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For the 2014 season, the undefeated 3-0 Cardinals, again were involved of a story of two halves.
Starting off with the ball the Cardinals offense came out firing and was able to drive down on the opening possession and score a field goal. While it wasn’t a touchdown, it was a promising drive against a top defense.
However the 49ers responded going coast-to-coast with a no huddle offense that caught the defense in a bad matchup and ultimately allowing the 49ers to score a TD on their first possession. Arizona responded with another long drive but were find pay dirt in the end zone settling for a field goal.
The 49ers started their second series firing again on all cylinders, including several back-breaking scrambles by Colin Kaepernick. The Niners drove down the field again, dinking and dunking in the pass game, setting up a TD run by rookie Carlos Hyde.
From the first half it appeared that the Niners had found the Cardinals weakness and were not letting up on it. In the first half the Niners had a drive of 5+ minutes and 8+ minutes, eating up most of the first half and leading 14-6 at the half
It looked grim as the offense wasn’t scoring and the defense was wilting.
But as the Cardiac Cardinals do under Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles, the team adjusted beautifully in the second half taking control of the game. The defense was able to hold the Niners to a punt their opening possession of the second half. The offense responded with a beautiful drive the lead to a Drew Stanton, John Brown 24 yard TD putting the Cardinals behind 14-13.
On the ensuing Niners drive the defense came up big again, stopping the 49ers from doing anything and again the offense responded with another Stanton to Jo. Brown TD, Brown’s second of the day and third on the season.
From there on out it was the defense in control, continually coming up with big plays and huge stops. The offense however, deciding the game was getting to lopsided in favor of the Cardinals decided to repeat history with an incredibly untimely fumble by Larry Fitzgerald.
But the defense did its thing and kept the 49ers off the scoreboard and got the Cardinals the ball back with enough time to run off the clock and put a nail in the coffin with a 35 yard field goal from rookie sensation Chandler Catanzaro.
On the day Drew Stanton played excellently as he was afforded plenty of time to pass thanks to a beautiful performance by the offensive line. Michael Floyd had a huge game with 114 yards on just five receptions. The defensive player of the game was Tony Jefferson, coming up with 10 total tackles, a sack, and a TFL. Tyrann Mathieu also saw extended play and ended the game with six tackles.