The Arizona Cardinals host the San Francisco 49ers Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium in Week 15. The Niners are 10-3 and sit atop the conference currently as the No. 1 seed and, if the season ended now, would have a first-round bye.
The Cardinals are 3-10 and coming off their bye week.
They won their last game a 24-10 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 49ers beat Arizona in Week 14 35-16. The Cardinals had no answer for running back Christian McCaffrey, quarterback Brock Purdy or receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Leading up to this game, Niners Wire managing editor Kyle Madson takes us “behind enemy lines” to get some perspective about the Cardinals’ Week 15 opponent.
My questions for him and his answers are below.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Week 15 differences
So what is different about the 49ers now since the Cardinals played them in Week 4?
There are a couple key differences, mostly on defense. Injuries have started mounting and they could be missing as many as five starters Sunday. Starting strong safety Talanoa Hufanga is out with a torn ACL, their starting defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave are both expected to miss the game, linebacker Dre Greenlaw could be out, and it looks like cornerback Charvarius Ward won’t suit up either. On the other hand, their pass rush has improved quite a bit since Week 4 with the addition of defensive end Chase Young, so that’s helped their secondary improve quite a bit. Of course, the injuries could render those improvements moot. Offensively the personnel is largely the same, but that unit has been firing on all cylinders since Week 10 when they returned from the bye.
Brock Purdy
Is there anything Brock Purdy hasn’t proven he can do yet?
Definitely. He’s yet to bring the team back from a late deficit to win. He did put them in position to win against the Browns, but rookie kicker Jake Moody missed the 41-yard game winner. He had a pair of opportunities against the Vikings to win that game late though and turned in a couple of interceptions. The following week against the Bengals there was a big opportunity for the 49ers to get back in the game in the second half, but Purdy threw a bad interception in the red zone. How much he’s capable of carrying a team that’s not as loaded as the 49ers is still something that’ll need to be figured out, but with this specific group of players there’s not a ton he has to prove, in my opinion.
Lesser-known contributors
We know the big names for the Niners. Who are lesser heralded contributors having a good season?
I’ll snag one on each side of the ball. On offense, it’s left guard Aaron Banks who has become a really high-quality guard after spending most of his rookie year as a healthy scratch. The 2021 second-round pick jumped into the starting lineup last year though and put together a really nice second season. He’s improved this year and helps LT Trent Williams create one of the best left sides of an offensive line in the league.
On defense, CB Deommodore Lenoir has been awesome. He plays both inside and outside depending on who’s healthy and playing well, and he’s good at both. Moving him inside was actually one of the catalysts for their turnaround since their three-game losing streak. They had a really hard time covering receivers during that skid, and Lenoir’s play in the slot has helped key better defensive play. His fellow CB Ambry Thomas has also been instrumental in their current winning streak. He took over the outside spot Lenoir vacated to move inside and has been excellent there.
Weaknesses?
Is there a weakness the Cardinals can possibly expose on Sunday?
Definitely. The interior of the 49ers’ defensive line is really banged up and the Cardinals may be able to move some bodies inside to create running lanes. More important than that, they should be able to free up OL to get into the second level to get bodies on a good San Francisco linebacking corps. It could be a big day for RB James Conner. The 49ers’ offensive line is also not great, particularly on the right side. I’m expecting Jonathan Gannon to game plan around bringing pressure from the right side and trying to force the 49ers to run that way in the run game since they’re way less effective over there.
Predictions
What is your prediction for this game?
I like Arizona to be really competitive in this one, especially early. They’re coming off a bye and the 49ers are coming off a brutal stretch of games that included two division games vs. Seattle with a trip to Philadelphia sandwiched between them. My expectation is that the Cardinals get out to a fast start (I’m sort of picturing the Cardinals-49ers game at Levi’s Stadium in 2019 where the Cardinals led 16-0 in the second quarter before the 49ers eventually got rolling to a 36-26 win (it was actually more like 30-26, but a fumble on the final play was returned for a TD). I think Arizona covers the 12.5 points relatively comfortably in a 30-21 49ers win.
