49ers Scorch Cardinals in Purdy's Return

Week 11 - After dropping their first game against a division opponent this season a week earlier after having gone 3-0 to start, the (6-4) San Francisco 49ers would get a chance to bounce back and add another division win to their resume while paying a visit to the desert to take on the (3-6) Arizona Cardinals. After being swept by Arizona a season ago, a win on Sunday would allow the Niners to return the favor and complete a season sweep over the Cardinals. Sunday's game would also be a homecoming for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy who would make his return to the starting lineup after having missed the last six games and eight out of ten overall. Purdy, the former 2017 Arizona Cardinals Highschool Football Player of the Year, wouldn't be the only Arizona native making his way back from injury for the 49ers as receiver Ricky Pearsall who was born in nearby Phoenix, also made his return to the football field for the first time since Week 4 after dealing with a lingering knee injury. 

Purdy and company would see their team jump out to an early 7-0 advantage without them having to throw a single pass after the game's opening-kickoff was nearly taken to the house on an impressive 98-yard return from Skyy Moore. The team's longest kickoff return since Ted Ginn's 102-yarder on September 11, 2011, would setup running back Christian McCaffrey who would do the rest with a walk-in touchdown from a yard out. Following an incompletion on Purdy's first pass attempt of the afternoon, he would complete consecutive passes to receivers Jauan Jennings and Demarcus Robinson for 25 and 13 yards, respectively, before connecting on a 30-yard strike down the sideline to his favorite target in tight-end George Kittle. Adding to their early lead, the 49ers would jump ahead 13-0 after kicker Eddy Pineiro had his extra-point attempt blocked. Facing an early multi-score deficit, the Cardinals would answer with a touchdown of their own in what would be one of the lone highlights for Arizona in the first half. Behind quarterback Jacoby Brissett who would make his fifth start of the season in place of the injured Kyler Murray, the Cards would get on the scoreboard with a 6-yard score from running back Bam Knight. Trailing 13-7, it would be the closest the Cardinals would get all afternoon as San Francisco led from wire-to-wire. 

Arizona had a chance to take the lead late in the first quarter after getting the ball back following a 49ers three-and-out punt, but instead were held to a field goal try that was missed from 58-yards out by 

Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland. Adding to their lead, the 49ers would get another touchdown from McCaffrey on a 9-yard reception. After exchanging field goals, the San Francisco defense would come up with only their second interception of the season when Malik Mustapha came down with an errant pass from Brissett in the final minute of the first half which led to another field goal from Pineiro. With San Francisco leading 25-10 at the half, the Cardinals nearly opened the second half with an ideal start following a 60-yard touchdown run on 4th and 1, but a penalty would nullify the big play and resulted in an Arizona punt. Completing a 10-point swing, the 49ers would add another field goal to pad their lead. With the Cardinals beginning to march, San Francisco's Deommodore Lenoir who was a late add to the Niners' injury report with a calf ailment and was a game time decision by coach Kyle Shanahan, came up with an interception to put a halt to Arizona's marching drive and nearly returned it to the house for a pick-six. A few plays later, Purdy and Kittle would connect for their second time of the afternoon as Kittle recorded his 50th career touchdown reception. 

Arizona's ensuing possession would also end in a turnover when 49ers rookie cornerback Upton Stout made a play near the goal line to strip Cardinals tight-end Elijah Higgins for a fumble. While the 49ers were unable to do anything with the football pinned back near their own end zone, they at least held the Cardinals from inching closer on the scoreboard. And while Arizona did manage to score two late garbage time touchdowns thru the air, the 49ers added a third and final touchdown from McCaffrey to give them 41-points, their highest point total of the season and the eventual 41-22 victory. While Arizona finished the game with 488 total yards of offense compared to San Francisco's 281, they also committed 17 penalties, the most in franchise history. In comparison, the 49ers committed only 1 penalty on Sunday. Despite trailing in total yards, one area the Niners did win in was the turnover battle -- 3-0. Sunday's game would also mark the first time since Week 1 that Purdy, McCaffrey, Kittle and Pearsall were all healthy and on the field together at the same time this season. 

