Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers continue their NFC West schedule, playing their second of three games against the division on Sunday in the first five weeks of the season, taking on the 2-0 Arizona Cardinals.
The 49ers started their division schedule with a win up in Seattle in Week 1, with Arizona opening the division play with the trip to Levi’s Stadium. This hasn’t been the first time in recent years that the 49ers have opened their home schedule against the Cardinals, with the two teams meeting in the season opener of 2020, with the Cardinals coming out on top in that one by a score of 24-20.
Sunday’s matchup will be the first of two against Kyler Murray, who had his fair share of success against Robert Saleh in the defensive coordinator’s first stint with the 49ers. These are the three numbers to know as the 49ers face Murray and the Cardinals:
66.75
Cardinals’ quarterback Kyler Murray averaged 66.75 rushing yards per game in four games against Robert Saleh’s 49ers’ defense from 2019-2020.
Robert Saleh is among the top (if not THE top) defensive minds in the game right now. But, 49ers fans will remember that his Achilles heel was the mobile quarterback. On Sunday against Arizona, he will get his first attempt of his second stint with San Francisco against a running quarterback, with Murray heading to Levi’s Stadium.
Murray – with his small stature – is one of the more slippery quarterbacks to bring down, and he always seemed to have a big game with his legs against the 49ers when Saleh was first here. In his four games against the 49ers in 2019 and 2020, Murray rushed for 267 yards on 34 attempts with a pair of touchdowns, averaging 66.75 rushing yards per game.
The Arizona quarterback has had his fair share of injuries, and because of that, he’s only played against the 49ers four times in the four seasons since Saleh’s original departure. In those four games since, the group of DeMeco Ryans, Steve Wilks, and Nick Sorensen has held Murray to just 155 rushing yards on 23 attempts – an average of 38.75 per game, nearly 30 yards fewer than Saleh – with only a single rushing touchdown.
Against Saleh, Murray had three games with at least 60 yards rushing, peaking with his 91-yard game in Week 1 of the 2020 season. In his four games since, Murray has rushed for more than 50 yards against the 49ers only one time, where he ran for 83 yards and a touchdown in Arizona’s Week 3 win over the 49ers in Santa Clara last season.
Murray arguably has as many weapons as he’s ever had in the passing game with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride at hand, but preventing him from getting loose with his legs should be priority No.1 for Saleh.
7.5
The Cardinals’ defense averages 7.5 plays faced per drive, second-most behind the Dolphins.
Arizona’s defense was blessed with having two of the bottom-tier...
