Do you want to know what one of the worst things about this job is?
The Arizona Cardinals.
There's something depressing about watching a player as good as Larry Fitzgerald wasted. Something depressing about watching a team that plays in such an ill-disciplined fashion. And at times there's something depressing about watching a team that just doesn't seem to care.
The 49ers may have won this, but it owed so much to how poor the opposition were you can't read whether they've turned the corner (as we've thought so often before) or just beaten one of the league's worst teams. Still, somehow they remain playoff contenders. What a weird year.
49ers: Three performances of note
It was a good day for the 49ers' drafting personnel, as both first-round picks had big days in the run game. Mike Iupati (+2.5) gave up two quarterback pressures, but was supreme with run blocking once again — thus continuing to look like the best lineman from this year's draft and an outside contender for Rookie of the Year. But we've come to expect that from Iupati. What was more surprising was the display of Anthony Davis (-0.2), who let himself down with his run blocking, but showed tremendous improvement with his pass protection in allowing just two quarterback disruptions. 49ers fans got a look at their offensive line of the future and it looked punishing.
There were so many good performances on defense it's hard to know where to start. We'll give Nate Clements (+3.0) some props for allowing just two of the six passes thrown his way to be complete while breaking up two in one of those all-too-infrequent glimpses of why the 49ers paid so much money for him. Clements did this against a bad quarterback, so let's see what he can do when he visits Lambeau and Aaron Rodgers‘ Green Bay Packers.
So we're left with one spot to fill and I hate talking about either Justin Smith (+5.5) or Patrick Willis (+4.1), but they're just so damn good I have to! I'm going to talk about Smith this week who, as always, had too much power for the opposition's interior to deal with. He ended the day with six quarterback disruptions in another display of his brilliance.
Cardinals: Three peformances of note
Arizona needs to find a way to get Clark Haggans (-8.6) off the field. So he managed a sack (which came unblocked) and a pressure, that doesn't excuse getting absolutely manhandled in the run game. And it doesn't excuse giving up three penalties (plus what very easily could have been a fourth) as the Cardinals' outside linebacker seemed intent on making up for his poor performance by dishing out some out-of-line hits. He needs to visit the bench, because he's done.
And two players who we've long been disappointed by continue their ways. Levi Brown (-3.1) was once picked before Adrian Peterson, Willis and Darrelle Revis in the same draft. Amazing then that he can't handle speed rushers and was abused for most of this day. Just another day for Brown, who gave up five quarterback disruptions, which is just one more than the equally terrible Alan Faneca (-3.0).
And what of Derek Anderson (+0.1)? The sometimes-laughing, sometimes-swearing Cardinals quarterback continues to reinforce the notion that he just can't handle pressure, completing only 36.4 percent of passes when it got to him. Simply put, you couldn't pick a worse option at quarterback given the state of that offensive line, yet Arizona strangely did and is reaping the “benefits” now.
Rookie report
Phillip Adams (-0.1) saw 17 snaps in the dime package, giving up two of the four balls thrown at him. … Tight end Nate Byham (+0.4) looked solid.
Tight end Jim Dray (+0.0) was largely invisible in his 16 plays. … Andre Roberts (-0.1) caught both of the balls thrown his way. … Dan Williams (+1.3) continues to impress and held up well at the point of attack. He even added a couple of QB pressures to go with his six tackles. He needs to be on the field more. … The same goes for Daryl Washington (+1.3), who looked impressive when he came on near the end. Right now he makes more plays than either inside linebacker.
Random note
The Cardinals managed to break up only one pass (that's one less than Clements). … Brian Westbrook got 53.96 percent of his yards after contact.
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