Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Costly Mistakes Doom 49ers on Thursday Night

Week 5 - In the two games the 49ers played against division rival Arizona last season, San Francisco found little success against the Cardinals defense and couldn't find an answer for QB Carson Palmer as Arizona claimed the division crown. But after losing only three games all of last year, Arizona has already reached that mark through the first four weeks having struggled on both sides of the ball to the tune of a 1-3 start. Any thought of digging themselves out of an early hole and repeating as division champs or even contending for a Wild Card spot would be much more realistic if Bruce Arians' Cardinals could avoid the dreaded 1-4 start, making Thursday's game against the 49ers virtually a must-win. And with Palmer out with a concussion, the 49ers would have a golden opportunity against their division foe fall right into their lap facing backup Drew Stanton. However, costly mistakes in both the turnover and penalty department would doom any chance of Chip Kelly and company claiming their second win of the season.

Entering the game as the only team in the league that hasn't scored during the 1st quarter this season, Arizona would find themselves in that same position as both teams failed to muster any points in the opening period. But once the scoring began in the 2nd quarter, it was the 49ers who would strike first as QB Blaine Gabbert went 4 for 4 thru the air, with all four passes to wide-receiver Jeremy Kerley who has become Gabbert's go-to target this season. The fourth pass of the drive would be a 9-yard touchdown which gave Kerley two on the season, matching his total all of last year while with the Jets. Down by a touchdown, the Cardinals would score on the first of three turnovers by the 49ers to tie things up at 7 apiece as Gabbert had a pass deflected which fell into the hands of defensive-end Calais Campbell. Arizona would capitalize just one play later on a touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald. Making his first start in over two years, Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton was held in check nearly all game long, passing for only 124 yards on the night, but two touchdown passes to Fitzgerald who has made a career out of torturing the 49ers, having scored 14 touchdowns against them throughout his career entering the game, would be plenty to help Stanton in an otherwise mediocre performance.
Fitzgerald would see that total reach 16 touchdowns scored against the 49ers by days end, the most ever touchdowns scored by one player against San Francisco thru the air. With the game tied at 7-all at the half, the 49ers would then gift wrap another opportunity for their opponent as return man Chris Davis gave Arizona the ball on the doorstep of the end zone to open the second half as he was stripped of the ball on the kickoff. After appearing to have held Arizona to a field goal, the Niners would shoot themselves in the foot even more on a running into the kicker penalty which gave the Cardinals a second chance to reach the end zone which they would do on the very next play on a rushing touchdown. Expected to see a heavy diet of hand offs to Cardinals running back David Johnson, the second-year back didn't disappoint, putting together one of the best games of his career. It would be a two man show for much of the game for Arizona as Fitzgerald and Johnson accounted for most of the offense, tallying a combined 266 of AZ's 288 total net yards and all four touchdowns. Before it was all said and done Johnson would finish with the best rushing performance of the NFL season so far with 157 yards and became the first player in Cardinals franchise history to record 100+ scrimmage yards in each of the team's first five games of the season.

49ers running back Carlos Hyde would also have himself a nice game statistically, combining for over 100 yards (78 rushing and 36 receiving) and finding the end zone for the sixth time in five weeks as his touchdown in the third quarter brought the 49ers within reach, trailing by a touchdown. But Gabbert's second interception of the night would dampen their chance of pulling off the victory as Arizona scored on a field goal, scoring 17 of their points off of San Francisco turnovers. As for Arizona themselves, Stanton and company managed to play a turnover-free game as the 49ers defense failed to force a takeaway for the second consecutive week. The only other scoring by the 49ers would come late in the fourth quarter as Gabbert took the ball into the end zone himself for a 1-yard rushing touchdown as he totaled 70 yards on the ground. Finishing with 162 yards passing, Gabbert would sling 102 of those yards to receiver Jeremy Kerley who became the 49ers' first 100-yard receiver in nearly an entire season (15 games). Unfortunately it wouldn't be enough as the Cardinals added a late safety to increase their lead and finish the 33-21 victory in Carson Palmer's absence.
Week 6 Preview: With a few extra days of rest, the 49ers will make the trip to the east coast as they head to Buffalo to take on the Rex Ryan led (3-2) Bills. And when they do, they'll be doing so with a different quarterback under center as 49ers coach Chip Kelly has made the decision to make a change with Colin Kaepernick taking over as the starter. In need of something to wake up the team which hasn't won since their season-opening shutout of the Rams, Kelly and co. is hoping Kaepernick who is finally healthy after undergoing a series of injuries during the offseason, can be the answer and breathe life back into the 49er offense. Unlike the 49ers, the Bills are currently riding a three game winning streak after dropping each of their first two. The last two times the 49ers and Bills faced one another, it was San Francisco who pulled out on top, outscoring Buffalo 55-6 in those games. The 49er Faithful would want nothing more than for that trend to continue as they hope to head into the Week 8 BYE week on a 2-game win streak.


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