The Cardinals left San Francisco with a 36-30 Week 3 loss, and the game handed them a little of everything: a shaky start, a late push, and a few glaring issues that helped sink them against the 49ers.
The biggest self-inflicted wound was discipline. Arizona piled up 10 penalties for 86 yards in a game that eventually came down to an onside kick.
With that kind of margin, the Cardinals simply gave away too many chances. Mike LaFleur is in his first year as head coach, but the roster has enough veterans - Josh Sweat, Budda Baker, Jacoby Brissett and Trey McBride among them - to expect cleaner football than that.
Tackling was another problem that kept showing up. Early in the game, 49ers wide out Mike Evans pitched the ball to fellow 49ers wideout Deebo Samuel Sr., and Samuel took off for the first touchdown of the afternoon.
Later, on a 3rd-and-11, Brock Purdy hit Jordan Watkins, and Cardinals cornerback Max Melton not only allowed the catch but also missed the immediate tackle. If that doesn’t get corrected, it could become a real issue against upcoming offenses like the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders, all of whom have dangerous players after the catch.
Jacoby Brissett’s day was a mixed bag, which is pretty much the story the Cardinals expected when they leaned on him. His final line - 38 completions on 52 attempts for 280 yards and two touchdowns - looks strong, but it doesn’t fully capture how sluggish the offense looked early.
Brissett’s limited mobility showed at times when the play broke down, and his accuracy still came and went. Even so, he also showed the veteran traits Arizona needs: quick processing, solid reads and enough poise to keep the offense moving.
With the schedule ahead, it still looks like the right call to keep him starting over coveted rookie Carson Beck.
There was at least one encouraging note on special teams. Simi Fehoko blocked a punt in Week 1, and against the 49ers the Cardinals recovered a muffed punt. For a team that came up short, that’s still a positive pattern worth watching.
The loss leaves Arizona with more to clean up than to celebrate, but not everything was empty. The Cardinals still found some fight late. The question now is whether they can turn the positives into something more before the next close game slips away.
In Other News...
Cardinals Fans Got An Awkward Viral Officiating Moment They Cant Ignore
The Cardinals Week 3 loss to the 49ers already had enough attention attached to it, but one strange sidelight from Levis Stadium is now living on its own. In a game San Francisco won 36-30, a viral photo captured an NFL official making awkward contact with an Arizona player while spotting the ball, turning an otherwise routine sequence into the kind of clip fans cant stop replaying.
The image quickly spread across social media, where the moment drew far more conversation than the play itself. The player involved was never identified, leaving the scene as an unresolved and uncomfortable footnote to a tight divisional game, one Cardinals fans are likely to remember for reasons that have nothing to do with the final score. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Showed Just Enough Fight To Change The Mike LaFleur Debate
The loss to the 49ers left Arizona at 1-2 and kept the divisional skid going at eight straight, but there was still enough visible fight to make the bigger conversation around Mike LaFleur a little more complicated. In a rebuilding season, the Cardinals are still learning how to compete snap to snap, and the early returns under a first-year head coach have been shaped as much by the process as by the results.
LaFleur pointed to the effort he saw Sunday while also stressing the need for patience and improvement, which is where this team now lives: somewhere between encouraging signs and the hard reality of a long climb back. The record is still the record, and the losses in the division keep piling up, but Arizona at least showed enough against San Francisco to suggest the conversation about this coaching staff is not as simple as the standings say. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Showed Fight But Two Familiar Problems Still Loom Large
The Cardinals came out of Sundays loss to San Francisco with a few things to feel better about, even if the result was the same familiar kind of frustration. Their rushing game looked livelier, with Jeremiyah Love giving the offense a real boost on the ground and adding a receiving touchdown, which at least showed Arizona can still create balance when it is not chasing the game.
But the bigger issues that have shadowed this team were still there in full view. Arizona had trouble keeping Brock Purdy under control, gave up too much through the air and never consistently generated pressure of its own, and the 10 penalties only added to the mess. Even after a late onside kick recovery kept the game alive, the Cardinals could not quite erase the sense that the margin for error remains thin while those problems linger. [Read more 🡒]