49ers game grades from deflating Week 9 loss to Cardinals
By Peter Panacy
49ers Linebackers
Linebacker Fred Warner continued to assert himself as the 49ers’ leading tackler, adding 14 more during the game. But even he wasn’t enough to stop the Cardinals from featuring No. 2 running back James Conner to great effect throughout the game.
Conner had 96 yards rushing, 77 yards receiving and three all-purpose touchdowns during the game, a career-high for him after Arizona lost Chase Edmonds early in the game.
If there was a culprit, it was depth linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who was a regular victim of missed tackles in the game following what’s been a solid year three for the former undrafted free agent.
In total, the Cardinals were able to muster 163 yards rushing throughout the contest even though they were still regularly passing in the fourth quarter after putting the game away, meaning those rush yards weren’t entirely based upon the volume carries teams often get when they’re up big.
No, the Niners linebackers didn’t offer much of anything by way of a solution to Arizona’s makeshift offense, and it’ll be a long week for Warner and Co. to figure out what’s wrong.