In the 49ers’ first meeting with the Arizona Cardinals this season, things got ugly fast.
Less than six minutes into the game, the Niners were down 14-0. And, after throwing two interceptions that the Cards returned for touchdowns, quarterback Colin Kaepernick became gun shy and rarely challenged the Arizona secondary.
In the 47-7 loss on Sept. 27 in Arizona, Kaepernick was intercepted four times, San Francisco could muster just 156 total yards and the 49ers defense was defenseless against both the run (Chris Johnson had 110 rushing yards) and pass (Carson Palmer threw for 311).
Now, as the 3-7 49ers prepare to host the 8-2 Cardinals Sunday (1:05 p.m. kickoff), is there any reason to believe the outcome will be any different?
Certainly the NFL oddsmakers don’t think so. They’ve made the visitors 8-point favorites.
The teams are going in opposite directions. Arizona has won four straight. The 49ers have lost three of their past four, including last Sunday’s 29-13 loss to Seattle.
Palmer is having his best season in years. He has 27 TD passes in 10 games and has won 22 of his past 26 starts for the Cards.
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The only big difference this time around will be that former backup Blaine Gabbert will start at quarterback for the 49ers, with Kaepernick now out for the remainder of the season.
Gabbert, a bust in Jacksonville, has played relatively well for the 49ers the past two games in a win over Atlanta and the loss to Seattle. In those games he’s completed 37-of-59 throws for 449 yards, three TDs and just one interception. He’s connected on 62.7 percent of his throws. He’s also showed a good presence in the pocket – much better than Kaepernick this season.
In fact, this week Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu told reporters that Gabbert looks like a much more effective passer than Kaeernick.
“That’s not to take anything away from Kaepernick, but it seems like Gabbert, he has a little better grip of what’s going on,” said Mathieu, according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “If he gets in a situation, he knows where the ball needs to go. So he’s a hell of a passer. I think he’s underrated when you talk about how well he can throw the football.”
Gabbert, who seems to be comfortable in making the most of his second opportunity in the NFL – and perhaps establishing himself as an option for the 49ers in 2016 – says he’s a smarter, better quarterback than he was in Jacksonville.
“I’m a more mature player,” he told reporters this week. “I know where I want to go with the football. You see the pre-snap looks and you can go off of knowledge that you’ve seen that look in the past and knowing where they’re vulnerable, where your guys are going to pop open. Just from that, just more comfortable in the system.”
Still, beating the Cardinals would be a tremendous upset. Arizona is No. 1 in the NFL in offense, No. 3 in defense and has become a confident, consistent team under head coach Bruce Arians.
The 49ers, meanwhile, are trying to look for any light in what has been a dark season that has many observers speculating that head coach Jim Tomsula could be fired after just one year.
Said Tomsula this week: “We’re in a performance-based business and all of us in it get it. So I don’t think or work that way. (My) long-term goal is Sunday. It’s just where I stay.”
