Week 5 Matchups to Watch: 49ers at Cardinals

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers travel to Arizona in week 5 following two straight home defeats, facing the undefeated Cardinals. Division games are always important, and this one shapes up to be extra important for the 49ers as another loss would put them in an early hole for a playoff run, at 3 games back from the Cardinals and 2 back from the Rams. While I will stop short of calling this a must win game so early in the season, the 49ers don't want to find themselves losing any more ground on the division leaders heading into their bye week. 

Making matters more interesting, Kyle Shanahan today confirmed that 3rd overall pick Trey Lance will make his starting debut at QB against the Cardinals in place of injured starter Jimmy Garoppolo. Going into a big game against an undefeated team with your backup QB would normally be a significant handicap, and that may well prove true in this game. But an optimist may point out that Jimmy G has been less than stellar through 3.5 games this year, while Lance offers an exciting (if somewhat raw) skill set and the Cardinals will have very little film to study on how the 49ers may utilise his skills, which may provide some form of advantage. 

Here are the matchups I will be watching in this one.

Trey Lance/ Kyle Shanahan vs Cardinals defense/ Vance Joseph. This is an obvious one - everyone will be watching how Trey Lance fares. Vance Joseph is an experienced coach in the NFL and will no doubt be wanting to test the 49ers rookie QB by stressing his ability to read coverages and applying plenty of pressure. Kyle Shanahan on the other hand will likely be wanting to utilise the running game as much as possible (including Lance's ability to run) and give Lance as many easy throws as he can. 

In the second half against the Seahawks Shanahan used the pistol formation extensively, providing Lance the opportunity to keep his eyes on the defense and make use of the read option. I expect we will see a lot of that again this week. In preseason when Lance was in the game the 49ers also used a lot of 3 WR sets, which can help open up running lanes. We also saw Shanahan often look to take some big shots early on when Lance came into games in preseason, and I wouldn't be surprised if we that again this week to try and take advantage of an aggressive Cardinals defense. 

The Cardinals on the other hand have one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL, ranking second last in terms of yards per carry, but have been very opportunistic against the pass. If Joseph and the Cardinals defense can force this one into a shoot out you have to imagine that will play right into the Cardinals hands. Lance and the 49ers have to get the run game going to avoid this.

49ers pass rush vs Kyler Murray. The 49ers pass rush was dynamite early on against the Seahawks, forcing multiple 3 and outs. They struggled a bit down the stretch as quick offensive turnovers and STs mistakes, as well as some key defensive penalties, failed to give the 49ers defense much rest. A common theme in the Seahawks scoring drives though was Russell Wilson using his legs to escape the pocket and pick up yards running, which has been an issue for the 49ers defense for years. Kyler Murray is an even more explosive runner than Wilson and it will be crucial for the 49ers defense to not only generate pressure on him, but to also not allow him to repeatedly beat them with his legs. This of course is much easier said than done, as almost all defenses struggle with Murray's elusiveness, but it is a key matchup in this one. 

49ers secondary vs Cardinals receivers. Last week the 49ers banged up secondary did a pretty good job containing the Seahawks excellent receiving group. It doesn't get any easier this week though with DeAndre Hopkins, Christian Kirk, AJ Green and Rondale Moore providing Murray with a dynamic group well suited to Kingsbury's air raid offense that should stress the 49ers secondary. Marrying the coverage with the pass rush will be vital to slowing down the Cardinals number 1 ranked offense and giving the Trey Lance and the 49ers offense a chance to stay in and win the game.