Bird Bits: 49ers annihilate Cardinals on MNF

Sure, you could read the box score and know who won, but we all know that won’t tell you everything that happened in a football game. So, we will give you Bird Bits providing you with the analysis, quotes and notes from the Cardinals’ 24-3 loss to the 49ers.

The Story:

The San Francisco 49ers absolutely dominated the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football, pounding them on both sides of the ball in a 24-3 win at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Alex Smith completed 18-of-19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Michael Crabtree.

With the win, the 49ers improve to 6-2, while the Cardinals fall to 4-4.

The Good:

For the Cardinals, there was really nothing good. The offense played with usual ineptitude and the defense followed suit.

Oh, Michael Floyd made a nice one-handed catch in garbage time with the Cardinals down three touchdowns.

The Bad:

The Cardinals offense was absolutely punchless against the league’s top-rated defense.

Cardinals cornerbacks Patrick Peterson, William Gay and Jamell Fleming were all burned in coverage and compounded it with tackling issues.

Arizona’s defense got burned by San Francisco Alex Smith, who threw three touchdown passes and had only one incompletion on the evening — a drop by tight end Delanie Walker.

The pass protection wasn’t good again, as the Niners defense, which came in with just 11 sacks on the season, racked up four more against the Arizona offensive line.

The Cardinals’ running game managed just 7 yards on 9 carries.

Noted:

• The Cardinals have now lost four straight after starting the year 4-0. In fact, ESPN Stats and Info tweeted that the Cardinals are just the third team to start a season 4-0 and lose their next four games. The others are the 1993 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2002 Oakland Raiders are the others.

• With the loss, the Cardinals are now 1-8 on Monday Night Football since moving to the Valley in 1988. They’re 1-5 against the 49ers on Monday night.

• Alex Smith completed 94.7 percent of his passes against the Cardinals — the highest percentage in NFL history by a quarterback with more than 15 attempts in a game. Smith broke the record held by Craig Morton who completed 17-of-18 passes (94.4%) for the Denver Broncos in a win over the San Diego Chargers September 27, 1981 and Fran Tarkenton, who had the same numbers for the Minnesota Vikings in a 1977 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

• The win marked the 42nd all-time Monday Night Football victory for the 49ers, second-most in history. Only the Dallas Cowboys (43) have more MNF triumphs.

• San Francisco is now 7-1 in NFC West games since Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach prior to the 2011 season.

He Said It:

“We had a big test tonight, and you saw how we responded to it. It wasn’t good enough,” — Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt

Coming Up Next:

The Cardinals hit the road to take on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field next Sunday.

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