Going into monday nights matchup between the Dolphins and the Steelers, Miami informed Drake to stay in Miami, insinuating that Drake would be traded. Drake was traded to Arizona for a 6th round pick that can be changed to a 5th round pick. Thursday night, Drake would make his debut against San Francisco and their tough nose defense. However, Jimmy Garoppolo had other plans.
Kenyan Drake Off to a Hot Start
On the first drive, Drake proved his worth to Arizona. He took the ball 3 times for 41 yards and opened up the game and his Arizona account with an early score. Drake never had higher than 44 yards rushing in a game all season in Miami. He almost topped that during the opening drive. His only touchdown on the season actually came during this game. That’s a great way to welcome yourself into the desert.
We are just 1 game into his Arizona career, but we can already see that Arizona won this trade.
Drake ended the night with a season high 162 total yards (110 rushing, 52 receiving) averaging over 7 yards per carry on the night.
A Timeout in the First Half Proved Costly
With :04 left in the first half and the 49ers held to fourth and goal, Jeff Wilson was stuffed in the back field and Arizona had a major stop. However, shortly before the snap, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury called a timeout. This negated the fourth down stop. After the time out, Garoppolo threw a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders to go up 21 – 7. Those 7 points cost them in the end.
Jimmy Garoppolo Had a Career Night
The 49ers offense got into a slow start, however they got rolling pretty quick starting at the end of the first quarter. Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense ended up having one hell of a game. Garoppolo ended the night going 28 for 37 and 300+ yards with 4 scores. No other quarterback has put up those numbers in San Francisco since 2000. This was the night that Garoppolo proved he was worth the second round pick he was given up for in 2017.
George Kittle muscled his way into the endzone to open up the 49ers offense. In addition, Emmanuel Sanders proved he was worth the trade by leading the San Francisco offense with 7 catches for 112 yards with 1 score. That is the most he’s had all season.
Matt Breida led the San Francisco rushing attack going for 78 yards on 15 carries. Tevin Coleman was nonexistent all game averaging 1.9 yards per carry on 12 carries. However, its difficult to get two running backs in rhythm when your passing attack is the best it’s been in 2 decades.
49ers Have a Tough Road Ahead
The 49ers were lucky to escape this game with a win (W, 28 – 25), no matter how good Garoppolo played, the Cardinals hurt themselves multiple times. They are about to embark on a brutal stretch to remain undefeated and hold onto the division lead. San Francisco is lucky to play Green Bay at home. Playing at Lambeau field in November would be almost a guarantee loss. Then, they follow that match up by traveling to Baltimore and then New Orleans. Both teams have completely different style offenses to prepare for, making any defense struggle to find key match ups. In addition, they still have to play divisional rivals Seattle twice, as well as host Arizona and Los Angeles (Rams) one more time.
Above all, if the 49ers can get past this brutal stretch as a top seeded NFC team, they will be my pick to play in Super Bowl LIV. They have the defense to do it. However, can their offense — with a now more polished passing attack and a steady run game — build off of tonight? This was the first time since 2017 that Garoppolo has passed for over 300 yards. Above all, it’s all about getting hot at the right time.
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