The Cardinals had a chance to change their recent Monday night luck, but it didn’t look good early. And it didn’t look good late. For that matter, it wasn’t pretty in-between either! The 49ers turned the ball over three times, and the two teams combined for 20 penalties in an often ugly, but wildly entertaining MNF game.
On the opening kickoff, Allen Rossum returned Neil Rackers’s 74 yard kick 104 yards for a touchdown and Cards fans couldn’t help but think “here we go again!”
The Cardinals were only able to must together one touchdown and two field goals in the first half and found themselves down 21-13 at halftime.
However, Kurt Warner led the Cardinals offensive onslaught in the second half resulting in two touchdowns and a field goal to give them the lead with 4:16 remaining in the game. The Cardinals couldn’t complete the 2-point conversion and led the Niners by just 5 points, 29-24.
The 49ers were able to make it all the way to the Cardinals 1 yard line with 21 seconds remaining after Shaun Hill spiked the ball on 1st down to stop the clock. Frank Gore seemed to break a tackle with the waters parting in front of him leading to the Promised Land. However Gore was unable to stay on his feet before crawling into the end zone. The play was reviewed, and it was confirmed that Gore was down by contact on the 2 yard line with four seconds remaining in the game.
Michael Robinson then tried to run up the middle but was stopped at the 1 yard line to seal the victory for the Cards.
Kurt Warner didn’t let up in his MVP chase, throwing for 328 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions on 32-43 passing. Sean Breaston was the recipient of 7 of those receptions for a game high 121 yards. Anquan Boldin caught 7 passes as well for 92 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 4:16 remaining in the game. Larry Fitzgerald caught 8 balls for 49 yards and the other Cardinals TD.
Linebacker Karlos Dansby led the Cards defensive effort with 10 tackles and an interception.
Josh Morgan and Vernon Davis both caught touchdown passes from San Francisco QB Shaun Hill.
The Cardinals padded their already large lead in the NFC West, improving to 6-3. Up next Arizona will face the 2-7 Seattle Seahawks Sunday in Seattle.
[...] team would bounce back once again, winning three straight against lowly division foes, the Rams, 49ers, and [...]