Resilient Cardinals Prove They Can Hang With Anybody
The Arizona Cardinals' first drive of the day was a quick three-and-out, with a net gain of just three total yards. Their second drive, although managing a first down, moved a mere 20 yards on seven total plays.
Defensively, Arizona immediately allowed a Christian McCaffrey touchdown, a drive lasting only 4 minutes and 16 seconds, as well as a second McCaffrey TD on 7-play, 75-yard drive.
It looked like this game was en route to be a complete blowout, as Arizona was being absolutely dominated in the trenches, on both sides of the ball.
Not only was San Francisco's offensive line helping create huge holes for the insanely talented CMC, their defensive line shut down James Conner completely for a most of the game, holding one of the NFL's rushing leaders to only 52 yards on 11 carries.
In the passing game, Dobbs felt pressure for most of the first half, mainly completing short passes, or incompletions in tight coverage. It wasn't until midway through the 2nd quarter that the Cardinals were able to muster up some points, a 38-yarder from Matt Prater, to finish a 13-play drive that only stretched 40 yards.
However, following weeks where Arizona started extremely hot and then failed to adjust to their opponents, this game, despite the loss, showed that head coach Jonathan Gannon, offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis can make adjustments to take what might look like a non-competitive game and still force some pressure onto their opponents.
After McCaffrey's third (yikes) TD of the first half, the Cardinals offense kicked it into gear. Petzing took a gamble on a fake punt deep in his own territory and began to open up the playbook beyond running smash-mouth football with Conner. Petzing also drew up some runs for QB Joshua Dobbs, and gave Dobbs some room to work down the field, leading to a 33-yard reception and first NFL touchdown from rookie WR Michael Wilson.
After looking completely stagnant for the first quarter and a half, Petzing's offense was able to muster back-to-back massive drives, going 13 plays for 87 yards and a TD before driving 99 yards on 11 plays for another score. The offensive line was also able to adjust, giving Josh Dobbs plenty of time to go through his progressions and make accurate throws downfield.
Star edge rusher Nick Bosa was held to just 4 pressures on the day, with zero sacks and zero total tackles. Dobbs was only sacked once, on a play where starting center Hjalte Froholdt had been forced to exit per the NFL's concussion prevention rules.
Defensive Coordinator Nick Rallis was faced with a tall task. Trailing 21-10 out of the half, he and his defensive unit were able to force the Niners to punt, allowing the offense to pull within one score of the NFC powerhouse and allowing zero total points from SF in the 3rd quarter.
Ultimately, they were unable to find an answer for McCaffrey, as the star RB ended up with 177 all-purpose yards and 4 total touchdowns, but the 49ers were certainly forced to grind much harder in the second half, and even forced to throw the ball more frequently.
Defending a team like the 49ers isn't easy, and while Rallis couldn't come away with a positive result, it was still apparent that he was able to change things up and at least temporarily shut down the high-powered offense.
Gannon spoke on the team's ability to not lie down and make adjustments postgame.
"The resilience that we showed when we got down and got hit in the mouth I thought was good," said Gannon, "The locker room at halftime was good, and [understanding] how we needed to get back in the game, what we had to do, all three phases, and I thought they did that.”
Although the score ended up looking lopsided, this loss was anything but disappointing. To start out this slow, and still be able to put pressure on one of the NFL's best teams was impressive, and is a good sign for the young coaching staff's ability to stay in games, even when severely undermanned.
The Cardinals aren't going quietly.
