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Is there a Cardinals path to the playoffs through the NFC West?
Getting the Arizona Cardinals to talk about their division rivalries before they beat the LA Rams three weeks ago was a fruitless venture.
“Do I think it’s a rivalry? No, I don’t,” coach Jonathan Gannon said. “They’re all equally important.”
“I’m kind of in the same boat as JG,” offensive lineman Will Hernandez added. “There’s no game that we ever go into like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna go harder this game because of this or that.’”
Fortunately for local media, Budda Baker took the podium on Thursday to discuss Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara California.
Baker hates the 49ers, but to be clear, he’s an equal opportunity hater.
“Any team we play against, I don’t like,” Baker said. “Throughout the whole week, I’m watching film on each and every player. I just don’t like ’em.”
The Cardinals could use a little bit of hatred this week. They are 1-3, their season is teetering on the brink of irrelevance, and they play three of their next four games on the road.
That run starts with the 49ers, who have beaten the Cardinals four straight times and seven of the past 10. Baker has been a Cardinal for all of those games — although he was hurt last season and missed the meeting in Santa Clara. He also arrived as a rookie at the back half of the Cardinals’ eight-game winning streak against the 49ers from 2015-2018. And he has fond memories of 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, whom he intercepted twice in 2021.
The Cardinals need a win in the worst way. The players and coaches can dismiss the magnitude of one game all they want, but we already told you that since 1990, just 34 of 235 teams (14.5 percent) that started 1-3 made the postseason. We can promise you that those odds do not improve for 1-4 teams.
And the oddsmakers do not like the Cardinals’ chances against a Super Bowl-worthy team that is stacked with playmakers on both sides of the ball. QB Kyler Murray discussed one, linebacker Fred Warner, who has forced more takeways than all but eight NFL teams.
Given their start, it’s fair to say that the Cardinals need to win the majority of their five remaining NFC West games if they want to make the playoffs. In fact, the most memorable team in Cardinals history did just that on its way to the franchise’s only Super Bowl appearance.
The 2008 Cardinals were ridiculed by some analysts as the worst playoff team in NFL history when they won the NFC West with a 9-7 record. They did so despite a 3-7 record against non-divisional opponents. They did so because they went 6-0 against the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks in Ken Whisnehunt’s second season as coach.
“I definitely have more hatred for San Fran and Seattle than I do St Louis, but that’s because nobody from those places respected us,” said former Cardinal and Valley product Lyle Sendlein, who was the center on that team. “That’s what made us want to hit them in the mouth.
“It’s a shame to hear that it’s not much of a rivalry any more because there was always a lot of extra juice when we were playing a division game. I mean, every time you beat a division opponent, it’s like a two-game swing in the standings. You felt it in the air. You felt it in the stadium and how the pads were cracking. Those were games that you definitely circled on your schedule. If you win your division games, you will probably get into the playoffs.”
We’re not saying the 2024 Cardinals are going to run the table against the NFC West, although we’re not saying they won’t. The division is a lot better than the 2008 edition where the four teams combined for just 10 wins outside the division. Still, winning the NFC West is a sure-fire way to make the playoffs and the Cardinals are off to a 1-0 start on that front.
Maybe it’s time to allow a little more of that Darnell Dockett-Lyle Sendlein brand of hatred to seep in.
3 Keys to a Cardinals victory
Let Kyler be Kyler: Kyler Murray has been at his best this season when he is on the move, reading the defense and deciding which option is best to exploit what he is seeing. It’s almost as if the more oxygen that pumps to Murray’s brain, the more dialed in he gets.
Of course, the Cardinals (Murray included) will all say that he should just take what is there and not force runs or force the ball into Marvin Harrison Jr.’s hands. There is obvious truth in that, but Murray is who he is. The Cardinals need him to be at his best if they have any hope of winning this difficult matchup and maintaining reasonable odds of earning a postseason spot.
Murray may need to run with defensive end Nick Bosa (three sacks) and defensive tackle Kevin Givens (3.5 sacks) breathing down his back.