Finishing with 121 all-scrimmage yards and a touchdown hat-trick for the 6th time in his career, tied for the third most among active players, McCaffrey helped his team log a successful afternoon on offense by scoring on 8 of their 11 possessions. With 249 scrimmage touches thru his team's first 10 games of a season, McCaffrey has the most by any player since 2019 when he tallied 258. Purdy showed no signs of rust after the long layoff and finished with an even 200 yards passing on 19-of-26 pass attempts, including a pair of touchdowns. As for his counterpart Jacoby Brissett, the Cardinals QB completed an NFL record 47 passes on 57 attempts, surpassing the previous mark of 45 held by Drew Bledsoe (1994) and Jared Goff (2019). Brissett also threw for 452 yards, the most by a Cardinal since Kurt Warner in 2008 and the 7th most passing yards in a single game in Cardinals franchise history to go along with 2 TD's and 2 interceptions. 

Week 12: Returning home to Levi's Stadium for a brief 1-game stay before hitting the road again, the (7-4) 49ers will welcome in the upstart (6-5) Carolina Panthers for a bout on Monday Night Football. Two of the bigger surprises in all of football, both the 49ers and Panthers have already surpassed their win totals from a season ago when they finished 6-11 and 5-12, respectively. With an upset win over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 9 under their belt, Kyle Shanahan's 49ers know they cannot overlook this Panthers team that is also coming off a 30-27 win on the road against the division rival Atlanta Falcons in which quarterback Bryce Young threw for a career-high 448 yards passing, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. With Jacoby Brissett putting up similar numbers against the Niners for Arizona, the San Francisco defense will have to turn up the heat to prevent a repeat performance as Young looks to build on his last outing. With an extra day of rest, the 49ers will have to call on a different kicker as Eddy Pineiro who has been solid since signing with San Francisco during Week 2, suffered a hamstring strain in the second half against the Cardinals. Listed as week-to-week, the 49ers will hold tryouts in hopes of finding a reliable replacement in time for Monday's game. 

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49ers get Back on Track with Big Win over Pats

Week 4 - Looking to get back into the win column after a win-less two-game road trip, the (1-2) San Francisco 49ers returned home to Levi's Stadium hoping a bit of home cooking would be all they needed to get back on track. Playing host to the (1-2) New England Patriots, the 49ers would welcome back a pair of All-Pros to the offense in receiver Deebo Samuel and tight-end George Kittle, both of whom were greatly missed a week ago in their Week 3 loss to the rival Rams. With two of his playmakers back on the field, Niners quarterback Brock Purdy would try to capture San Francisco's first home win over New England since 1995. Through the game's first two quarters, Kyle Shanahan's 49ers seemed like they would cruise away with an easy win, but a few hiccups along the way kept the game closer than it probably should've been. 

After forcing New England to punt on the game's opening-possession, Purdy and the 49er offense marched 90-yards down the field but were held to a field goal. The defense for San Francisco would come through on multiple occasions on Sunday, including on each of New England's next three possessions by forcing turnovers. On the first play of their ensuing drive, Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson would lose a fumble caused by San Francisco's Sam Okuayinonu who was promoted to the team's active roster just a day earlier in wake of Javon Hargrave's season-ending injury. Unfortunately for the Pats, it would be Stevenson's fourth consecutive game with a fumble after fumbling only once all of last season. Despite the stellar field position following the fumble, the 49ers would settle for yet another field goal. With the offense unable to make their way to the end zone, the defense would show them how it's done as All-Pro linebacker intercepted a Jacoby Brissett pass and returned it 45-yards for a pick-six touchdown. 

Finally making it across midfield and nearing the red zone, Patriots rookie head coach Jerod Mayo elected to gamble on a 4th and 1 and came up short as Stevenson was stuffed up the middle for no gain, resulting in a New England turnover on downs. With their own defense having scored just as many points as the offense, Brock Purdy and company finally orchestrated their best drive of the afternoon with a 12-play, 95-yard drive that ended with a highlight worthy touchdown grab by George Kittle who fought off three defenders to leap up and come down with the ball. With a 20-0 lead for San Francisco heading in the final seconds of the second quarter, New England kicker Joey Slye would connect on a 63-yard field goal, the fourth-longest made field goal in NFL history to end the half and finally put the Pats on the board. 

