Week 14 Brings Victory Over a Good Team

Considering how badly Dallas lost last night against the Giants, I'm not sure they qualify. But the 49ers, for all their recent struggles, are still 10-3, thanks to Arizona beating them 21-19.

The Cardinals won despite Kolb getting a concussion from an inadverdent knee to the head on the first drive. Despite Skelton coming in and throwing two picks, plus losing a fumble on a scramble. Despite forcing no turnovers of their own. Despite Beanie Well gaining only 27 yards on 15 carries. Despite losing time of possession in the first half 22 minutes to 8, which put them on pace for a near repeat of the last go-round, when the Niners held the ball over 44 minutes.

The Cardinals won because Skelton did manage to complete 19 of 28 passes for about 280 yards and 3 TDs. His receivers did a lot of the work after the catch, with Early Doucet getting a 60-yard reception, and Fitzgerald a 49-yarder, as part of his 7 catches, 149 yards. Skelton also managed 25 yards on 6 carries, easily the most productive Cards' runner. The defense may not have gotten any takeaways, but they did sack Alex Smith 5 times, and he completed less than half of his passes. The Cardinals also got lucky by calling a challenge right before the Niners ran a fake punt that looked like it would produce a huge gain, possibly a TD. The challenge never got going, because the replay equipment was messed up, but it killed the Niners element of surprise, and lead them to try a 50-yard field goal instead. The defense also held the Niners to field goals on three separate occasions when they were inside the 10, though to be fair,, san Fran has had that problem all season.

They also had some help from some curious Niners' play calling. San Francisco hasn't been as run heavy as the tebow-lead Broncos, but they do tend to minimize Smith's pass attempts. Yesterday he threw 37 times (completing 18), and Frank gore ran only 10 times, despite getting 72 yards and a TD on those carries. Well, having seen the Cardinals shoot themselves in the foot for not running enough when they're having success, I'm glad to see another team make the same mistake.

Now there are people discussing playoff scenarios for Arizona, which, let's not go nuts here. They'd have to get in as a wildcard, and currently Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, the Giants, and Dallas are all ahead of them, and Seattle will be if it beats the Rams tonight. I'm just enjoying the victories and the fact that in his fifth season, Whisenhunt might finally have put together a defense.