Arizona Cardinals put in valiant effort against 49ers

Missed opportunities keep the Arizona Cardinals from completing comeback against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night

Once again, the Arizona Cardinals came out fast and scored on their opening drive.  It’s all the other drives we have to worry about.

Thanks to newly acquired running back Kenyan Drake, who rattled off a 36-yard run, then a horse collar penalty on the the San Francisco 49ers, it was 7-0 quickly.  After that though, the 49ers took control.

The Cardinals still only found themselves down 14-7 with 4 seconds left in the first half.  The 49ers ran the clock down to that point to try one last shot into the end zone from the 1-yard line.

The Cardinals had seemingly stuffed the 49ers on a running play up the middle.  However Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury called a timeout just before the ball was snapped and they 49ers got a second chance.

They found pay dirt on the second try as 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo found receiver Emmanuel Sanders for a touchdown pass.  Garoppolo had 4 touchdown passes on the night.

So instead of being down 14-7, they were down 21-7 going into the locker room.  About the only thing to look forward to at that point was the halftime show with Ray Parker Jr., who came out to sign his blockbuster hit Ghostbusters.

The Cardinals were able to get it to 21-14 as they scored on their first offensive drive of the second half, a 9-yard pass from Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray to receiver KeeSean Johnson.  Again, we were teased.

Just a few minutes later, Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson was burned on a 21-yard pass to Dante Pettis to push the lead back to 14 at 28-14. That would be all the scoring the 49ers needed at that point.

The Cardinals made it interesting in the fourth quarter.  They didn’t give up.  They kicked a field goal with 9:28 left to make it 28-17.

Then with 4:53 remaining, Murray hit receiver Andy Isabella who took a pass and ran 88-yards for a touchdown.  It was Isabella’s first touchdown of the season.

They converted a 2-point conversion to make it 28-25.  All they needed now was a stop on defense. However the 49ers were masterful at converting third downs all night, their last drive was no exception.

The Cardinals had a 3rd and 11 with a chance to get the ball back with over a minute remaining.  However, the 49ers converted and that was that.  A great effort on offense to get back in it in the end but came up short.