If there's one area that has plagued the 49ers over the past few seasons, it's been their special-teams which was very evident in their fourth quarter collapse a week earlier against the L.A. Rams. Those special-team woes would rear their ugly head once again on Sunday on San Francisco's kick return to open the second half. Rookie Isaac Guerendo who has had a quiet start to his NFL career in the limited action he's seen, didn't do himself any favors as he ran into his own teammate and fumbled the ball away. What was just a 20-0 San Francisco lead, quickly evaporated as the Pats cut the deficit in half with a Jacoby Brissett touchdown pass to tight-end Austin Hooper just a few plays later. Needing a response, the 49ers got just that on their ensuing possession when Purdy connected on a 53-yard bomb to Deebo Samuel on their first play from scrimmage. Mason would find the end zone three plays later with a 4-yard touchdown run to once again make it a three-score game. 

After adding another field goal to make it a 27-13 game, the Patriots showed some fight by intercepting a Brock Purdy pass inside the end zone. Purdy had connected on a 45-yard toss to Jauan Jennings just a few plays earlier but got a little carried away when he attempted to go for the kill-shot with nearly a full quarter left to play. Unable to do much with the 49er turnover, New England's last two drives ended in a turnover on downs and a fumble forced and recovered by the Niners' Nick Bosa who finished the game with nine QB-pressures on the day, nearly matching the ten pressures he tallied in total during Weeks 1 thru 3, as San Francisco snapped their two-game skid with a 30-13 victory. Purdy helped lead the offense to a win by throwing for 288 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His counterpart Jacoby Brissett threw for a season-high 168 passing yards to go with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, but New England was outproduced in total yards: 431 to 216 in favor of San Francisco. Helping the 49ers amass much of those yards was Jordan Mason who tallied another busy day at the office with 160 total yards and a touchdown. 

On his way to becoming one of only three running backs with 100+ yards per game through the first four weeks this season, Mason once again proved to be a reliable backup in place of the injured Christian McCaffrey who has helped mentor Mason from the sidelines since he was thrusted into the starting job just hours before kickoff in Week 1. Mason's 447 rushing yards are also the second-most in 49ers franchise history thru the first four weeks of a season behind only McCaffrey's 459 rushing yards a season ago. Another 49er who continues to dazzle is linebacker Fred Warner who since 2019, is the only player in the NFL to record 10 interceptions, 10 sacks and 10 forced fumbles. Receiver Jauan Jennings who is coming off FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Week honors for his stellar performance against the Rams, led all receivers with 88 receiving yards on just 3 receptions. 

Week 5 Preview: After evening their record at 2-2 on the year, the 49ers will attempt to record their first win of the season against an NFC foe as San Francisco has come up short in each of their first two tries this year. A win within the division would also do wonders and put the Niners over .500 with a tough schedule to follow. They can do all of that by defeating the (1-3) Arizona Cardinals who are coming off a 42-14 drubbing at home to the newly resurgent Washington Commanders. The Arizona defense allowed 449 total yards to Washington's offense.  

Following a pedestrian performance for Arizona QB Kyler Murray who threw for just 142 yards and 1 touchdown and was held to only 3 yards rushing on one attempt, the San Francisco defense will try to mimic that same success on Sunday. The same could be said for rookie receiver Marvin Harison Jr. who has dazzled in the first four games of his career, giving the Cardinals a new No. 1 receiving target. After a quiet Week 1 to begin his pro career, the fourth overall pick out of Ohio State has scored four touchdowns in his last three games and is riding a streak of three consecutive games with a TD, which San Francisco's secondary will look to put an end to. The 49ers who are 2-0 at home this season, have won four straight meetings over Arizona, outscoring them 156-68 in those games. They'll try to make it five consecutive wins on Sunday in what is expected to be the hottest game played in Levi's Stadium history. Attempting to do everything they can to combat the heat, the 49ers had put in a request with the NFL to don their road white uniforms but were rejected. 

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