5 Biggest Questions That Will Determine 49ers vs Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers are set for a Week 3 clash at Levi's Stadium, and by all accounts, the home team is heavy favorites.

That's fair, as the 49ers are 2-0 and look like one of the best teams in football. Meanwhile, Arizona's 1-1 and looking to bounceback from a tough loss against the Seattle Seahawks last week.

To gain a better preview of the game, we spoke with 49ers On SI's Jose Sanchez on the five biggest questions surrounding this matchup:

1. The Niners are 2-0. What do you think is the biggest reason?

Sanchez: One half of that is because they faced arguably the worst team in the NFL (Dolphins), and the other half is that nearly every facet of their team is playing at a high level.

Brock Purdy looks like the 2023 version that became an MVP finalist, Mike Evans has been a big help as expected, Christian McCaffrey looks sweet again, and the defense looks back to normal thanks to Fred Warner and Nick Bosa returning. This is what the 49ers have always been capable of, which is why they took care of business against Miami and embarrassed the Rams on Netflix in Australia.

2. From an outside perspective, how do you think San Francisxo views Arizona entering this week?

Sanchez: They're taking them seriously. If there's one thing Kyle Shanahan will not allow is for his team to overlook an opponent, especially one that's in their division. It doesn't matter how lowly they may appear; divisional matchups get weird.

Shanahan and his core of superstar veterans will ensure every single player is locked in to take care of business against Arizona, as they did with Miami the week prior. Otherwise, all of the hype and momentum they created from the first two weeks will decline.

3. Who’s a player to watch in this game?

Sanchez: If Mike Evans plays, I doubt he will pop off in this game. He hurt his hip last week against Miami and has missed the first two practices of the week. He's clearly going to be hampered in this game, so if he gives it a go, the 49ers will use him as a decoy. I'd be stunned if he gets involved as much as he did in Week 1. It would also be very reckless, as he could risk further injury.

4. One matchup you think the Cardinals can take advantage of?

Sanchez: Arizona would be wise to run it over and over and over again with their top draft pick Jeremiyah Love at the 49ers' interior defensive line. They are extremely thin there. All of the defensive tackles that they had in training camp have dwindled down to two players, Osa Odighizuwa and rookie Gracen Halton.

If the 49ers are smart, they'll try to gas those two players and break the interior whenever they're rotated off with the players they just signed off the street. Controlling the time of possession is their only hope to victory.

5. Final score prediction?

Sanchez: The 49ers' run defense is the only weakness, but they've been masking it thanks to their offense getting a huge lead early. Once that happens, the Cardinals won't be able to run it as much, which plays into the 49ers' defensive strength of rushing the passer and coverage.

I think the Cardinals will have some hope for a little while until the 49ers completely blow the lid off on offense, as I don't see any threat from Arizona's defense. They'll be lucky to stall out more than one or two drives from the 49ers.

Cardinals 17, 49ers 38

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