San Francisco has a tough challenge on the ground against Arizona this weekend.
The San Francisco 49ers are staying home in Week 5 when they face off against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium, looking to build off their 30-13 over the New England Patriots last weekend.
The Cardinals are coming off a rough 42-14 defeat to the Washington Commanders, where defensive struggles and inefficiencies in the passing game took away any chance of success.
But, one area where they continued to excel was the running game, as James Conner hit the 100-yard threshold, while the Cardinals went for 181 yards and a touchdown on 5.7 yards per carry as a whole.
San Francisco has seen some issues with their run defense this year, but shored up well last weekend against Rhamondre Stevenson and the New England Patriots, allowing just 73 yards and three yards per carry in the win.
How are the 49ers preparing for the Cardinals on the ground in Week 5?
“They’ve got a good scheme,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Friday ahead of the game. “They’ve got a really good running back. And then they’ve got a really good quarterback who is a threat in every single play. Whether he runs any, you’ve always got to honor him. And when you play 11-on-11 football, in the run game, it’s something that you don’t have to do week in and week out, and that always makes it a [bigger] challenge. What they do, schematically, and [Arizona Cardinals RB] James Connor is a stud, so all of it together.”
The Cardinals run game has given San Francisco fits in the past, as Arizona ran for 234 yards on seven yards a clip last year in the 45-29 win for San Francisco.
A big part of that rushing attack has to also do with the rushing threat of quarterback Kyler Murray, who has been a part of the problem for San Francisco in the past.
“He’s hard [to defend]. He is,” Sorensen said about Murray. “Those guys are hard to deal with because he does have the arm strength and he can escape like a freaking punt returner. He’s got elite quickness and doesn’t have to have his feet set to throw the ball. So you have to be disciplined and you have to just keep running. You just have to keep going, regardless of who’s going. Even if you’ve got four, three, five, six, you have to keep going. Even in coverage too, really everybody, any of those guys that can extend plays. It’s one of those track shoes type days.”
The 49ers are well favored in this matchup at home, but they must contain the run, as well as the threat of the run from Kyler Murray if they want to pull off a good victory here in Week 6.