49ers – Cardinals live blog

This is the live blog for the 49ers Week 9 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. I will provide updates and analysis throughout the game.

11:06 Inactive for the 49ers today: S Jimmie Ward, DL Maurice Hurst, OL Aaron Banks, DB Deommodore Lenoir, RB Trey Sermon, DL Charles Omenihu, WR Travis Benjamin

Inactive for the Cardinals: QB Kyler Murray, WR DeAndre Hopkins, RB Jonathan Ward, S James Wiggins, Kevin Petersen

For Arizona, A.J. Green is out as well. He was placed on the Covid-19 list. 

1:05 Jerry Rice just sprinted the length of the field to get the crowd ready for this big NFC West matchup.

1:10 With Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green out for Arizona, the 49ers defense needs to be ready to stop the run today. They held Cardinal running back’s James Connor and Chase Edmonds to only 44 yards on 16 carries in the first game. 

1:23 49ers will receive the opening kickoff. 

1:29 After a good start to the drive, Garoppolo throws incomplete to Aiyuk and Kittle. On 3rd and 10, Brunskill and Mack get beat by Markus Golden who sacks Garoppolo for a loss of 4. 

1:31 On the first defensive play of the game, D.J. Jones is down on the field after making a tackle. The 49ers are thin in the middle of the defensive line.  Jones walks slowly off the field. Kentavius Street is in to replace him. 

1:35 The 49ers pass rush is going to be able to get after McCoy a little harder than they could if Murray was out there. On 3rd and 10 they do a good job of forcing him out of the pocket and he throws the ball into the Cardinals bench as Arden Key drags him down. 

1:37 The 49ers ran the ball only once on their first possession. Might be a good idea to do that more often considering Arizona has the second worst run defense in the NFL.

1:39 Instead they come out throwing. Garoppolo hits Kittle in stride, but he fumbles the ball after a gain of 18 yards. So much for a clean offensive game today. 

1:41 Arizona running back Chase Edmonds has an injured ankle and his return to the game is questionable. Can Arizona serve this game up on a bigger silver platter?

1:49 Arizona cashes in after the Kittle fumble with a 13-yard touchdown run by James Connor. This is what Arizona does. They force turnovers and make you pay by scoring. Cardinals 7 49ers 0

1:59 Deebo Samuel with drop number 10 on the season. The 49ers have run the ball only twice in their first 11 plays against the second worst run defense in the NFL.

2:02 On 3rd and 18, Azeez Al-Shaair can’t make the tackle and James Connor takes the check down from Colt McCoy 21 yards for a first down. On the next play McCoy finds Christian Kirk wide open for a 17 yard gain.

2:04 Arik Armstead sacks Colt McCoy, but the 49ers call facemask on Armstead. Unbelievable. 

2:07 On the next play, Christian Kirk finds Antoine Wesley on a trick play for a 33-yard gain down inside the one. James Connor then punches it in. Cardinals 14 49ers 0

2:13 The 49ers gave up 145 yards in the first quarter to an Arizona team missing its starting quarterback, two starting wide receivers and starting running back.

2:20 The 49ers just cannot hold onto the football. After a nice drive into Arizona territory, Garoppolo hits Aiyuk for a gain of 18 yards, but Aiyuk fumbles when he is hit from behind. 

2:27 Rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga gives up a 41-yard completion from McCoy to Kirk. 

2:31 The 49ers defense had stopped Arizona, but Josh Norman can’t stop running his mouth after the play and Arizona gets a new set of downs. Dre Kirkpatrick has replaced Norman.

2:34 49ers defense holds, but Matt Prater hits the field goal. Cardinals 17 49ers 0

2:36 Colt McCoy has thrown only 3 incompletions on 15 attempts in the first half. The 49ers defense forgot to show up today.

2:51 The 49ers offense finally holds onto the football, and ends the 9 play, 75 yards drive with a 6-yard touchdown throw from Garoppolo to George Kittle. That’s Kittle’s first touchdown in more than a year. Cardinas 17 49ers 7

2:54 Halftime Cardinals 17 49er2 7

3:09 Mike McGlinchey has been ruled out with a knee injury.

3:10 49ers defense opens the second half playing the same way they did in the first half. DeMeco Ryans calls a blitz and Kliff Kingsbury has the perfect play called, a screen to James Connor that goes 45 yards for a touchdown. Cardinals 24 49ers 7

3:25 The 49ers defense has now allowed points on 10 of the last 14 drives over the last 6+ quarters. Cardinals 31 49ers 7

3:32 Garoppolo goes 5-5, 80 yards on a scoring drive. Hits Brandon Aiyuk in the endzone to finish it off. Great catch by Aiyuk. Cardinals 31 49ers 14

3:44 End of the 3rd quarter. Cardinals 31 49ers 14

4:00 The 49ers defense comes up with a stop, Brandon Aiyuk has a big punt return, and the 49ers settle for a field goal. Cardinals 31 49ers 17

4:18 Jimmy Garoppolo throws an interception, the 49ers third turnover of the game, to wrap up a dismal offensive performance for San Francisco. 49ers down 31-17 at the two minute warning. 

This article has 48 Comments

  1. We traded two fourth round picks just to move up to grab Sermon. The Kyle Shanahan doghouse is real.

    It’ll be interesting to see how much Wilson contributes today.

    With both Muraay and Hopkins out there is no excuse why we shouldn’t win this game.

    Looking forward to a few Trey Lance plays mixed in as well.. just not the Shanahan run into the teeth and get your QB of the future destroyed, variety.

