Arizona Cardinals mount another comeback, beat 49ers: By The Numbers

The Arizona Cardinals are now 3-0 this season when they trail in the second half.

After putting together a pair of fourth-quarter rallies against the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants, the Cardinals didn’t wait quite as long on Sunday to make their move against the San Francisco 49ers.

Filling in once again for injured quarterback Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton connected with rookie wide receiver John Brown on a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to help the Cardinals erase a 14-6 halftime deficit and defeat the San Francisco 49ers 23-14 in Glendale.

The win kept Arizona in first place in the NFC West and dropped their division rivals to a last-place 1-2 on the season.

Here’s how the Cards remained perfect, by the numbers:

1

The Cards and Niners combined for just one turnover, and it came from an improbable source, as Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald fumbled inside the San Francisco 5-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. But Kaepernick and the 49ers were unable to turn the takeaway into points (see below).

1 (again)

Arizona sacked Kaepernick just once, but it was one of the most important plays of the game. On second down from the San Francisco 19-yard line with five minutes to play, safety Tony Jefferson, who had a game-high 10 tackles, brought down Kaepernick for a 9-yard loss. The 49ers were eventually forced to punt, and they wouldn’t get the ball back until the game’s final seconds.

3

Rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro remained perfect on the season for Arizona, connecting on all three of his field-goal attempts (51, 32 and 35 yards) Sunday. Catanzaro is 9-for-9 on the year.

3.4

The Cardinals had the NFL’s No. 1 rushing defense last season and entered their matchup with the 49ers as the league’s third-best against the run this year. On Sunday, they limited San Francisco to 82 yards on 24 rushes — just 3.4 yards per carry. Running backs Carlos Hyde and Frank Gore were held to just 23 rushes on nine carries for the game.

36

The Cardinals prevented their former star wide receiver from burning them on Sunday, as 49ers wideout Anquan Boldin, who played for the Cards from 2003-09, was held to just 36 yards on six receptions.

54.5

After completing just 14-of-29 passes in last weekend’s win over the Giants, Stanton still struggled at times but was a slightly better 18-of-33 — a 54.5 percent completion percentage — against the 49ers.

61.5

For the game, Arizona was a very efficient 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) on third-down conversions.

107

While the Cardinals’ come-from-behind win was well-deserved, the 49ers definitely shot themselves in the foot early and often with nine penalties for 107 yards in the game, including four personal fouls in the second half.

114

Third-year Arizona wideout Michael Floyd led all receivers with 114 yards on five catches Sunday. It was Floyd’s second 100-yard game of the season; he had 119 yards in the Cards’ Week 1 win over the Chargers.