Cardinals defense has its day in season-saving win by the Bay

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Arizona Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White knew the 49ers were going to throw the ball. San Francisco had 1:16 remaining to erase a 24-23 deficit and its kicker was out of the game with an injury. A chip-shot field goal or a touchdown were the only options.

As QB Brock Purdy backed to pass at the San Francisco 42-yard line, safety Jalen Thompson came on a delayed blitz and hit the Valley product as he tried to find receiver George Kittle. The ball sailed high into the air and White saw an opportunity.

“When I saw the ball floating, my eyes got real wide,” White said, smiling. “I went to go dive for it and it played out in my favor. That’s been something I’ve been trying to manifest all year.”

White’s interception was the exclamation point on a defensive performance that nobody saw coming. It was the exclamation point on a win that nobody saw coming after the 49ers took a 23-10 halftime lead off a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown and an awful Kyler Murray interception to Nick Bosa that set up a field goal.

At the risk of hyperbole, it’s fair to say that the defense saved the Cardinals’ season. At 2-3, Arizona has a lot of work to do, but the Cardinals are 2-0 in the NFC West, they’re in second place in the division, and they are somehow just a game out of first place.

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“Obviously, them losing their kicker was a component in that game,” coach Jonathan Gannon said. “I thought [defensive coordinator] Nick [Rallis] and the defensive staff adjusted to that really well in real time because you’ve got to play differently and they made a lot of plays. That’s what it comes down to.” 

The Cardinals defense had been beaten up the past two weeks at home by the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders. They had allowed 402 combined rushing yards in those games, 432 passing yards and 62 points. 

White said the defense talked about it in meetings. They knew what was being said and written about them, and they knew it was not flattering. 

“We put that on the backburner; used it as fuel,” he said. “We came out here against a Super Bowl contender with multiple NFC Championships and we battled. We got punched in the mouth at times but we kept punching back.”  

Aside from George Kittle’s first-quarter touchdown, the 49ers got inside the Cardinals’ 10-yard line four times. They came away with field goals on three of those drives. The fourth ended when Jesse Luketa stripped Jordan Mason of the ball and Mack Wilson recovered at the Arizona 9-yard line.

“They played their asses off,” quarterback Kyler Murray said. “To be able to get three takeaways against them; we needed it. It was big for us.”

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Murray admitted to frustration with the offenses’s performance. 

“I feel like the score didn’t represent how well we were moving the ball and the way we were playing,” he said.

He also noted how difficult the conditions were between the 100-degree temperature and the humidity. But when the Cardinals needed to engineer a game-winning drive, they went 75 yards on 14 plays.

Murray completed a fourth-and-5 rainbow pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. under heavy pressure, offensive coordinator Drew Petzing rode running back James Conner for seven carries and 36 yards, and newly signed kicker Chad Ryland shrugged off an earlier block to drill the game-winning 35-yard field goal.

“I hated it,” Murray said of leaving time on the clock for the 49ers to go on offense. “I didn’t want to give them the ball back. I was hoping we could convert and end the game on our terms. That didn’t happen, but Chad was great making the field goal and the defense came up clutch.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier over the next three games. Two of them are on the road and one is on Monday night against the Chargers, but the Cardinals are back in the hunt. That is cause enough for local celebration. And as we noted in the preview to this unexpected game, crazier things have happened. 

Top photo via Getty Images: LB Kyzir White intercepts a pass intended for George Kittle to seal the Cardinals win.

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