The San Francisco 49ers took on their division rival Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium in week 5 of the NFL season.  Things did not go well yet again.  They fell to the Cards 25-23.  Let’s take a look at what went wrong and see if anything went right. 

In the worst tradition ever, we have to start by talking about injuries.  During the game it occurred to me that the Niners had no new injuries heading into the game.  So I wrote it in my notes and as soon as I did, Hufanga left the game with an injury.  There is no word on how bad his wrist injury is but with their next game being on Thursday, it’s most likely he won’t be available.  With their luck, he probably broke his wrist and will miss the rest of the season.

Sadly, that’s not the biggest injury of the game.  Jake Moody blew out his ankle making a tackle on a kick return.  Yet again special teams screwed the Niners.  Not having a field goal kicker for the rest of the game changed their play calling and cost them 3 points in a game they lost by 1.  They are saying he only has a high ankle sprain but he will miss at least a couple of weeks.  I say “only” because it looked like it could have been a lot worse.  I would imagine for a kicker a sprained ankle is a bigger deal than for any other player.  It’s amazing how injuries and special teams have affected the Niners season so much just 5 games in. 

Before the injury the Niners special teams actually had the play of the game when they blocked a field goal attempt and returned it for the first touchdown of the game.  I should have known a disaster was coming after that.  Have to give Mitch Wishnowsky credit for making his one attempt.  I always wonder why punters don’t practice field goals and kickers don’t practice punts.  They don’t have to be good at the other kick, just competent so they can fill in after an injury. It’s not like they have anything else to do.   

Special teams and injuries are not the only ongoing issues the 49ers are having.  Their red zone offense has been terrible all season.  In this game I believe they were 1 for 7 in the red zone.  That is terrible.  They had a nice TD pass to Kittle on a simple slant play but that was it.  You would think he would be a very good option down there.  He has 3 TDs, which is only one off the league lead but the Niners are in the red zone so much, 3 is a small number.  Their biggest problem in the red zone is their inability to run the ball down there.  It seems over and over again they have a run stuffed at the line of scrimmage and end up in a bad position where the other team then knows they are going to pass.  I know not having CMC is a factor but other teams don’t have him either.  They should not be 30th in the league.  If they are going to make any kind of noise this season, they have to figure this out.  They get to the red zone so much they should be one of the highest scoring teams in the league. 

Speaking of the running game, it was pretty nonexistent in this game.  Mason ended up with only 89 yards because he only had 14 carries.  He averaged 6.4 a carry. Which is very good.  The Niners just seemed determined to take advantage of the Cards pass defense.  Getting away from what they usually do may not have been the best idea.  But then if it wasn’t for turnovers and an injured kicker, they would have scored more.  They usually shoot for a balanced attack, it was odd seeing them stay away from the run, especially in the first half.  Of course, the biggest play in the running game was Mason’s fumble.  The Niners were in position to put the game away with a touchdown or to force The Cards to get a TD with a field goal and they came away with nothing. 

The passing game was OK but had its issues.  The biggest of which were the two tipped balls that were intercepted.  More Niners bad luck to have neither of them hit the turf.  The last one obviously ended the game but first one changed all the momentum after the Niners held the Cards to a 3 and out coming out of halftime.  Giving a team that was struggling on the road a big boost like that can really change things. The turnovers kept giving the Cardinals hope and that’s the last thing you want a visiting team, especially a bad one, to have.  

Brandon Aiyuk had his break out game with 8 catches for 147. Some of them being really nice grabs.   Hopefully this means he is finally in mid-season form.   Kittle also had a very good game.  Jennings made his usual big catch as well.  Deebo had a very quiet game but there’s only so many passes to go around. 

Purdy was not his best in this one.  Even if you take out the two INTs, he started the game off throwing the ball erratically, missing guys he should have hit.  He still managed to make a lot of plays with his feet as usual.  This time it was mostly due to the coverage and not the poor play of the offensive line.  Although, McKivits still sucks and doesn’t seem to be getting any better.  When there was pressure, it seemed to always be from the left defensive end flying around the incompetent right tackle.  The rest of the line I thought played pretty well in this one. 

On the defensive side of the ball, they left a lot to be desired.  They only made one big play, the Bosa interception, all game.  They had just 1 sack and only 4 tackles for loss, 2 of them by Bosa.  They missed 12 tackles and could not stop the run.  I keep telling people their run defense sucks.  They kept Conner in check in the first half but he blew up in the second half.  And as usual, they struggle mightily against running QBs. It wouldn’t happen until the Super Bowl but if they ever have to play Baltimore, they might give up 100 points.  I thought the secondary played well except for the safeties missing 4 tackles.  Their inability to get regular pressure on QBs who don’t play for the Patriots, is starting to hurt the defense.  The Niners could really use a bye week to figure some of these things out. 

Some quick notes…

–I hate the white pants!  They should always wear the gold pants.  I was so happy when they brought them back way back when.  Stay away from the white pants.

–This was my first time hearing Tom Brady call a game.  I thought he was pretty good.  Especially since it’s only his 5^th game or so.  He does need to stop calling it the “red area” and call it the “Red Zone”. 

–It was the hottest game in the history of Levi’s Stadium and because the Niners have such bad luck, they played a team from the desert.  Couldn’t have played Buffalo or Green Bay or someone from a cold city.  Nope.  I’m surprised the Cardinals weren’t wearing coats on the sidelines. 

–The Niners say they will try out 4 kickers today with Moody down.  Have to wonder what Robbie Gould is up to these days.    

It’s been more of the same for the Niners.  It’s not really one thing that keeps killing them, it’s something different every week, except for the injuries.  Their next game is Thursday night in Seattle.  In my season preview I called this game a schedule loss.  They can’t afford that now.  It’s a huge game now.  There is still plenty of time to right the ship and make a good playoff run.  As bad as they are playing, if they win on Thursday, they will be tied for first.