While there’s no doubt the Arizona Cardinals are tough behind Josh Dobbs and Jonathan Gannon, Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey were just too much to handle on Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara.
Although the Cardinals flirted with making the game tight, the 49ers handled business on their way to their fourth straight win of the season, 34-16. Purdy has now lead three straight games with 30 or more points on the scoreboard for the 49ers.
Purdy was nearly flawless on Sunday, only tossing one incompletion. Purdy threw for 283 yards on 20-of-21 passing with a touchdown through the air and a touchdown on the ground.
McCaffrey stole the show with four scores against the Cardinals. McCaffrey ran for 106 yards with three rushing touchdowns to go along with seven catches for 71 yards.
Brandon Aiyuk had a career day, catching six passes for a career-high 148 yards receiving.
With the 49ers 4-0, here’s a look into the notebook from Sunday’s performance against the Cardinals.
First Quarter
Despite two straight positive plays from Josh Dobbs and the Cardinals’ offense, the 49ers hold tight on third down to force a three-and-out. Similar to the first three games, Purdy and the 49ers precisely moved down the field almost machine-like.
With three straight completions from Purdy and a pair of penalties on the Cardinals, the 49ers are knocking on the door with Christian McCaffrey looming in the backfield. Like clockwork, McCaffrey punches in a short touchdown for his 13th straight game with a touchdown run to give the 49ers a 7-0 lead early.
While they’re clearly gritty, the disparity between the Cardinals’ offense and the 49ers’ defense looks like a wide margin. In the first quarter, the Cardinals are struggling to get anything going. Another punt sends the ball back to Purdy and McCaffrey.
Second Quarter
The Christian McCaffrey show rolls on in the second quarter. With one touchdown under his belt, the 49ers running back ripped a highlight hurdle over a Cardinals defender to put in his second score of the day to give the home team a commanding 14-0 lead in Santa Clara.
Trailing by 14, the Cardinals are building a bit of momentum for the first time today with a combination of Dobbs and Conner on the ground. However, the 49ers defense is swarming the run and daring the Cardinals to put it through the air. On a pass, the Cardinals are able to secure a first down on a defensive pass interference on Mooney Ward.
Despite facing a third and 20, the Cardinals are able to edge out a first down behind aggressive play-calling from Jonathan Gannon. The 49ers defense is able to force a field goal to keep the score at 14-3.
It didn’t take long for the 49ers to threaten to score again. After a pair of connections from Purdy to Aiyuk, San Francisco is quickly in the red zone. And, with that being said, McCaffrey is inevitable with his third touchdown. This time on a six-yard catch from Purdy to make the score 21-3. Purdy is still perfect on the day with zero incompletions.
The Cardinals will now get the ball back with under five minutes left in the first half. If they show no signs of life here, we could be on blowout watch.
Credit to Gannon and Dobbs, the Cardinals don’t want to go away early. The Cardinals faked a punt and converted their second fourth-down attempt of the day. With Ambry Thomas in the game, the Cardinals are picking on him, firing balls his way while he attempts to cover rookie Michael Wilson Jr.
The Stanford rookie pass catcher gives the Cardinals some life as he grabs a 16-yard touchdown reception to cut the 49ers’ lead to 11 before halftime.
Third Quarter
Dennis Gardeck is giving the Cardinals a little juice on defense. After spinning past Colton McKivitz for a sack on Brock Purdy, Gardeck provides pressure on the next down to force a punt with a bad throw from Purdy.
Despite backing up the Cardinals deep in their own territory, Dobbs and the Arizona offense are picking up where he left off at the end of the second quarter with another solid drive.
In the third quarter, the 49ers are dealing with some injuries. Guard Jon Feliciano has been ruled out due to a concussion and linebacker Dre Greenlaw appears to be banged up. Greenlaw left to the sideline after appearing to injure his ankle. Greenlaw quickly returned to the game.
The Cardinals are capitalizing on another grinding drive with a touchdown pass from Dobbs to rookie Michael Wilson Jr. for his second scoring catch of the contest to make the game 21-16. After the game looked like it was nearing a blowout, Dobbs led a 99-yard scoring drive to make this a game in the second half. The Cardinals are proving to be scrappy.
Purdy continues to look calm, delivering a downfield strike to Brandon Aiyuk again. The connection between Purdy and Aiyuk seems very alive and well. As the 49ers move toward the red zone, McCaffrey does the rest.
Fantasy managers who have McCaffrey have to be smiling as he punches in his fourth — yes, fourth touchdown of the game as the 49ers get back in the driver’s seat with a 28-16 lead as the 4th quarter gets underway.
4th Quarter
Again, the Cardinals aren’t going away with another tough drive by Dobbs and company. However, the 49ers defense steps up. Javon Hargrave pulls down Dobbs for a drive-ending sack.
Now, the 49ers have a chance to put the final nail in the coffin with a scoring drive with under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Despite a double-digit lead, another heavy dose of McCaffrey in the fourth quarter.
After missing a game due to injury, Aiyuk is back building his breakout campaign. With a throw to the sideline, Aiyuk made a smooth adjustment to the football to for a back-shoulder catch. Purdy to Aiyuk has been automatic in Week 4, and much throughout the season.
Instead of McCaffrey plunging into the end zone, it was Purdy slamming in a short rush to extend the 49ers lead to 35-16 late.
Credit to Dobbs, he delivered two near-touchdown passes that fell through the hands of targets for a late garbage time score. After the two late drops, the 49ers took the ball back to close out the game, 35-16.
Final Stats
- Brock Purdy: 20-of-21, 283 yards passing, 1 TD
- Christian McCaffrey: 20 carries, 106 yards rushing, 3 TDs, 7 catches, 71 yards receiving, 1 TD
- Brandon Aiyuk: 6 catches, 148 yards receiving
- Javon Hargrave: 1 sack