Reintroduce Trey McBride: McBride was out of concussion protocol and practiced fully on Thursday and Friday, but then he was downgraded to questionable with a rib injury. If he plays, that will be good news for an offense that sorely missed him last week and will need the safety valve of those short and mid-range routes in the face of a staunch San Francisco defense that ranks in the top 10 in multiple categories including 14 sacks (tied for fourth) and a league-high seven forced fumbles.
In the first meeting between the teams last season, McBride had 10 catches (11 targets) for 102 yards.
Make Brock Purdy uncomfortable: Much of that is related to the key matchup below, but in case you haven’t noticed, the Cardinals are not an elite pass rushing team. They have to dial up ways to at least take the young QB out of his comfort zone with disguised looks, pressure, hurries and less time to make decisions.
(Getty Images)
Matchup to watch
49ers RB Jordan Mason vs. the Cardinals defense
Look, it’s simple to say stop the run, but it has been anything but simple for the Cardinals the past two weeks. Detroit rushed for 186 yards in a 20-13 victory in week three. Washington rushed for 216 yards in a 42-14 whupping last week. As efficient as Commanders QB Jayden Daniels was last week, he was operating in a stress-free environment because the Cardinals couldn’t stop the run.
The Cardinals run defense has allowed a league-worst eight rushing touchdowns, it has the lowest run-stop win rate in the NFL (26.5 percent) and it is 27th in run defense success rate (52.1 percent).
Mason has rushed for at least 100 yards in three of four games this season and you can bet the 49ers are planning to go that route again in a home game behind a physical offensive line that does a lot of things well.
“He knows how to run the different kinds of runs they run — the wide zone,” Rallis said of Mason. “He’s very good at just reading it down the line and finding those cuts and then when he does find that seam, he is load to bring down. He gets downhill.”
Mason is the latest in a long line of backs to have success under coach Kyle Shanahan. Part of that success is in the way the 49ers deceive.
“It complements very well from how they set up their wide zone and then how that can complement their inside run game,” Rallis said. “It all looks very similar to a defensive lineman. So what looks like a backside cut is actually a front-side deuce. And then within the wide-zone game they do such a good job of being able to change the points…. changing up their front-side combinations, depending on what kind of front you’re in, with the tight ends.”
Rallis provided a lot more technical analysis, but it was clear that he respects the run game immensely and so will the Cardinals. Their ability to limit it will be critical to their success.
Final injury report
Quotable
Game Notes
- With a win, the Cardinals would improve to 7-4 all-time at Levi’s Stadium. Arizona would have more wins at the venue than any other team since it opened in 2014.
- With five receptions, tight end Trey McBride would have 5-plus catches in six straight road games. That would mark the longest such streak by a Cardinals tight end since at least 1970, and match the longest such streak among NFL tight ends over the past five seasons (Jaguars TE Evan Engram had 6 in 2023).
- This game will mark safety Budda Baker’s 100th career start. Baker will become just the fifth Cardinals DB since at least 1970 to start 100 games (Roger Wehrli, 163; Adrian Wilson, 162; Aeneas Williams, 159; Patrick Peterson, 154).
- Cardinals kicker Matt Prater’s availability for the game was uncertain. He missed this week’s practice with a left knee injury. Gannon said Friday there was still a chance that he would play, but the Cardinals signed former Patriots kicker Chad Ryland to the practice squad this week as insurance, and then they elevated him to the 53-man roster; a likely sign that Prater isn’t ready to go.
- The Cardinals also elevated offensive lineman Charlie Heck from the practice squad.
- Per NFL Next Gen Stats, 49ers QB Brock Purdy has had the most time to throw this season at an average of 3.14 seconds.
- 49ers receiver Jauan Jennings is fourth in the NFL in receiving yards (364) and tied for third in TDs (three).
- The NFL announced the conference players of the month for September. Four of the eight players selected faced the Cardinals in the first four weeks of the season. Bills QB Josh Allen was named AFC offensive player of the month. Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was named NFC defensive player of the month. Commanders QB Jayden Daniels was named offensive rookie of the month, and Rams LB Jared Verse was named defensive rookie of the month.
Predictions
Top photo via Getty Images: Former Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett taunts the 49ers offensive line during a game on Oct. 29, 2012 in Glendale
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