The 49ers got a Week 1 takeaway from Renardo Green, and the rookie corner didn’t hide how he saw it. In San Francisco’s 27-7 win over the Rams, Green picked off Matthew Stafford after jumping an out-route intended for Puka Nacua, and he came away feeling like Stafford never fully accounted for him.
“I knew the way I played it, I knew he (Stafford) didn’t see me, and even if he did, he didn’t think I could get to it,” Green said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “He underestimated my abilities and what I could do, and he paid for it. I sunk under it and made a play on the ball.”
Kyle Shanahan said Green’s performance fit the growth the 49ers had been waiting to see from him. The coach pointed to the work Green put in throughout the offseason, along with the hamstring issue that delayed his practice time until this week.
“He was one of the guys I was most excited about this year just in terms of taking such a big step from the year before and he had that hamstring which set him back and he wasn’t able to (practice) until this week,” Shanahan said. “He was working all week to get up and for him to be healthy enough to play it through that game, make it through the game without getting an injury and to play at the level he did I thought was huge.”
In Arizona, Carson Beck is opening the year third on the Cardinals’ quarterback depth chart after going in the third round of this year’s draft, but the team is keeping him plugged in. Mike LaFleur said the Cardinals are making sure Beck stays ready, even with limited reps.
“We are making sure that Carson is connected with it,” LaFleur said, via Darren Urban of the team’s site. “Regardless, even if we had not done that, the other thing we do with the potential inactives and practice squad guys, the guys that don’t get a ton of reps with their side, they stay after practice in that 5-to-10 minute window where, in Carson’s case, he can spot-throw through the script. You try to keep him as connected because as you know you are one or two plays away.”
LaFleur also explained why Gardner Minshew is the No. 2 quarterback behind him. Experience, he said, is the deciding factor.
“We talked to Gardner,” LaFleur said. “Gardner has played a lot of football and Carson hasn’t.
As you are trying to develop these guys we just thought it was right to do that. Had Gardner been a second-year guy and was the No. 2, we probably wouldn’t be doing this.”
In Other News...
Cardinals Enter Seahawks Test With One Lineup Concern Still Hanging Over Them
The Cardinals head into their NFC West matchup with Seattle carrying at least one familiar question on the offensive line, even as both teams worked through the usual Week 2 injury-report churn. Arizonas attention has been on right guard Isaiah Adams, while the broader picture around the roster also shifted this week with safety Kitan Crawford landing on injured reserve.
Seattles report brought its own adjustments, with quarterback Sam Darnold ruled out and Drew Lock expected to take over. Both sides had players listed as limited or sitting out for rest and injury reasons, but for Arizona the real issue is whether the Cardinals can settle that line spot in time for a divisional game that rarely leaves much room for uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Dealing With Another Kei'Trel Clark Issue Before Hes Needed Again
KeiTrel Clark has already found himself on the NFLs radar once this season, and now the Cardinals cornerback is dealing with another equipment-related issue after Week 1 against the Chargers. The league fined Clark $6,651 for displaying a personal message, Glory Be 2 God, on his eyeblack, a violation of the NFL Uniform and Equipment Rules that bar unapproved personal messages from being visible on game day.
For Arizona, the timing matters because Clark is the kind of depth defender the team may need again before long, which makes any sideline distraction more noticeable than it might be on a deeper roster. It is also not his first run-in with the league over uniform compliance, as he was previously fined for wearing an unapproved black towel, leaving the Cardinals with another small but familiar issue to monitor as the season moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Seahawks Projection Shows How Tight This NFC West Battle Is
ESPN Analytics has begun laying out the Week 2 picture, and the Cardinals place in it says plenty about how little separation there is in the NFC West. The sites Matchup Predictor is rolling out win probabilities for every game on the schedule, and while some teams have clear edges on paper, this division showdown is being treated much more like a coin flip than a mismatch.
For Arizona, that kind of projection matters because every early-season divisional game can shape the race long before the calendar gets busy. The numbers around the league vary from one matchup to the next, but the takeaway for the Cardinals and Seahawks is the same: the model sees a game with very little margin, which is exactly why the outcome feels so important for both sides. [Read more 🡒]