Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers: Full Report Card Grades for Arizona
Last season, the Arizona Cardinals fell to the San Francisco 49ers on the final week of the year, dropping them to 10-6 to narrowly miss the playoffs. This season, they had already punched their ticket to January football when Week 17 rolled around, but the loss to the 49ers still stings.
The defense has taken a step back at the wrong time of year, and injuries continue to hamper the team in all aspects of the game. Though quarterback Ryan Lindley threw his first two career touchdowns and made some great throws—not just good throws, he made great throws—throughout the game, turnovers plagued him at inopportune times, ultimately costing the Cardinals a win.
At this point, it almost seems unnecessary to grade what amounts to a meaningless loss, but let's dive right in because we enjoy cruel and unusual punishment and care too much about this team to let it go.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Ryan Lindley had all the time he needed to find receivers throughout the game, which helped him get off to a hot start and find receivers with some aforementioned great throws. But not all was great. First, let's focus on the good.
For the day, Lindley completed 23 of 39 passes (58.9 percent) for 316 yards and two touchdowns—both to receiver Michael Floyd. He dropped passes over linebackers and in front of the secondary multiple times. He hit on throws over the middle, to the sideline and up the seams.
Now, for the bad. He was lucky to throw only three interceptions, because a handful of other passes should have been picked off by San Francisco defenders. He was accurate at times, but other times he was the wildly off-target quarterback with a career passer rating below 50 we've come to know.
A happy medium is needed should Drew Stanton not be ready to play next Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs. Cut down on the mistakes and take what the defense is giving rather than try to force balls to covered receivers.
Overall, Lindley was average on Sunday, and that's a hell of a lot better than what he has been throughout his brief NFL career.
Grade: C
Running Back
2 of 10
Kerwynn Williams was again the focal point of head coach Bruce Arians' rushing attack a week after being benched for pass-blocking purposes. He led the team with 17 carries for 67 yards (3.9 yards per carry), and though he did not break off any big chunks on the ground, he showed why he's the best option out of the backfield numerous times.
His ability to find a crease where there doesn't appear to be one is impressive, and if not for an abandonment of the run game in the fourth quarter, he may have topped 100 yards again, just as he did against the Chiefs a few weeks ago.
But Arians called only two rushing plays in the final frame. Time was not exactly on Arizona's side when it took the ball with just under seven minutes remaining down a field goal, but Williams and Stepfan Taylor had moved the ball when given an opportunity.
Lindley played poorly in the fourth quarter, going 5-of-11 passing (45.5 percent) for 49 yards and an interception, so in hindsight, two runs was too few.
But the running game worked when given an opportunity.
Grade: B
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Floyd was the best offensive player for the Cardinals against the 49ers. At times, he was the best defensive player, too, knocking away multiple Lindley deep balls from San Francisco defenders.
He seems to like playing against the 49ers. He has six career 100-yard games, and three of them have come against San Francisco.
The future of the tight end position in Arizona appears to be bright, although we'll have to wait and see with rookie Troy Niklas. What the Cardinals currently have is tight end Darren Fells, who continues to be a good option as a lead blocker in the run game and an able pass-blocker—he improves as a pass-catcher weekly, it seems.
Fells caught two passes for 39 yards and opened running lanes for both Taylor and Williams as a lead blocker.
Overall, the receiving corps was up and down. Big catches, but also some key drops that killed drives.
Grade: C+
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
For the most part, the big hogs up front did a fantastic job once again of paving the way for running backs and giving their quarterback ample time to throw the ball. Only once did an offensive lineman get beaten by a defender that led to a sack.
Lindley was sacked twice, but the first was due to great coverage downfield. He took a sack to avoid making a mistake.
Serious consideration should be given to left tackle Jared Veldheer for team MVP this season. The team is likely not where it is today without his solid play on the blind side. He was the first free agent general manager Steve Keim signed this offseason, and we now know why.
He's been great all season, and that was no different on Sunday.
Grade: A
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Much like last week's game against the Seahawks, the defensive line struggled getting to the quarterback and did not close off running lanes well. The run defense has become an issue over the final month of the season, and it's a problem that could not have come at a worse time.
