Arizona Escapes With Win on Catanzaro’s Field Goal

The drive would ultimately stall short of the goal line, but Kaepernick’s quarterbacking would set up a makable 49-yard field goal from the ever-trusty Phil Dawson.

“It’s a good opportunity to go back, redeem myself and try to help this team get back on track”, he said.

The defense looked mostly solid and the beleaguered special teams actually came through when Catanzaro connected on a 34-yard field goal as time expired after missing game-winning attempts against New England and Seattle.

With both Mathieu and Simon out for Sunday’s contest against San Francisco, third round draft choice Brandon Williams could see his most extensive action in the Cardinals’ secondary since the first few weeks of the regular season. “Last time we played down there, that was probably the worst game of my career that I can think of”. It was never a doubt in my mind.

Victory astonishingly seemed within reach Sunday once Colin Kaepernick’s first touchdown run of the season tied the score at 20 with 1:55 left in regulation. Nelson has developed into an important part of the team’s offense – so much so that Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians declared on Friday that Nelson is now the team’s No. 2 receiver on the roster.

In a 47-7 loss, he completed only 9 of 19 passes for 67 yards with no touchdowns and had four passes intercepted – two of which were returned for touchdowns by Arizona. That was September 27 of a year ago, when two of his first four passes were intercepted and returned for touchdowns, one by Justin Bethel, the other by Tyrann Mathieu. Johnson only had 10 carries in the first three quarters and finished with 55 yards on 19 carries.

The close loss was of no consolation to 49ers coach Chip Kelly, whose team has lost eight in a row since winning its opener. He missed a couple in the third quarter. We got turnovers. Played good against the run. “It hurts. As tough as they just played, it’s tough to give them words to make them feel better”.

San Francisco’s defense – Conceding the most points in the league per game (32.5 pts), the most amount of yards per game (428 yards on average) and the most rushing yards per game (193 yards), San Francisco have problems, it’s fair to say. Together, this group gave up 376 yards through the air just one week after giving up 323. “I don’t know how you’re wired, but I’m not a big fan of losing”. “But if we went up 21-20 at that point, there was still enough time on the clock for them to drive”. Michael Floyd also went over 100 yards, finishing with 101. It was Johnson’s first touchdown reception of the year.

KAP’S PLAY: Kaepernick had another strong performance in his fourth start since taking over at quarterback from Blaine Gabbert. Johnson leads the National Football League in yards from scrimmage and was the NFC offensive player of the month for October.

Cardinals RB David Johnson – The 49ers defensive rushing game is, to put it politely, not the best.

The Cardinals’ healthy scratches for Sunday include Nkemdiche, Toner, defensive lineman Olsen Pierre and rookie wide receiver Chris Hubert. The over is 4-0 in their last four games overall, 4-0 in their last four road games and is 7-0 in their last seven games after they allowed more than 350 total yards in their previous game.