The San Francisco 49ers hit the road in NFL football action Sunday when they take on the Arizona Cardinals. The game is scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on FOX. Currently the odds for the game have the 49ers favored by a field goal on the road.
San Francisco heads into this game with division rival Arizona looking to pick up the pieces from last week. The 49ers opened their new stadium against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football and blew a double digit lead with a quarter and a half left to go. Those final minutes made San Francisco look pretty poor on both sides of the football.
Arizona sits in first place, having already won their opening two games of the season. They've been +3 in the turnover department through two games while the 49ers are even. San Francisco forced Dallas into several turnovers in the opening week, but committed four themselves against the Bears, leading to the loss.
San Francisco also was very bad last week in regards to penalties — they rushed for only 11 yards more (129 total) than they had penalty yards. The 49ers are a team not used to beating themselves and making mistakes, but last week they did both against Chicago.
Carson Palmer didn't play last week for Arizona, but Drew Stanton did his part in leading the Cardinals to a win. Palmer once again won't play in this contest and Stanton will make his second straight start for the Cardinals.
With Stanton starting, expect the 49ers to be more aggressive defensively. Jim Harbaugh's club has won nine of the last 10 games over Arizona and covered the number in eight of those 10 games. But this year's 49er defense is battling injuries, suspensions and being inconsistent. While they played great against Dallas, the final quarter and a half against the Bears was awful.
Colin Kaepernick and San Francisco will have to run the football to win this game. Arizona has been one of the best teams against the run this year, however, but they've stopped both San Diego and New York in their opening two games. The Cardinals are surrendering just 66.5 rushing yards per game to opponents, but San Francisco SHOULD be able to get past that number.
If they can, the 49ers have a great chance of winning this game. It should be a lower-scoring affair between two clubs with solid defenses. Look for the 49ers to find a way to get back on the right track.
Free Pick: San Francisco 23, Arizona 17
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