49ers – Cardinals Live Blog

This is the live blog for the 49ers week 4 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. I will provide updates and analysis throughout the game from the press box.

12:05 Deebo Samuel is on the field warming up. He will be playing today.

Inactive for the 49ers: RB Elijah Mitchell, WR Jauan Jennings, DT Kalia Davis, CB Anthony Brown, LB Jalen Graham, G Nick Zakelj, QB Brandon Allen

12:10: Inactive for the Cardinals: Kyler Murray, Buddy Baker, Keontay Ingram, Jonathan Ledbetter, Josh Woods, Carlos Watkins, LJ Collier

1:10 Here are the keys to today’s game along with my prediction.

1:24 49ers win the toss and defer. Arizona will be on offense to start the game. The Cardinals offense has scored on 11 of their 15 first half possessions.

1:28 It’s a quick three and out for the 49ers defense. Dre Greenlaw with tight coverage on third down to force an incompletion from Joshua Dobbs.

Good run stop on second down by Dre Greenlaw holds James Conner to just two yards on his first carry.

1:35 San Francisco’s offense goes 62 yards in 8 plays finishing with  1 yard touchdown run by Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey touched the ball on six of the eight plays, 4 runs for 14 yards and 2 receptions for 22 yards.

1:44 Dre Greenlaw was a one man wrecking crew on that Arizona possession. The 49ers linebacker with 3 tackles. He did an excellent job of staying home on a zone read to drop Joshua Dobbs for a gain of just 3.

This 49ers defense is so good up the middle. Javon Hargrave has been getting consistent push all season, and that has continued today. 49ers take over at their 25 after a punt.

1:52 San Francisco on another march with its second offensive possession. Christian McCaffrey with a pair of big runs picks up 17 yards, then Jordan Mason comes on and picks up 17 yards on a reception and run.

Facing 4th and 4 at the Cardinals 39, Kyle Shanahan goes for it and Brock Purdy hits George Kittle for nine. The 49ers offense looks like it is out to prove something to Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon today.

1:56 McCaffrey just made Arizona look silly. He took a swing pass around the right side, hurdled a Cardinals defender and ran through two more at the line of scrimmage for an 18-yard touchdown. 49ers take a 14 point lead.

Even Lebron James liked that one.

2:06 Arizona picks up a first down when Charvarius Ward is called for pass interference on 3rd and 4. They then pick up another first down when Dobbs scrambles for eight yards to convert on 4th and 7. The quarterback doing a nice job on this possession so far.

2:12 Tashaun Gipson with tight coverage on Zach Ertz to force an incompletion on 3rd and 5. Arizona settles for a field goal to make the score 14-3.

James Conner has just 19 yards on seven carries. There’s no way Arizona wins this game if they don’t get their run game going.

2:20 The 49ers offense looks like a hot knife going through butter. Brock Purdy hits all four attempts for 73 yards including a 42 yard strike deep down the middle to Brandon Aiyuk and a 6 yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey. San Francisco now leads 21-3.

Purdy is 10-10 for 145 yards and one touchdown. Christian McCaffrey has 93 yards of offense and all three 49ers scores.

2:28 The 49ers defense makes the stop, but Arizona runs a fake punt on 4th and 2 and gets the first down.

2:32 San Francisco has not done a very good job of keeping Dobbs in the pocket. The quarterback has kept the last two drives alive with his legs.

2:40 For some reason the 49ers took Isaiah Oliver out of the game in favor of Ambry Thomas. That didn’t work out too well. Thomas gets beat for a 33 yard gain down the left sideline. Then on the next play he gets beat for a 16 yard touchdown. Both catches were made by Stanford rookie wide receiver Michael Wilson. 49ers 21 Cardinals 10

2:45 Purdy takes a knee, and the 49ers take an 11 point lead into the half.

San Francisco has done a nice job of limiting James Conner to just 35 yards on 9 carries. They need to keep that up in the second half and do a better job of keeping Dobbs in the pocket.

Offensively the 49ers have yet to be stopped. Arizona came in allowing 4.6 yards per rush attempt and the 49ers are currently averaging 4.5.

3:05 The 49ers quickly move into field goal range on their opening possession of the second half, but Deebo Samuel gets tackled for a loss of 2 and Brock Purdy is sacked for a loss of 12 and they are forced to punt. Oren Burks downs the ball at the one. Wow.

3:19 Arizona goes 99 yards on 11 plays, Joshua Dobbs hitting Michael Wilson from 8 yards out for the touchdown. Dobbs with a big 41 yard completion to Marquise Brown. He picked up 3 first downs with his legs on that possession as well.

The Cardinals are right back into this one. It’s now 21-16 49ers.

3:30 End of the third quarter. San Francisco has the ball 2nd and 6 at the Cardinals 9.

3:33 Christian McCaffrey now has four touchdowns in this game, 3 running and 1 receiving. He has scored at least one touchdown in 13 consecutive games, a 49ers franchise record.

That touchdown drive was a strong counter punch after the Cardinals long scoring drive.

3:45 Joshua Dobbs has kept the Cardinals in this game, but there’s only so much he can do by himself. Facing 3rd and 10, Javon Hargrave gets through to drop the quarterback for a sack. That’s the first for San Francisco in this game.

4:01 The 49ers offense has put on a masterclass of finishing off an opponent. At the 2 minute warning, this possession has taken 7:12 off the clock.

4:04 Purdy with the sneak to give the 49ers 35 points. That’s now four in a row of 30 or more to start the season.