Week 11 Game Preview: 49ers @ Cardinals

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers are off to Mexico to face the Cardinals on Monday Night Football. This is technically a home game for the Cardinals, but early reports indicate more than 80% of tickets have been sold to 49ers fans, adding Estadio Azteca to Levi's Stadium and SoFi Stadium as part of the ever expanding list of 49ers home fields.

This game has added importance for the 49ers. Not only is it a division game, giving the 49ers a chance to take their division record to 4-0, but a win on Monday will see the 49ers move ahead of the Seahawks into first place in the NFC West courtesy of head to head and division record (with the Seahawks having the bye this week so remaining at 6W-4L this week). 

On the injury front, the 49ers appear to have come out of the Chargers game without any new injuries. However, based on practice participation this week, it also appears none of the players that missed the Chargers game will be ready in time for the Cardinals, meaning the DL will remain relatively thin. For the Cardinals, QB Kyler Murray is the big question mark as he has been a limited participant this week due to a lingering hamstring strain. If he can't go the 49ers will be facing Colt McCoy. DeAndre Hopkins also found himself on the injury report this week with a hamstring issue though the Cardinals have downplayed the severity and it sounds like he should be fine to play. The Cardinals also opened the return from IR for Hollywood Brown who, if active, could provide a downfield element the team has been sorely lacking.

Regardless of whether Murray plays the 49ers should be capable of winning this game. The While the Cardinals have played most games pretty close this season, their only wins have been against bad teams (Raiders, Panthers, Saints and Rams without Stafford). Much has been written about the mounting pressure on Kliff Kingsbury - enough so that GM Steve Keim gave him the dreaded public vote of confidence a week ago. The 49ers should be good enough to add to that pressure. 

The Cardinals main weakness has been the passing game on both offense and defense. They are allowing just shy of a 70% completion rate on the season, contributing to their 22nd ranked net yards per attempt allowed. Part of the issue for the Cardinals defense has been an inability to turn pass rush pressure into sacks - despite posting solid team-wide pass rush win rates and pressure rates, they only have 19 sacks in 10 games. Another part of the issue has been getting players to ground. The Cardinals rank dead last in the NFL in yards allowed after the catch (6.2) and will be coming up against the league best YAC team in the 49ers (6.9).

On offense they have struggled to push the ball down the field leading to a 31st ranked NY/A of just 5.2. As mentioned above, the return of Hollywood Brown could help tremendously in opening the passing game up for the Cardinals and is something the 49ers will need to be wary of if he is active. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the 49ers move Charvarius Ward around to have him marking Hopkins most of the game.  

Given the issues in coverage the Cardinals have had it will be interesting to see how they choose to defend the 49ers. If they play the run aggressively like recent 49ers opponents it could expose their main vulnerability, especially with DBs Byron Murphy and Budda Baker banged up. If they look to defend the pass it could give the 49ers a big advantage on the ground. I suspect that like previous opponents they will lean towards making Jimmy Garoppolo beat them through the air and this could be a big opportunity for the YAC brothers to rack up some explosive plays. 

If Jimmy G continues to play the way he has been in recent weeks this feels like a game the 49ers should win pretty handily. But the Cardinals in recent seasons have made life difficult for the 49ers and it wouldn't be a surprise if this game ends up being a lot closer than it should be.