CARDS 21 - 49ers 19
The Setup
The Bottom Line
The Lede
Game Recap
Game Stats
Bright Spots
The Dark Side
Last Word

The Setup
"The Niners clinched the previous week, breezing to a 26 - 0 win over the Rams, making them10 & 2. The Cardinals had clawed their way to 5 & 7, beating Dallas in OT 19 -13 for their 4th win in 5 games. Cards are continuing to fight their way back into a remote shot at playoff contention. The Niners must now fight against a letdown, using indirect incentives like playoff seedings and home field advantage to motivate them.

The Bottom Line:
Both teams played true to previous form - The Niners kept mistakes to a minimum and relied on their ground attack, short -passing game, field position, time of possession, a bunch of takeaways and no giveawys to give them a 12 - 7 halftime edge. Weak early  Cardinal offensive line  play resulted in Kolb getting dinged during the first offensive series and replaced by backup QB John Skelton. Despite a mess of giveaways, the Cardinal defense stiffened (especially in the red zone) and only allowed first half points off 4 Akers field goals, to allow  the Cardinals in the football game - just enough for a few big plays to eventually put up more points on the boards in brief bursts than the 49ers were able to grind out thehard way.

In a typical Niners war of attrition, they usually outexecute you, wait for you to implode and eventually prevail. The difference this time were big offensive plays by Skelton, Fitzgerald and (occasionally) Doucet and Roberts and a stingy defense that (with the exception of one long TD run by Gore)  kept everything in front of them, preventing the Niner offense from moving across the 20-points barrier.

1st Quarter

• Ginn returned the opening KO to the Niner 14. After a couple of first downs, a false start penalty derailed the drive and the 49ers punted from their own 25. Peterson was tackled at the Cardinal 13. On the third play from scrimmage, Kolb tried to roll right, but was hit just as he attempted to pass. Ball was ruled a fumble. Cards recovered, but Kolb took an accidental knee to the head (no flag) and left the game to be replaced by Skelton. Punt was returned to the Cardinal 43. Niners moved to the Cardinal 34, where a sack was nullfied by a facemask call on A-Dub. They continued on to the 24 where Peterson sacked A Smith and the Niners had to settle for a 46-yard Akers field goal. Niners 3 - Cards 0.

• Touchback on the KO. Cards went 3 & out. Punt was fair-caught on the Niners 33. Gore immediately ran off RT for 20-yards. They made it to the Cardinal 43 but had to punt. It was downed at the Cardinal one-yard line. Cards went 3 & out and punted from their own 3 to end the quarter.   First Quarter Score: Niners 3 - Cards 0.

2nd Quarter

• Ginn returned the punt all the way back to the Cardinal 4-yard line; but the Cardinal red-zone defense stiffened once again and Akers was forced to kick one from 22.  Niners 6 - Cards 0.

• Touchback on the KO. Three plays after completing a nifty 17-yard pass to Fitz, Skelton - in the midst of sliding after picking up a first down - had the ball stripped as he went down  (To me, it looked as if he was already on the turf, but the play was never challenged and the Niners took over at their own 43). Despite a sack and a false-start penalty, A juggling 3rd & 18 catch Kyle Williams for 11-yards managed to get to the Cardinal 32 to set up a field goal on 4th & 7; and that's where the wierdness started.

• An apparent successful fake field goal (ending in a long pass completion to an eligible lineman) was nullified because Wiz threw the challenge flag  a split-second before the snap questioning the completion to Williams on the previous play. To complicate matters, the replay equipment broke. Final decision by the Zebra Gods: (a) challenge flag was thrown and (b) the completion upheld but (c) Wiz would not be charged the time-out.

• This time - on 4th & 7 at the Cardinal 32, Akers attempted a 50-yard FG. It looked like it would split the uprights but at the last minute, the ball faded severely to the right and outside the uprights. No score! (Margin of defeat).  Cards took over on their own 40 and on their very first play from scrimmage, Skelton hit Fitzgerald on a medium route over the middle. Fitz took the ball away from the defender, pivoted and broke away to score from 60-yards.   Cardinals 7 - Niners 6.

• KO was returned to the Niner 22. A 32-yard completion to Davis - wide open on a crossing route vs. blown coverage - helped move the Niners to the Cardinal 6-yard line where, once again, the Cardinal red-zone defense held the fort and forced Akers to kick another FG - this one from 27-yards. Niners 9 - Cards 7.

• 1:58 left til halftime. Touchback on the KO. On the 3rd play from scrimmage, Skelton's pass intended for Roberts was broken up, deflected and picked off by Goldson and returned to the Cardinal 16 (The defense would be asked to perform still another miracle before halftime). The Niners finally ran out of time at the Cardinal 4 and Akers booted his 4th FG of the game (a 22-yarder) to give the Niners a narrow 5-point halftme lead. Halftime Score: Niners 12 - Cards 7.

