Arizona holds on in San Francisco, 19-13

At that point, it seemed as if the Niners had found a worthy successor in their QB lineage, as Kaep had the unique skillset of a solid passer with the athleticism to produce yards with his legs, who was already a Super Bowl QB at age 26. He received no help from his teammates, but he also needed to give his offense a boost, even if only through leadership. “You’re not going to change that you’re going on the road”, Tomsula said. “More looks than comments, more just laughs and head shaking”. “There are always things that can be cleaned up, you can get better at, but he has continued to get better”.

Whatever the conditions, San Francisco first must find a way to avoid the rash of mistakes seen in Sunday’s 19-13 home loss to the first-place Arizona Cardinals, namely 13 penalties for 81 yards.

The Cardinals backpedaled to the 7, but Palmer scored to put Arizona ahead.

In his first drive of his first start with the 49ers, quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw a six-yard pass to tight end Vance McDonald on 3rd-and-10.

“It all comes down to just finishing the game”, tight end Blake Bell said.

“The last drive was kind of indicative of the way the day was, Carson stumbling and bumbling into the end zone”. One week after getting crushed by Seattle, the 49ers front seven dominated the Cardinals offensive line. “I don’t care what the league says”. Arians, who is in his third season with the Cardinals, said he saw those traits in his first year with the team but it was tougher for the player last year as he dealt with a variety of injuries that impacted his play on the field.

Fitzgerald finished with 10 catches for 66 yards. “I can’t take a sack there in the first quarter”. He added a 41-yarder early in the second.

-PASS DEFENSE: B. The 49ers held Carson Palmer without a touchdown pass, although it took a few pass-interference penalties in the end zone to do that. But he scrambled for the game-winning score, and again, the 49ers couldn’t stop committing dumb penalties.

“There’s no debate here”, Palmer said. “He hit me right in the face with the crown of his helmet”. With coach Tomsula’s job security at an all time low, it is altogether possible he will adopt a “nothing to lose” strategy and shake things up. Smith, watching it unfold on the sideline, exacerbated the setback by protesting too much for the Side Judge’s liking and got tagged with a 15-yard “unsportsmanlike conduct” foul. Of the 20 accepted penalties, 13 were against the home team.

“The officials were struggling mightily”, Arians said.

-One of the most fascinating stats to come out of Gabbert’s two starts is that he’s completed 16 passes on third down, yet only six of them have moved the sticks. Gabbert hit Torrey Smith for a 41-yard completion and had far more success than predecessor Colin Kaepernick did in a four-interception day back in a 47-7 loss at Arizona in Week 3. The run defense looked great (only allowed 70 yards and an average of 2.4 yards a carry) and if not for two turnovers that resulted in two field goals in the first half, the Niners would have been up 3-0 going into halftime. He is one of only three current Cardinals who had previously won at San Francisco, along with Calais Campbell and Lyle Sendlein. X-rays were negative…. Arizona CB Jerraud Powers injured his calf in the third, while RB Andre Ellington hurt a foot and RB Chris Johnson a knee.