San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Playbook
Brock Purdy may be minting a dark horse MVP candidacy early on this season, but the 49ers quarterback might as well be running to be president of the United States.
It’s already like he’s being protected by the Secret Service.
Purdy has hardly hit the ground, or been hit at all, through two weeks.
Once thought to be a potential problem area, the Niners’ offensive line has been anything but. In fact, the group is already making its case as one of the best in franchise history.
On Sunday, as the Niners seek their fourth 3-0 start since 2019 against the Arizona Cardinals, they’ll also be trying to keep their QB upright for the third consecutive contest.
Thirty one teams in the NFL allowed their quarterback to be sacked in Weeks 1 and 2. The average QB has been hit and gone down behind the line of scrimmage 4.7 times.
Purdy, of course, has been far from average — and so have the five blockers in front of him.
Anchored by Trent Williams at left tackle, San Francisco has already separated itself from the rest of the league as the only group not to surrender a sack yet this season. It’s already a franchise first — every previous Niners team had allowed at least one sack by Week 2.
Left guard Connor Colby was the question mark, only anointed the starter when he took the field for the 49ers’ opening drive in Week 1, but has more than held his own.
Although Colby started six games as a rookie last season, coach Kyle Shanahan said the past two weeks have “probably been his two most consistent games.” He is responsible for only two of the 12 pressures the 49ers have allowed, while the group as a whole ranks behind only the Colts in Pro Football Focus’ pass-blocking efficiency metric.
With their 2-0 start, the 49ers improved to 17-4 under Shanahan when not allowing a sack.
They’re in position to enter even more rarefied air against the Cardinals.
Their defense ranked fourth from the bottom last season in sacks, with only 10 more than the last-place 49ers (20), and have been in the bottom our in two of defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’ first three seasons. It’s been more of the same in Year 4, with four sacks and a 21% pressure rate that both rank in the bottom-third of the league through two weeks.
Arizona has dialed up blitzes on only 16.1% of snaps, the fourth-lowest rate in the league.
All would seem to bode well for the 49ers extending their perfect protection streak. If they don’t allow a sack against the Cardinals, they would become only the eighth team since 1970 to begin a season with three straight weeks with a clean sack column on the stat sheet.
Six of the previous seven went on to make the playoffs.
Four of the 49ers’ teams of the 1970s went three games without allowing a sack at any point in the season, but no team has done it since or ever extended the streak to four games.
Still, they have a long way to go if they’re going to enter the NFL record books. The 1988 Miami Dolphins went an astonishing 12 straight games without allowing a sack of Dan Marino.
Purdy wears No. 13 because of Marino; turns out that isn’t the only thing they have in common.
Marquee matchup: TE Trey McBride vs. 49ers LBs
Raheem Morris so far hasn’t had to scheme for a tight end the caliber of McBride, a two-time Pro Bowler named a first-team All-Pro last season. The 6-foot-4 caused problems when they faced off in Week 11 of last year, hauling in 10 catches for 115 yards and a score, but he was primarily matched up against Dee Winters, Nick Martin and Curtis Robinson. He’ll be met with an entirely different challenge in Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw and rookie Jaden Dugger. McBride led all tight ends with 4.6 yards after the catch last season; the Seahawks still allowed him to catch the ball eight times in their 31-7 win last week — but for only 41 total yards (15 YAC).
The score: 49ers 42, Cardinals 21
Seattle went into Arizona with its backup quarterback and tore apart Arizona’s defense for 381 yards. Now imagine what Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan will be able to do with the 49ers’ offense firing on all cylinders. After bulldozing through the first two teams on their schedule — and with the transcontinental opening to the season officially behind them — there are no excuses for the Niners not to extend their red-hot start with a third win of 20-plus points.
4 Downs
Keys to the game
THIRD DOWN: The 49ers had to wait until the second half to pull away from the Dolphins because their offense only got two possessions before halftime. They’ll have to get better at getting off the field so that Purdy and Co. can get to work. Jacoby Brissett may not make many big plays, but he isn’t going to give the ball up, either, with the lowest interception rate on record in the NFL (1.4%), so getting stops will be paramount.
FINISH DRIVES: Through two games, the 49ers have scored as many touchdowns in the red zone as the Cardinals have trips. Just one of San Francisco’s visits to the red zone haven’t ended in touchdowns, the best rate in the NFL, whereas Arizona has had to settle for three points on half its red-zone drives, bottom-10 in the league. The Niners have allowed opponents inside their 20 five times but yielded only one touchdown.
GET CMC INVOLVED: Impressive as it’s been for the 49ers to win so handedly without much in the way of Christian McCaffrey, the all-purpose back is due for a big game. McCaffrey has totaled 154 yards from scrimmage without appearing on more than 55.4% of the 49ers’ offensive snaps in either of their first two games. His usage has never been so curtailed in consecutive games since joining the 49ers, setting him up to explode against the Cardinals, who allowed Seattle to rush for 162 yards last week.
‘MANAGE’ MIKE EVANS: Evans’ instant connection with Purdy has been a difference-maker in the 49ers’ passing game, but the 33-year-old veteran left last Sunday’s game with a hip injury that Kyle Shanahan said the team would need to “manage” this week in practice. If Evans is unable to go, Purdy would be left without four of the receivers he had at the start of training camp, most notably the one he has a 142.9 passer rating when targeting for 9-of-10 passing and 103 yards. Jacob Cowing, KhaDeral Hodge and Jordan Watkins are already going to be asked to step up. Evans could have a field day against the Cardinals’ secondary, or Deebo Samuel may have to rewind the clock and put on his best Jaxon Smith-Njigba impersonation.
