Cardinals no match for 49ers

San Francisco, CA – I think the best question is, who can stop them?  It’s becoming quite clear the San Francisco 49ers are ready to earn the respect of the Super Bowl winning team of the past.

The era of Joe Montana and Steve Young was incredible.  Now, its a new generation, the pieces of the puzzle were put together by former coach Mike Singletary.  Now all Jim Harbaugh has to do is make it work.

Standing alone in the NFC West at 9-1, the 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 23-7.  One game behind the undefeated Green Bay Packers San Francisco still has trouble convincing many there ready.  A slow start in the first half for the 49ers offense seemed to be something of the past but the defense dominated again.

“In training camp coach talked about out working your opponent,” Donte Whitner said.  “We take pride in out working people, on defense we felt like we shouldn’t have given up any points or big plays.  When you play against really good teams, you can’t make mistakes because it will cost you the football game.”

It wasn’t easy but they got it done, first quarter seemed like a defensive game.  Both teams forcing each other to punt was the beginning of the problems for San Francisco.  After attempting six field goals on all of their possessions, David Akers only made three out of the six.  Two were blocked and a 49-yard attempt went wide and to the right.

Alex Smith started off with two complete passes to Michael Crabtree following a interception from Patrick Willis and a fumble recovered by Whitner.  But the Cardinals defense put the pressure on when the offense could not get in the end zone.  Braylon Edwards almost made his his first touchdown of the season but Alex’s threw to high for him to reach.

“We got stopped on the drives and chose to kick the field goals,” Harbaugh said.

Things didn’t get any better in the second quarter, the offense continued to struggle majority of the quarter trying to get down field.  By the two minute warning they brought Akers back against the loud boo’s from the fans for another field goal.  This time the field goal attempt was successful giving them a 9-0 to end the half.

“You have to give them credit,” said Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt.  “They played well, but we had wrong reads, bad throws and bad decisions.  John [Skelton] played like a rookie today and that was tough.”

San Francisco’s first touchdown came in the third when Smith connected with Kyle Williams for the 8-yard touchdown.  They began the quarter just like they finish, strong.  A combination of Frank Gore, Crabtree and Alex took thirteen plays, eighty-four yards and 7:48 to complete.  They had much help from the defense who shut down John Skelton.

He finished with 6 of 19 for 99 yards and was benched after throwing his third interception and replaced with third-string quarterback Richard Bartel to start the fourth.  Skelton’s past two starts against St. Louis and Philadelphia were wins when replacing the injured  Kevin Kolb.

“It was one of those days when nothing seemed to be going right,” John said.  “We left a lot of plays on the field.  Having three interceptions is not a good day of passing.  Coach felt a change should be made and rightfully so, I didn’t play up to par.”

Smith threw for 267 yards and two touchdowns to both Williams and Vernon Davis to seal their victory after pulling away in the third quarter.  The 18-yard pass to Davis was the 34th of his career as a 49er.  He passed Brent Jones for the most touchdowns by a tight end in franchise history.

“It means a lot to me, I was just aware of that today [passing Brent Jones],” said Davis.  “It means a lot, it definitely does.  Anytime you can make history is a good feeling.”

San Francisco out gained the Cardinals 431 to 229 yards total on offense.  The 49ers also held the ball for more than 44 minutes and shut down Arizona’s offense in the first half.

Late in the fourth Larry Fitzgerald caught a 23-yard pass for a touchdown between two defenders.  That would be the only time the Cardinals scored, dropping their fifth straight loss to San Francisco.

Written by: Malaika Bobino