The San Francisco 49ers just suffered their first loss of the season and now they\u2019ll host a pesky Arizona Cardinals side on Sunday. The Cardinals gave the 49ers a battle the last time these two teams played but this could be different as the 49ers should be focused coming off a of a sloppy effort. Will the Cardinals keep this one close again? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cardinals\u2019 biggest advantage in this game is that San Francisco just got beaten up and will be playing on a short week. San Francisco played nearly five full quarters of football, losing to the Seattle Seahawks on the very last play of overtime on Monday Night Football. Even for a team as good as the 49ers, who are now 8-1 on the season, playing a game like that takes a physical toll and will not be easy to come back from. The game itself was punishing even for healthy players, but what is worse for the Niners is that a lot players got injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edge Rusher Ronald Blair is out for the rest of the season, wideout Emmanuel Sanders will be a game-time decision and left tackle Joe Staley is out with a fractured finger. Nevertheless, the Niners are thinner on both offense and defense, and they have some players (George Kittle) who were unable to play against Seattle and might not be especially sharp if they try to play against Arizona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cards have a good chance to catch the 49ers at a time when they\u2019re not 100%. That could even this playing field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though the Niners are plagued by a lot of injuries, they are playing an opponent which can\u2019t do very much right now. The Cardinals had a chance to prove they were getting better when they played the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past weekend, but they lost and made a ton of mistakes. Kyler Murray threw a crucial interception in the Tampa Bay red zone and the team had a whopping 11 penalties. This shows that the Cardinals \u2013 whose three wins this season have come against teams with losing records (including the winless Cincinnati Bengals) \u2013 aren\u2019t very good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 49ers might be worn down, but they just lost to Seattle, so you know they will take this game very seriously, now that their NFC West lead has been reduced. And the formula here is quite simple: just run the ball. The Cardinals give up 126.0 rushing yards per game (24th in the NFL). If the 49ers can have success on the ground and bring back some balance, everything will get back in order for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 49ers are losing bodies on defense, which should enable Arizona to score a little bit. Meanwhile, the Cardinals\u2019 defense has consistently been one of the worse defenses in the NFL. This game should go over the number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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