Do Arizona Cardinals stand a chance against dominant San Francisco 49ers, Brock Purdy?
Arizona Cardinals (1-2) at San Francisco 49ers (3-0)
Time/site: 1:25 p.m., Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.
TV: FOX. Radio: 98.7 FM, 106.7 FM.
Last time they played: The 49ers beat the Cardinals 38-13 on Jan. 13 at Levi’s Stadium. San Francisco led 14-13 midway through the second quarter before pulling away with 24 unanswered points, including two touchdown passes from Brock Purdy to tight end George Kittle. Purdy threw for three touchdowns for his sixth consecutive game with multiple TDs as the 49ers clinched the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. It was the seventh straight loss for the Cardinals, who finished 4-13.
Series history: This is the 64th meeting in a series that dates back to 1951 with the 49ers holding a 34-29-0 advantage. San Francisco won the last two meetings and the Cardinals won the two meetings previous to that. This will be the 43rd time the teams have met since becoming NFC West rivals in 2002. Sunday’s game will be the fourth in the past five between the teams to feature a different QB matchup. The Cardinals are 6-3 all-time at Levi’s Stadium.
Coaching matchup
Arizona: Jonathan Gannon picked up his first win as an NFL coach with last week’s 28-16 upset victory over the visiting Cowboys, who were previously unbeaten at 2-0 and had outscored their first two opponents 70-10. Arizona’s defense held the Cowboys to just six, second-half points after building a 21-10 halftime lead. Gannon was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator last season when Philadelphia knocked San Francisco out of the NFC Championship, 31-7.
San Francisco: Kyle Shanahan is in his seventh season as head coach and is 55-46-0 with the 49ers — 6-3 in the postseason. Shanahan’s 49ers are one of just three remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL this season, joining the 3-0 Dolphins and 3-0 Eagles. San Francisco has scored 30 points in each of its first three games. The 49ers announced last week that both Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch each were rewarded contract extensions.
Storyline: The Cardinals have put the league on notice that they better not be taken lightly after last week’s upset win over Dallas and two very winnable losses to open the season against the Commanders and Giants. But will they be trying to ride the momentum from their first win into hostile territory where they will be running into a powerhouse of a team in the 49ers, who have the league’s third-ranked defense and an offense that Gannon described as schematically, “probably the best in the world, truthfully.” Shanahan returned the compliment when he said of the Cardinals, “They’re a team that really should be 3-0 right now.” Both teams are anchored by a sturdy running game, as the 49ers rank third and the Cardinals sixth. Neither starting quarterback, Purdy nor Arizona’s Josh Dobbs, has thrown an interception.
Arizona will win if …
Dobbs continues to take another step forward in his handling of the offense and getting in sync with his pass catchers: There’s no doubt the play of the offensive line will be paramount in those efforts, but Dobbs will need his receivers, tight ends and running backs to aid in protection and they need to be spot on with their routes on pass plays.
James Conner and the run game can wear out the defense: This won’t be easy, but it can be done, and Conner and the Cardinals have proven that on occasion. The more the rushing attack can keep the chains moving and control the time of possession, the more the 49ers’ defense might start to falter. Besides, success here keeps the 49ers’ dangerous offense off the field.
The defense forces at least two turnovers: One won’t be enough against this opponent, but with two the Cardinals might have a real chance at scoring a second straight upset. Arizona has forced five turnovers thus far and the pass rush has generated 11 sacks, so the resources have been there. If the Cardinals bring their same intensity and bring the fight to the 49ers, they’ll have a shot.
San Francisco will win if …
Purdy is kept clean, and his quick timing and rhythm aren’t interrupted: That’s what Gannon says makes the Queen Creek native and former Gilbert Perry High standout so dangerous, especially in Shanahan’s array of shifts, misdirection and deceptive offensive sets. If Purdy is left free to operate, he and his playmakers will torch you.
Running back Christian McCaffrey goes off: The all-purpose back leads the NFL in rushing with 353 yards and is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. He’s had 100 or more rushing yards in five of his last eight regular-season games, but he can also beat teams in the passing game, where he’s had 22 receiving TDs in his eight NFL seasons.
The defense shuts down Conner, aggravates Dobbs: San Francisco has been exceptional against the run, holding teams to just 53 yards per game. That’s not encouraging news for Conner and the Cardinals. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (2) and star edge rusher Nick Bosa (1) have just three sacks between them, but they can go off at any moment and Dobbs must protect the football, make smart decisions and play quickly.
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They said it
“It’s real similar because it’s the scheme he runs, just the fronts and the coverages. He had such a sound, good scheme in Philly and that’s what it’s been so far in these three games. So, we’ll see on tendencies and stuff, how that changes up. It’s still early in the year how he’s going to use his personnel and stuff like that, but you can still see he’s doing what he does and it’s a very tough scheme.” – Shanahan on the similarities of Gannon’s defense with the Cardinals and the defense he ran for the past two seasons with the Eagles.
“You’ve got to be physically, mentally and emotionally sharp because they’re going to make their plays. They’re going to hit you in the mouth, and you’ve got to be able to respond. Alignment, assignment, key technique is one of our principles to defense and you’ve got to do that faster than they do that on offense.” – Gannon on how he’s prepared the defense for facing a difficult 49ers’ offense.
“They're really good, man. It's either high-paid guys or first-round draft picks over there. They're really talented and they've played a lot of football together. Similar to the last three weeks, we keep getting defenses that have played a lot of football together. They play a really good scheme. They know what they're doing. They're fast, and they have really good players. The onus is on us as an offense to match their intensity, match their talent with our talent and execution, and go out and still play good football.” – Dobbs on San Francisco’s defense.
By the numbers
8 – Runs of 20-plus yards by the Cardinals this season. That’s the most in the NFL this season and just one shy of their total from all of 2022 (8).
10-1 – Career record of Brock Purdy as the 49ers’ starting QB, including the postseason.
73.1 – Josh Dobbs’ completion percentage in his past two games combined.
1958 – Prior to Dobbs, the last time a Cardinals player had a completion of at least 60 yards and a run of 40 yards or longer in the same game. Dobbs had a 69-yard completion to rookie Michael Wilson against the Cowboys and also had a 44-yard run vs. Dallas.
123:24 – Total game time in which the Cardinals have held a lead this season. That total ranks fourth in the NFL. Arizona has trailed for only 30:27 of game time.
469 – Rushing yards by the Cardinals this season, the most in franchise history through the first three games of a season since the team’s first year in Arizona, when they ran for 478 yards.
45 – Yards covered on Rondale Moore’s touchdown run against the Cowboys, the fourth-longest rushing TD by a Cardinals’ receiver in franchise history. J.J. Nelson (2016) and Bobby Joe Conrad (1959) are tied for the longest with 56-yard TD runs.
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Who will win and why
49ers 27, Cardinals 20: The Cardinals have played with much more purpose and passion than they showed last season, and you’d like to assume that will continue. But the 49ers are one of the best teams in the league for a ton of reasons and all common sense moves the dial to a San Francisco victory here. Now, if Arizona can keep things close and force a turnover or two, an upset could be in the making. The Cardinals, though, will need a handful of players to step up and be game wreckers on both sides of the football.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals-San Francisco 49ers NFL game preview, prediction
