Cardinals vs. 49ers: What's the Game Plan for Arizona?

The NFL regular-season schedule says the Arizona Cardinals are playing the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon, but the Cardinals will mostly be trying to avoid beating themselves.

The first meeting this season between the two NFC West rivals ended in a 47-7 Cardinals victory, and there's no reason to suggest San Francisco is prepared to turn the tables. While a similarly eye-popping scoreline isn't to be expected, Arizona should have no trouble maintaining control of this game from start to finish.

Given the significant talent disparity between the two teams, not to mention the familiarity of San Francisco as an opponent, we'll instead concentrate the energy of this piece on two things in particular to watch out for—one on each side of the ball. Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians doesn't listen to me anyway.

Here are the two big things I'll be watching on Sunday, as well as the key players and matchups on which to keep an eye.

Offensive Game Plan

Stephen Brashear/Associated Press

This could be something of a "get-well" game for Arizona's offensive line and running game. San Francisco's run defense has not been great all year, and they were dreadful against Seattle in Week 11.

Seattle Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls produced 209 yards on 30 carries—with no gain longer than 30 yards. San Francisco's defensive line not only failed to occupy blockers, but in most cases, they couldn't get off their one-on-one blocks.

Let's fire up the wonky Photoshop and see what that looked like.

FOX NFL Broadcast

Circled in red, you can see Seattle had no trouble getting three of their five offensive linemen to the second level—with one of San Francisco's interior linemen getting blown way off the ball. Things were so bad on this play for the 49ers that the lone free defender (denoted in yellow) was in the secondary—ten yards from the line of scrimmage.

This was by no means the only time during the game San Francisco had that problem.

Seattle does a better job running the football than Arizona, but it's clear the Cardinals are going up against a team that wasn't mentally prepared to stop the ground game only a week ago. If Arizona is going to jump-start their rushing attack, this is the week to do it.

It should be noted that Cardinals running back Chris Johnson and guard Mike Iupati are listed as probable on the injury report—with guard Jonathan Cooper listed as questionable. 

Defensive Game Plan

John Froschauer/Associated Press

Arizona's defense had no trouble shutting down 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the team's limited offense in Week 3. Indeed, the Cardinals ended San Francisco's first two drives with interceptions returned for touchdowns.

San Francisco hasn't evolved significantly with Blaine Gabbert now under center, but that doesn't mean the Cardinals defense can expect a repeat performance. In particular, they'll have to make sure they don't get burned deep.

With limited talent on offense, the 49ers still want to build their attack around a power running game and short-to-intermediate passes to their tight ends. Arizona will naturally be ready to play downhill on Sunday, but they must be ready for the play-action passes down the field Gabbert's been inclined to throw.

Via Pro Football Focus, Gabbert threw 10 passes 20 yards past the line of scrimmage against Seattle. For comparison, Kaepernick threw only 19 such passes total in his nine appearances this season.

We've seen the Cardinals secondary fall asleep against the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints, although everyone has their moments. Still, there's no reason to give San Francisco an easy touchdown off of broken coverage on a play-action pass. Those are the kinds of plays that give underdogs hope.

Key Players and Matchups

Arizona's linebackers

With Arizona's defensive line depleted by injuries (defensive ends Cory Redding and Frostee Rucker are both out, and defensive end Ed Stinson is listed as questionable), the Cardinals linebackers will have extra work to do on Sunday.

The interior thumpers, Kevin Minter and Deone Bucannon (who himself is listed as questionable with a concussion), may have to deal with less protection than they're used to. They'll both have to find ways to work through blockers to make stops against the run. Sean Weatherspoon would be the presumptive favorite to start if Bucannon can't go.

The outside linebackers, meanwhile, will have to step up their game in order for Arizona to create pressure in the passing game. Dwight Freeney and Markus Golden have been very good in recent weeks, and James Bettcher won't be unhappy if they pick up some extra slack against San Francisco. 

Quinton Patton

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Third-year wide receiver Quinton Patton had the best game of his career in Week 9 against Atlanta, and he's the guy Arizona's secondary can't forget about on Sunday. Patton will be flying under the radar while wide receivers Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin draw most of the attention.

Patton won't win a footrace against the likes of John Brown or J.J. Nelson, but he has enough speed to get behind the secondary. If Patrick Peterson misses out through injury, Patton may even draw some looks against untested corner Robert Nelson.

Calais Campbell vs. Joe Staley

This was a fun matchup in Week 3, and it will probably be a fun matchup again in Week 12. They're both great players.

It's possible Campbell moves around a bit on Sunday with Frostee Rucker sidelined, but we should see these two lock horns a fair number of times. It's been a few weeks since Campbell's had a truly dominate game, so it'll be interesting to see if the matchup with Staley combined with injuries to his mates along the line sparks his play on Sunday.

Prediction

What needs to be said at this point? 

Yes, this is the NFL, and on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team. But in instances of great disparity, such as this, the underdog requires a significant amount of help from the favorite, and I just don't see Arizona giving this game away.

The Cardinals have won four straight games, and they hold a one-game lead over Minnesota for the second seed in the NFC playoffs. A 14-2 record may not be realistic, but they're not going to slip up against San Francisco.

Little will stop Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer from getting the ball downfield, and Chris Johnson and the Cardinals running backs may even get involved at some point. The depleted defense could have a few rough patches, but San Francisco's offense isn't good enough to keep pace with Arizona's offense.

This won't be a laugher, but it will still be a comfortable Arizona victory.

Final score: Arizona 31, San Francisco 13