While it is always good to see the 49ers win, and while I will never, ever, root for them to lose a game, there is something to be said for looking toward the future in the midst of a lost season. “Wins are hard to get in this league”. So we hurry up and run the ball, and they got 13 guys on the field.
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Safety Eric Reid said, “It’s not in my character to blame the refs, but, man, there were some questionable calls, some very questionable ones”.
“That’s not to take anything away from Kaepernick, but it seems like Gabbert has a little bit better grip on what’s going on”, Mattieu said in an interview. “If he gets in a situation where he feels pressure, he’s not just going to give the defense an opportunity to make a play”, Mathieu said.
– Carson Palmer. For the first game this season, Palmer did not throw a touchdown pass, but it was his 8-yard touchdown run that proved the difference. The Cards even tried trickeration, putting Drew Stanton in at QB and splitting Palmer out wide as a receiver, only to have Stanton hand the ball to Chris Johnson for a one-yard loss. He had one touchdown pass and was picked off once.
– Vance McDonald. Another positive game for the 49ers’ third-year tight end, as he finished with six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Blaine Gabbert outplayed his more celebrated counterpart, Carson Palmer, on the stat sheet Sunday and threw for more yards, 318, than at any point in his career.
Arizona wide receiver Michael Floyd said it was obvious the first game had stuck with the 49ers. “He has good control of the offense”. He understands where to go with the ball, understands when he’s hot, when he needs to get rid of it.
“I’m not really too anxious about getting fined”, Boone said. The 49ers rank last in the National Football League in scoring (13.9 ppg) and total offense (288.2 ypg) and they rank 23 in defensive scoring (25.2 ppg) and total defense (404) ypg. The outcome of the game wasn’t surprising, but the fact that the 49ers were within one score of winning, 19-13, was somewhat of a shock given how the Niners’ season has gone. He journeyman has rushed for 95 yards on 28 carries in two games with the 49ers.
“I think for us to respond like that after losing the way we did the first game says a lot about this team”, inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman said. Blaine Gabbert is now starting and Kaepernick is out for the season with a shoulder issue and Gabbert has been under center. Kevin Minter and Deone Bucannon popped up to make a couple of key stops, and Minter and rookie Markus Golden teamed up for Arizona’s first sack of the day.
Palmer completed 24 of 40 passes for 271 yards and was sacked once but wasn’t the smooth operator he was in Arizona. That also is a franchise first.
-CB Jerraud Powers sustained a calf injury midway through the third quarter Sunday against San Francisco and did not return.
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No apologies were coming out of the Cardinals’ locker room Sunday afternoon, and there wasn’t any anger.