3rd Quarter

• Touchback on the KO. Cards' ball. A holding call on King and a false start flag on Heap boxed us in again; this time at our own 5 (A sack pushed us back to our own 2 and Zastudil punted  (So much for shifting the momentumof the game to start the 2H).  Ted Ginn Jr. returned the punt to the Cardinal 37, and on the first play from scrimmage, Frank Gore broke loose over left tackle and blew into the end zone.  Niners 19 - Cards 7.

• (It's usually at this point in most games that things begin to snowball downward for the losing team. But not this time)!  Touchback (again) on the KO. A roughing call on the 49ers helped the Cards sustain their drive into SF territory. On the 6th play from scrimmage, Skelton hit Fitzgerald again over the middle, and Fitz broke away from the pack en route to a 46-yard TD. (We're still very much in this football game).   Niners 19 - Cards 14.    

• KO was returned to the Niner 19 where our defense held them to 3 & out. After an 18-yard completion to The Howler, the Cards couldn't get anywhere and punted from their own 42 (but at least we weren't cornered by lousy field position). Punt was fair-caught at the Niner 10. Defense held 'em to 3 & out again. Peterson returned the punt to the AZ 33. We managed to get all the way to the Niner 27 in 5 plays, but Skelton's pass intended for Fitz was picked off by T Brown. Niners ball on their own 19. A roughness penalty on R Johnson moved the ball to the 49er 39, but the Cardinal defense again stiffened and forced them to punt 4 plays later. Peterson returned the punt to the Cardinal 22, and the Cards ran off one play to end the quarter.  3rd Quarter Score: Niners 19 - Cards 14.   .

4th Quarter

Bright Spots

• Skelton came in under very trying conditions to perform quite well - 3 TD passes/67% completion percentage). He appeared more comfortable knowing which way to scramble to get away from pressure. (In the past, he's had games where he'd seen to roll right into pressure; but not yesterday.

• Yesterday was one of those "the defense is giving us Fitz" days, and both Skelton and Larry cleaned up on it.

• Credit the O-line (after Kolb got squashed) with getting it together to give Skelton enough time to make throws.

• The Cardinal defense (especially in the red zone) was outstanding at every level. (With two exceptions which is the best you can expect), we stopped Gore cold. Credit both Eason and Carter with keeping the Card run defense stout up the middle.

• Our Front 7 seems to have gotten used to Ray Horton's buzz-saw approach to defense with our blitzers and stunters now seeming to be in the right place at the right time and seldom caught out of position.

• The youngsters (Washington, Acho and Schofield) prove with each successive game that they are not one-day wonders - they are providing energy and getting it done on a consistent basis.

• On passing downs, Calais Campbell, Acho and others continue to make plays with their hands - I believe this is crucial to a good pass defense and their efforts in this respect are being validated.

• Both Peterson and Jefferson seem to be settling in with fewer penalties, coverage miscues and breakdowns in techniques. And Marshall has stepped in to provide a physical-edge to the Cardinal secondary (not that Jefferson is a slouch in the tackling dept.). Physical play by our corners is fast becoming a Horton trademark.

• You have to like the way Adrian Wilson will break away from his assigned coverage and zip across the LOS  if he thinks there's a play to be made.

The Dark Side

• Three is still too many giveaways when you're playing a team that gives back a big fat zero.

• That early breakdown in pass pro nearly got Kolb killed.

• It does seem as if Kolb has a different favorite #2 WR (Roberts) than does Skelton (Doucet). Why is that?

• It wasn't as if we didn't run the ball enough (23 times vs. 29 passes), but it definitely wasn't our day to gain many yards via the run.

• All the TE's had an off-day (penalties, dropped passes).

• Although the defense was lights-out in the red-zone, we still gave up too many first downs on 3rd-&-long. We need to tighten that up - through the combination of tighter coverage and more pressure on the QB.

• Directional punting (especially to someone as dangerous as Ginn) was noticeable by its absence.

Last Word:
In SF, we beat one of the top 3 teams in the NFC (NO and GB being the others). In doing so we had to find a way to win the matchup battles with a soundly-coached, mistake-free football team with talent in the running game,multiple receiving options, and a top rated run defense, pass rush and pass coverage. We got it done via a combination of a stingy red zone defense, big passing plays and fewer (though not totally absent) giveaways and other miscues.

At this point in the season - with a shot at the playoffs remote if not totally absent - it would be easy for this team to let off a bit on the gas pedal and at the very least be tempted to operate on "cruise control." Instead, you see Cardinal players - especially on defense - flying around and playing with the same intensity you'd only expect to see from teams - like the Chicago Bears under Buddy or the Ravens with Ray Lewis - in the heat of a playoff battle. I love to watch the Cardinals play. I hope they'll carry the intensity forward into each of the final 3 games and into the offseason where they'll focus on becoming an elite NFL team (in all aspects of play) in 2012.

Great win! Don't underestimate its importance.