    1. We traded two fourth round picks just to move up to grab Sermon. The Kyle Shanahan doghouse is real.

      Or maybe a miscalculation of a pick. It’s happened before.

  2. 49ers executing like a 3-4 team.

    Cardinals executing like a 7-1 team.

    These are the times when you expect leaders like Garoppolo, Kittle, Samuel, Bosa and Warner to talk to the team and get guys’ heads back into the game.

    I’d mention Trent Williams but he just doesn’t seem like much of a leader.

    On the positive side Jimmy is having a solid game and #69 has only given up one pressure.

  3. Now 2 fumbles. You can’t beat a good team playing like that. Both those fumbles are inexcusable.

  4. The 49ers gave up 145 yards in the first quarter to an Arizona team missing its starting quarterback, two starting wide receivers and starting running back.

    That is just pathetic.

  5. It looks like Tom Compton is in for #69.

    That would explain the somewhat decent pass blocking at right tackle today.

  6. Seriously, why do they even play games in Santa Clara anymore. Just go on the road for the rest of the season. This has been one of the worst displays of football I have seen in some time. I knew last weeks game was an aberration, and so far today is proof.

  7. They’d better come out of the locker room a different team. Holding AZ to a three and out would be a good look.

  8. We’re just a bad team right now. Props to Jimmy though for having his best game so far.

  9. I don’t think we are a bad team but Arizona is clearly a better team today. They are beating us on both sides of the ball.

    1. The 49ers are 3-4. They’re playing a team without its starting QB, two starting WR’s, and starting running back and losing 24-7. They’re a bad team.

    2. Put the funny mushrooms down, this is a bad team. They do everything bad teams do. Bad teams find ways to lose. Bad teams get their assed kicked by a team with backups at QB, both receivers, RB, and multiple OL.

  10. Fred Warner needs to get into the weight room. It has been noted that he regularly gets blown up by bigger backs, and he almost tackled that guy into a first down.

  11. This game should be the end of the Trey Kirkpatrick experiment. This defense did not come to play today, nobody!

      1. Agree. I think the likelihood is high that he will be considered a successful QB once he is away from Shanahan.

  12. They need to look very hard at the defense. We’ve been bad at stopping the run all year and this was supposed to be the teams strength. I don’t know if Ryan’s changes to the system are working.

    1. The team needs a DC with “experience”! But KS doesn’t have the cajones to make the necessary changes.

  13. No Niner fan, including myself, ever has the justification to make injury based excuses again.

  14. This team has lost that winning mentality. That’s the confidence and focus you have when you know you’re good and you’re able to execute knowing every man around you feels the same way.

    What did Shanny and Lynch think was going to happen when they decided to take a team that has lost in every season under Shanahan but one, had a rash of injuries over the last two seasons, and completely ignored this by taking a bunch of “depth”, i.e. non-starters in the draft behind Lance? Hell, several of these guys are healthy scratches week in and week out.

    Well for one, they seriously underestimated what multiple losing seasons can do to a team. The 49ers are a BAD team, and it’s time to acknowledge that and get to work fixing it. All that winning culture they cultivated to a Super Bowl run is lost.

    The question is- do you have enough confidence in your current staff and your players to get them to buy in, believe and execute again? I don’t know- especially since some guys end up in this so-called Shanny doghouse for no legitimate reason. Everything is accepted when you’re winning. Once the losing starts, you start losing the team. It hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but I’m not confident it won’t happen either.

  15. Time to clean house for the Niners. Coaching staff and management is wearing out it’s welcome. They have been terrible at drafting, they have a serious fetish for constantly injured players, and….. they lose games. The future draft has been compromised, and the team is filled with guys on one year contracts and long term over pays. Seems the on field effort is finally starting to wain. Can’t win at home against a offense that was essentially all backups. I don’t see how anyone can trust Shanahan, or Lynch to rebuild this team, and the defense needs a rebuild.

  16. I am beginning to realize Shanahan ain’t such a good coach and lynch is not a good GM
    We draft horribly. Over react to our own mistakes. Then usage of players seems to depends upon shanahan’s personal whims not merit

    Too many careers destroyed by shanahan.

    1. They make bad decisions
      Giving away Buckner and keeping Armstead.
      Giving away 3 no 1s for a very raw QB
      Who probably won’t be ready for a few years if ever
      I have no confidence they can fix the team

      1. To be fair Lance seems like he has all the tools with the arm, body and between the ears.

        The problem is, as you surmised, he’s raw. This in and of itself isn’t a big issue, but I’m not sure Shanny is the right guy developing your quarterback.

        Sounds like the shock statement of the year, but maybe all this stuff about being a QB’s dream is a bunch of b.s. he’s great at scheming plays (Xs and Os). Developing QBs? Well, let’s just say he hasn’t had a proven rate of success in this regard.

        It’s peefectly okay, and even accurate, to say he’s a great offensive coordinator, but an average to bad head coach.

  17. A little less than two weeks ago, I posted this statement on this blog: Kyle is whistling past the graveyard, and that things obviously needed to get worse, before Kyle was willing to admit that changes need to be made,

    and here we are on 11/7/2021, and the fact of the matter is …. THIS IS NOT A GOOD FOOTBALL TEAM! Period …. END OF STORY!

    And there are many reasons for this that need to be addressed, and fixing this team, and figuring out how best to prepare this team to to have success in 2022, needs to be the focus for the rest of this season!

    That’s simply where we are at after week 9! It’s time to face the music, Kyle!

  18. How do you lose to a team at home without their starting players in key positions? I’m exhausted watching that mess!

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