49ers battle Arizona, come up short

An Arizona team that raced to a 31-7 halftime lead en route to a 47-7 win in the desert on September 27 was made to work for its points in the rematch.

It appears neither Head Coach was happy with the officiating, but anyways, back to the game. “But I told him as well: ‘Man, we need you for the rest of the season”.

Much like their second-quarter blunder, the 49ers defensive effort was undermined by a pair of costly penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a referee ran into Torrey Smith on the sidelines, and a roughing the passer penalty against Quinton Dial on a sack of Palmer.

But where did it all go wrong for the side that went to the Super Bowl in 2013, and the NFC title game the following year?

Turnovers would continue to derail San Francisco’s offense. None more so than Niners coach Jim Tomsula, who avoided the topic completely. Confidence is key in this profession.

“They came to fight, and that’s what we’re going to get being on top the way we are”, Palmer said. And while I think the 49ers could have (should have?) won this game despite the fact that the refs were wearing Cardinals red, it’s still annoying to have the game called by people who are clearly incompetent. When the extra point failed, the 49ers had a chance to pull one out.

PRESSURE is building on the San Francisco 49ers to give Jarryd Hayne another shot at the National Football League.

Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer scored on a 8-yard scramble to break a 13-all tie midway through the fourth period. This team was built to score and to score often.

– The Cards ended up with bigger problems running backs-wise than just missed third-and-1 tries. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were reduced to the one-dimensional attack of seasons past thanks to injuries suffered by Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington and Carson Palmer was left to settle for a bevy of short completions to Larry Fitzgerald and an inquisitive foray deep to John Brown or J.J. Nelson just to see what would become of it. Running back duties were put squarely on David Johnson’s shoulders and he did an OK job. San Francisco has a better quarterback behind center (I can’t believe I typed that, but it is true) than it did then. Although Green Bay lost, they’re playing good ball. It was not a great day for the officials in terms of making things clear, but their calls impacted the game. But with Ellington essentially putting up more errors than Hayne with two muffed punts in two games, the 49ers could use the rest of the season to develop Hayne’s punt return and running back skills. I was in the zone so much that the calls weren’t really fazing me. “Bowman continued, “. save your energy”. Armstead did play, however, and registered one of the 49ers’ nine hits on Palmer. “I can’t stress that enough, that was a dog fight, a defensive battle.” .

At the end of the game, Gabbert was driving the 49ers toward a game-winning score. I don’t care what the league says. Jefferson said he expected that either he or blitzing inside linebacker Kevin Minter would sack Gabbert on the play. It was just one of those games.

The Cardinals hadn’t swept the 49ers since 2008 (the year they made it to the Superbow), but when San Francisco plays their best it’s easy to see why.