49ers squeak out eighth straight win, beat Cardinals on Thursday Night Football

There were storylines galore coming into this Week 9 Thursday Night Football matchup, as the San Francisco 49ers took on the Arizona Cardinals. The biggest question was, could the Niners stay undefeated?

It wasn’t an ideal way for the San Francisco 49ers to start Week 9 on Thursday Night Football, but it’s what we’ve grown accustomed to. The now 8-0 Niners managed to sneak out a tough 28-25 victory on the road in Arizona against the surprisingly tough Cardinals.

The defense was facing a new running back for the Cardinals in Kenyan Drake, who got traded to the desert on Monday from the Miami Dolphins.

Drake broke free on his first touch of the game for 36 yards and capped off the Cardinals only scoring drive of the first half with a touchdown.

That was all the Cardinals could muster up as the rest of the half was taken over by the 49ers, who held a 21-7 lead entering halftime.

The opening drive for San Francisco had the Faithful holding their breath, while tight end George Kittle was down favoring his knee. In the midst of the play the 49ers were running, Kittle was hit by a helmet of an Arizona defender, causing some serious discomfort. Throughout the first half, Kittle was nursing the injury but he was able to continue.

Thank goodness he was able to return, because he scored this beauty touchdown to end the first quarter:

The 49ers were able to force the Cardinals into 2nd-and stupidly long, when linebacker Fred Warner almost picked off Arizona quarterback Kyle Murray. On the following possession for the Jimmy Garoppolo-lead offense, he found wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders for a lengthy 39-yard catch and run.

Jimmy G capped off the drive with this touchdown to Kendrick Bourne:

The final 49ers drive of the first half was exciting, to say the least. Running back Matt Breida took off for a 31-yard run to bring the Niners into Arizona territory. A few plays later, Garoppolo fell backwards after getting stepped on, but still managed to toss the pigskin to Breida who rumbled his way for a 19-yard gain. When it looked like the drive would stall, a pass interference call on Arizona brought the Niners closer to extending the lead.

Garoppolo stayed calm under pressure and fired a sure touchdown pass to wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Unfortunately, Samuel dropped the ball.

Shortly after, the 49ers were at the goal line with just seconds left in the half. The first play they ran was stuffed, but Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury called a timeout literally a second before the play.

Boy, he probably wanted that one back, because if you give Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and Garoppolo another chance to score, they will:

It was a pretty quiet start to the second half for both squads. Though the third quarter started better for Arizona than the Niners wanted. Murray found wide receiver KeeSean Johnson for a 9-yard Cardinals touchdown, bringing the desert birds closer, 21-14.

On the 49ers’ second drive of the half, it was just as thrilling as their final drive in the first half. Garoppolo found Kittle for a 23-yard gain. A few plays later, running Tevin Coleman romped his way through the Cardinals defense but fumbled the ball, or so fans thought. After watching the replay, it was ruled Coleman was clearly down by contact.

It was an important call, because five plays later, Garoppolo found wide receiver Dante Pettis for a 21-yard touchdown:

It’s fair to say San Francisco was facing a very different Cardinals offense than years past. Of course their quarterback, Murray, who went first overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, followed by EDGE Nick Bosa. It was also coordinator Robert Saleh and the Niners defense’s first time seeing Drake. And, boy oh boy, did it show.

To end the third quarter and to begin the fourth, the Cardinals ran a 13-play, 75-yard drive which ended in a Zane Gonzalez field goal. That drive kept the defense on the field for almost seven minutes!

The “bend but don’t break” 49ers were lucky to keep the Cardinals to just three points, making it 28-17.

After the 49ers failed to do anything on their next possession, Arizona took advantage. Murray found rookie wide receiver Andy Isabella for an 88-yard touchdown on one play. Drake capped off the drive with a two-point convert, allowing the Cardinals to be down 28-25 with less than five minutes to go in the game.

It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but the 49ers did it, thanks to some key third-down conversions to run out the clock. They stay unbeaten in the 2019 season and have guaranteed themselves a non-losing season for the first time in years.

Next on the schedule is another prime-time game, when they host the surging Seattle Seahawks in another all important divisional match.