We saw plenty of whackiness in the first half. That’s unlikely to slow down in the second half.
The Cardinals hit the 49ers defense with an explosive play after an encroachment penalty on Jordan Elliott. Trey McBride got behind the defense for a gain of 34. On a 3rd & 6 from the 28-yard line, Murray’s pass was incomplete after Isaac Yiadom had great coverage on Harrison. Yiadom’s pass breakup forced a 45-yard field goal.
Elliott blocked Chad Ryland’s attempt, and Deommodore Lenoir was there for the taking and returned the kick 61 yards for a touchdown to give San Francisco a 20-10 lead. It was quite the momentum swing.
On the ensuing kickoff, Jake Moody had a tackle. That’s never a good thing. In this instance, Moody went down and immediately grabbed his right ankle. He would be helped up and walk gingerly off the field before being carted to the locker room. Mitch Wishnowsky is the backup kicker.
Malik Mustapha made a terrific pass breakup to force a 3rd & 9, but Kyler scrambled for a first down, and the Cardinals were once again in field goal range. Mustapha was filling in for Hufanga, who had been ruled out.
On 2nd & 6 from the 24, Nick Bosa made a tremendous play to read a swing screen for an interception. The 49ers were aggressive and would need to play for a touchdown with Moody out. From Arizona’s 40, Purdy scrambled for 12 yards, found Kittle on third down for 14 yards, and we were once again down to a 3rd & goal. Purdy tried to find Jennings but to no avail.
Wishnowsky would come on to make his first career field goal of his career to give the 49ers a 23-10 lead at the half.