Niners Nation
The Dolphins did the 49ers a solid.
Monday Night Football capped a mixed-emotion football weekend for the NFC West and San Francisco 49ers fans.
We’ll start with some good news. The Los Angeles Rams lost to the Miami Dolphins 23-15. The loss kicks the Rams to third place in the NFC West, allowing the 49ers to jump to second.
Now the bad: The Arizona Cardinals beat the Jets 31-6. Any other time this happens to the Jets, it seems like a punchline, but 49ers fans aren’t laughing. That win keeps the Cardinals a game ahead of the 49ers and in control of the division.
The 49ers’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lets them keep pace with the division. Given the schedules, the 49ers may have to run the table at this point to win the West. Their schedule is about to get tough with the next three games. It begins with hosting a divisional opponent in the Seattle Seahawks, going on the road to Green Bay to face the Green Bay Packers, and continuing on to Buffalo to face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football.
Can the 49ers turn around the slow start? We’re about to find out. We’re about to see how far the 2024 49ers have come.
Any other non-NFC West team beating the Jets 31-6 would most likely lead to some jokes throughout the week.
Jokes because even with all their issues, it’s hard to see a team like the Jets with six points at the end of a game. They have Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers’ friends on offense. It won’t be the Detroit Lions, but you’d expect something.
But this is the Cardinals, and there are no jokes to be made. They dominated the Jets throughout the entire game. The only thing the Jets have of note is this hit from Jets linebacker Quincy Williams that de-cleated Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. And de-cleating is somewhat an understatement.
Rodgers went 22-35 and 151 yards. 0 touchdowns. 0 interceptions. The quarterback on the other team was the star. Murray went 22-24 with 266 yards passing and one touchdown.
Could Murray (finally) be putting it together? He’s indeed turned a corner from when the Cardinals ran the air raid under prior head coach Kliff Kingsbury. It’s even stranger considering Kingsbury’s recent success with the Washington Commanders as their offensive coordinator.
Back to the Cardinals. The win over the Jets puts them one game ahead in the NFC West. The rematch in Arizona against the 49ers may decide the NFC West.
Ugly doesn’t begin to describe the offensive display from the Rams when they hosted the Dolphins. The defense didn’t fare much better. The Dolphins managed points on all of their possessions in the second half except for the kneel-down at the end. On the other hand, the Rams tried to field goal their opponents to death. Matthew Stafford didn’t have a single touchdown in this game, and...
