing with a patchwork offensive line — struggle to sustain drives all night. Robbie Anderson is a nonfactor in an offense where he should play at least a secondary role, and there aren’t many solutions available to fix things if any. All the Cardinals can hope for is a healthy return of Kyler Murray and Moore, which still won’t be enough to spark an offense that has been frustrating for much of 2022. It was underwhelming against San Francisco’s top-ranked defense.Contact Us
The Cardinals have a lot of cleaning up to do. Defensively, Arizona has some studs on the field, but the sum of its parts isn’t good enough, especially against a 49ers team that feeds opponents that struggle to tackle in the open field. Samuel’s touchdown run was a perfect example of this difficulty for Arizona, as was Kittle’s second touchdown, where he knifed through Arizona’s defense down the sideline for a decisive touchdown. As seen on HBO’s Hard Knocks: Early in the season, Budda Baker had already told his teammates he was tired of losing. Monday night won’t help assuage his anger, especially after missed tackles and poor pursuit angles resulted in a handful of touchdowns for the superior 49ers . Time is running out on these Cardinals, and they may already be too far behind to catch the first-place 49ers and 6-4 Seattle Seahawks.
Keep a close eye on the 49ers .
San Francisco looks as strong as ever, and the 49ers look poised to go 7-4 next week when they face the 3-8 Saints. Tests await them, of course, in the form of meetings with Miami and Tampa Bay before rematches with the Seattle Seahawks. We’ll know more about the state of this team after these games are played, but right now the 49ers seem good enough to beat anyone. San Francisco closes the regular season with a trio of games against Washington, Las Vegas, and Arizona, and at least on paper, the 49ers look like they’re on their way to a double-digit win total. Set to a minimum of 10 and prepare for more; This team is trending toward becoming a serious contender in a wide-open NFC
NEXT-GEN STATUS IN THE GAME: Jimmy Garoppolo completed 13 of 17 passes for 149 yards and four touchdowns on Monday night while targeting in-breaking routes, the most touchdown passes of Garoppolo’s career, the most in any game this season and tied for the most in the Next Gen era. (dating from 2016).The win puts the 49ers at 6-4 for the season, tying them with the Seattle Seahawks for first place in the NFC West. They return home the following week to host the New Orleans Saints, beginning a stretch that sees them play five of their final seven games at Levi’s Stadium. Whether the 49ers turn that momentum into another deep playoff run remains to be seen, but their performance on Monday gave them the feeling of a team reaching their peak. Garoppolo thinks the 49ers defense is already at the level it was during the team’s Super Bowl run in 2019, but he thinks the offense has some work ahead of them in the coming weeks to be where they need to be.Garoppolo said defense definitely reminded me of that year. “Zero points in the second half, that’s pretty impressive. So there are definitely some similarities there, but offensively we’ve still got some way to go. We’ve definitely put some meat on the bones there.”
NFL Research: Jimmy Garoppolo threw for four touchdowns in a game for the first time through 14 weeks of the 2019 season. The 49ers won the NFC title that season before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs heartbreakingly in Super Bowl LIV.