49ers 13, Cardinals 19: Grades

We don’t have to mention that any chance they had at home-field advantage throughout the postseason would have been reduced to a whisper-thin pulse.

– Mike Purcell surprisingly made his first career start and came through with the 49ers only sack on Carson Palmer, that coming on the Cardinals eventual game-winning drive. Palmer, a classic pocket passer, is anything but fast, but on second-and-goal he dropped back and saw little but green grass to his left.

Free safety Eric Reid: “It’s not in my character to blame the refs, but man there were some questionable calls, some very questionable ones”. The built-up emotion led to a resounding Palmer spike afterward, and Palmer fell as he followed through. “I’m taking a lot of heat for that, and I could care less”, Palmer said.

“I knew if I got behind the second level, Carson was going to be able to get me the ball”, Nelson said. Johnson will total 125 yards and two touchdowns in the game this week and will continue his impressive season. On Sunday, McDonald caught six passes for 71 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinals.

San Francisco had two penalties on one play with 7:13 to go, including a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct by Smith with the defense on the field when he made contact with the side referee.

Michael Stafford managed to claim a career high five touchdown passes, with three of them going to Calvin Johnson, as the Lions claimed their third straight win. He had two interceptions, and returned one for a touchdown, in Arizona s 47-7 win over the 49ers on September 27.

Here are the grades for the San Francisco 49ers’ 19-13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

When quarterback and receiver are speaking the same language, numbers can stack up fast. He has a good control of the offense. “So, we just try to go in and play our style of football … and hopefully have some success, have the type of success those teams have had over the last couple years”. The challenge now is to translate those performances on the road, where the team has allowed 34.6 points per game. The Cardinals scored 19 points and gained 337 yards.

While the 49ers don’t have the best defense, they still have a few talented pass rushers.

_Tight ends Vance McDonald and Blake Bell came up big on the 49ers’ first possession after halftime. James Bettcher will have to sort out whatever coverage issues permitted San Francisco’s tight ends to accumulate 138 yards on nine receptions.

Blaine Gabbert turned in yet another solid effort for the 49ers, throwing for 268 yards on 22-of-31 completions, while managing the ball much better than his predecessor did in the team’s first meeting.

It’s still weird to not see Colin Kaepernick starting at quarterback for the 49ers, but Blaine Gabbert played well in his place.

The Honey Badger led the Cardinals with 13 tackles on Sunday. The Niners disagreed; Palmer said it was the right call, and the drive continued. Kevin Minter and Deone Bucannon popped up to make a couple of key stops, and Minter and rookie Markus Golden teamed up for Arizona’s first sack of the day.