Arizona Cardinals defeat NFC West champions San Francisco 49ers 21-19 – NFL Week 14 Recap
The National Football Conference West champions, San Francisco 49ers, struggled against the improving Arizona Cardinals that defeated the former 21-19 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in the week-14 game of the National Football
League current season on Sunday.
49ers relied more on field goals rather than touchdowns during the game. They scored four field goals that, they now think, should have been converted into the touchdowns to get more points.
“We can’t score field goals, we have to get touchdowns,” 49ers’ left tackle Alex Boone said. “We got to get those points. That’s the one thing we’re really regretting right now is leaving points on the board. Especially when we
get down there close, we need to punch it in there.”
For Cardinals, the season did not start well. After winning their first game, they went down to lose six straight encounters. They are fighting back boldly, increasing their chances to make it to the postseason via a wildcard-entry.
They have won five of their last six games.
"You guys stuck a fork in us quite a while ago," Cardinals’ coach Ken Whisenhunt said to reporters. "I think our guys never let it get to them. How many times during those first weeks did we say that we were going to stay the course
and that it was going to turn for us? We believed it."
In the victory, John Skelton also got a chance to prove his mettle. He started for Cardinals in the absence of injured quarterback, Kolb, but was benched due to his poor performance. Kolb got back to start this game, but suffered
an injury that forced him out of the game. The coach had no option but to bring Skelton as a replacement.
Skelton impressed the crowd by completing 19 of 28 attempted passes for 282 yards while managing three touchdowns to see his team through against the division leaders.
49ers were at the lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to the 46-yard field goal by David Akers.
Akers scored a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter to take the lead to 6-0. Cardinals replied by scoring a touchdown, which was followed by two more field goals from Akers. At the halftime, 49ers were leading 12-7. They could
have secured a lead of few more points had they tried for touchdowns instead of field goals.
In the beginning of the third quarter, Frank Gore rushed for 37 yards to get first touchdown of the game for the 49ers. Around three minutes after that score, John Skelton sent a 46-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald for a touchdown.
The final quarter started with the 49ers in-charge 19-14. John Skelton successfully sent a three-yard pass to Andre Roberts for a touchdown to steal the lead from the opponents. Cardinals successfully contained the 49ers for the
rest of the game and did not allow any scoring opportunity. The final scored settled at 21-19.
Cardinals are now placed second in the NFC West division with six victories and seven defeats.
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