It all starts up front, and unfortunately for the Cardinals, Calais Campbell and Co. have failed too often as of late. Campbell and the defensive line had their chances at bringing down quarterback Colin Kaepernick on Sunday, but they could not finish.
Usually it's Todd Bowles making all the right adjustments at halftime, but this week it was 49ers offensive coordinator Vic Fangio. In the first half, running back Frank Gore carried seven times for 20 yards (2.9 YPC); he rushed 18 times for 124 yards (6.9 YPC) in the second half.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
Rookie linebacker Glenn Carson made his first career start in place of inside linebacker Larry Foote, who was inactive with a knee injury. Carson and former second-round pick Kevin Minter did not have much of a positive impact on the game.
Minter especially struggled, missing Gore in the open field multiple times, which allowed the great back many extra yards.
Missed tackles were again an issue, as was finishing off the quarterback. Outside linebacker Alex Okafor should have had Kaepernick twice in the first quarter, but he whiffed both times.
Overall, this was another disappointing performance from the linebackers.
Grade: D-
Secondary
7 of 10
The above picture is a great representation of the Cardinals defense over the past month: overrunning the play, not breaking down and, ultimately, missing the tackle.
Cornerback Antonio Cromartie has been uninterested in tackling downfield lately, which is a real problem. Too many times, he's been quick to give up all technique and go for the strip against powerful running backs not known for coughing up the football (Steven Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, Gore recently).
Just make the tackle. We've seen him punish backs and receivers over the middle plenty this season, so he obviously can do it.
He gets picked on this week, but again, the secondary as a whole struggled. The problems they were having earlier in the season were hidden by one simple factor that has disappeared over the final quarter of the season: turnovers.
Leading up to last week's game in Seattle, the Cardinals were fourth in the NFL, having caused 25 turnovers. They finished the season not creating one over the final two games—both losses.
In order for the team to make any sort of playoff run, the defense must generate turnovers. The current depth chart is not fit to be led by the offense; injuries have made that so.
In this game overall, the secondary played poorly. They've had better performances this season, but they've also had worse.
Grade: C-
Special Teams
8 of 10
There isn't too much to take from the special teams play against the 49ers. No huge gaffes, but no big plays, either.
Punter Drew Butler had another solid performance. He punted three times, and all three backed up San Francisco deep—including one that hit at about the 20 and rolled all the way to the 6-yard line before being downed.
Return man Ted Ginn Jr. was below average, as per his usual. It would be nice to see some better returns from the suddenly apprehensive speedster.
Grade: B-
Coaching
9 of 10
It's been preached after losses throughout the season: There is only so much the coaches can do. In the end, it's about the players executing the plays called for them.
That did not happen enough on Sunday.
On one of Lindley's three interceptions, Fox cameras caught Arians asking his quarterback where he was going with the ball as the interceptee jogged to the sideline. But it wasn't Lindley's fault he threw where he did—rookie receiver John Brown should have cut off his route to the inside underneath the free safety rather than continuing deep right toward him.
Miscommunications like that are a product of injuries ravaging the team. With little continuity among quarterbacks and receivers, it's going to be difficult to get any kind of sustained momentum during a game.
The coaching was fine in this game.
Grade: B
Final Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | C |
| RB | B |
| WR | C+ |
| OL | A |
| DL | D |
| LB | D- |
| Secondary | C- |
| Special Teams | B- |
| Coaching | B |
| Cumulative Grade | C+ |
"Arians on playoffs: "It's 0-0 and we're in the tournament... We don't plan on being one and done."
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) December 29, 2014"
Preaching a clean slate is one way to motivate a team. At this point, however, what else can Arians say? His team is all but falling apart because of injuries, and the Cardinals are looking to their leader for the right words. There's not much he can say that will make the situation better, though.
These are the facts: The Cardinals travel to Carolina to play the Panthers on Saturday, and when the game kicks off, no one will expect them to win. It's not likely many expect the game to even be close.
What about this week is different than any other week during the Cardinals' 2014 season?
All stats gathered from ESPN and Pro-Football-Reference.com
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