3 - Cardinals passing defense contains 49ers receivers
The Cardinals passing defense did not look good when these two teams met in Week 4 mainly thanks to Marco Wilson, who gave up 73, or 26.9 percent of those 271 yards through the air. This week, Wilson shouldn’t get much playing time unless there is an injury to someone like Antonio Hamilton or Starling Thomas are unable to go, as was the case in Week 13.
However, Arizona also didn’t have Garrett Williams in Week 4, and given his play throughout the last two months, he could keep one receiver contained. Krys Barnes has received more playing time since Kyzir White’s biceps injury, and he’s good at covering the middle of the field, evidenced by the low 80.2 rating from opposing quarterbacks when they target him, plus the 4.9 yards per target he has given up.
Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker are also healthy, and it will keep the Arizona Cardinals from getting beaten deep as often as they did in Week 4. Therefore, the Cards have a much better chance of containing the 49ers, and those chances will even grow if Hamilton makes it back.
(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)