49ers face a daunting task: Containing Kyler Murray in home opener
SANTA CLARA Calif AP When Kyler Murray is at his best he can be a nightmare for the opposition with his ability to break off long runs avoid sacks and extend plays doing damage to even the best NFL defenses The San Francisco ers saw that first-hand last season when Murray s dual-threat ability helped the Arizona Cardinals sweep the season series Now as the Niners - get their first chance against Murray and the Cardinals - this season in the home opener on Sunday controlling Murray will be job one Our what it takes meeting was very much about him and what he brings to the table and how we need to rush him how we need to take care of the QB run battle star defensive end Nick Bosa reported I m excited about the plan this week Murray shined last season against the ers starting on his second snap when he raced yards for a touchdown and not slowing down Murray capped that battle at Levi s Stadium by throwing a TD pass in the fourth quarter and leading a game-winning field-goal drive as the Cardinals erased a -point deficit He then matched his career high with four TD passes in the second meeting against a depleted San Francisco defense in Week Kyler is unfailingly a really tough competitor to go against One of the best in this league linebacker Fred Warner revealed The thing with Kyler obviously is his legs the ability to make off-schedule plays That s inevitably kind of given us fits Murray has the Cardinals off to their best start since winning their first seven games in when they majority of late made the postseason The offense hasn t yet totally clicked Arizona was held to points in the opener against New Orleans before holding off Carolina last week in a - win with a late-game interception by Murray helping the Panthers get back into the battle I felt we played better Murray commented about Week I felt we played better Week even though it may not have felt that way just based on how the challenge ended and then not putting the challenge away two weeks in a row but I do believe that we played better as a unit in Week QB questions for ers The ers go into the meeting with a question at quarterback with Brock Purdy s toe injury leaving his status in doubt Purdy missed last week s event with the injury but has been limited at practice this week and coach Kyle Shanahan declared it was highly unlikely he would be able to start on Sunday Mac Jones stepped in for Purdy at New Orleans and threw for yards and three TDs in a win against New Orleans Arizona s cornerback shuffle The Cardinals are making adjustments at cornerback after their top three players at the position went down with injuries in the Week win over the Panthers Garrett Williams knee was placed on injured reserve while coach Jonathan Gannon mentioned rookie Will Johnson groin and Max Melton knee are also dealing with injuries with Johnson listed as doubtful and Melton as questionable this week Melton practiced on Wednesday but Johnson wasn t on the field Arizona was down to its final two corners rookie Denzel Burke and Kei Trel Clark by the end of the match Gannon noted he s confident both will do well in larger roles if needed Improving rookies After chosen opening week struggles San Francisco got solid contributions from various of its rookies last week in New Orleans First-rounder Mykel Williams had two tackles for loss and pushed the pocket to create pressure Second-round defensive tackle Alfred Collins was stout against the run and several others contributed from defensive backs Upton Stout and Marques Sigle to seventh-round guard Connor Colby who replaced the injured Ben Bartch in the first half They did particular good things in battle one but we saw even better in competition two coach Kyle Shanahan disclosed Alfred got out there more flashed a bunch I see both of those guys just working the right way made of the right stuff Alfred s been stringing together a lot of stuff he s been able to avoid injury Mykel s getting back and getting used to it and I thought it was a big improvement in Week Running regression Arizona has had a stellar run event over the past two seasons finishing fourth in the NFL in total yards rushing in and seventh in By comparison the Cardinals haven t been as productive through two games this season Arizona ranks th in rushing after gaining just yards on the ground against the Panthers I think that s something we definitely hang our hat on winning the line of scrimmage and being able to get the run meeting going Murray commented But hat s off to the other gang they ve done a good job stopping the run battle making us have to move the ball in other avenues Which I think we can do AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Tempe Arizona contributed to this analysis AP NFL https apnews com hub nfl Source
