Rashad Johnson and the Arizona Cardinals head to go up against Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers in the final week of the regular season. Losing four of their last five, this rough season hasn’t been looking any better for San Francisco. The game starts at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday and can be seen on FOX.
The Week 3 matchup between the 49ers and the Cardinals ended in a 23-14 loss for San Francisco. Crabtree had a standout performance in that game, grabbing 10 receptions for 80 yards and one TD. San Francisco’s Johnson had a big game as well, totaling 103 yards on nine catches. Brown had a great performance for Arizona, recording four catches for 52 yards and two TDs.
San Francisco is a four-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 37 points. The 49ers enter the game with records of 7-8 Straight Up (SU) and 5-10 Against The Spread (ATS) this season. The 49ers are 1-4 SU over their last five matchups, but they’re worse ATS with a 0-5 record. The 49ers utilize the ground game extensively. They rush 31 times per home game, which is the fourth best in the NFL. The San Francisco defense shouldn’t be too worried this week as the Cardinals only average 18.6 points per road game. Expect the 49ers defense to really restrict Arizona’s aerial assault. The 49ers have the fifth-ranked pass defense in the NFL and give up only 216.6 passing yards per game. San Francisco usually gets off to a quick start in games, averaging 5.7 points in the first quarter. San Francisco’s special teams squad is a force to be reckoned with. They average 102.5 return yards per game, fifth in the NFL.
On the other side, the Cardinals have a record of 10-5 ATS and 11-4 SU. In the previous five games, Arizona has a record of 2-3 both SU and ATS. Preparing for Arizona’s top-five scoring defense will give the 49ers headaches in the film room. So far this year, the Cardinals defense has only allowed opponents to score an average of 18.6 points. The 49ers commit the most turnovers per home game in the league with 2.3. If they can’t hold onto the ball, they might not stand a chance against the Cardinals. The Cardinals rarely get penalized for fouls when they take the field. The team earns the fifth-fewest penalty yards in the league with 45 per game.
Predictions: SU Winner – SF, ATS Winner – SF, O/U – Under
Notes
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Francisco’s last 6 games.
San Francisco is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
San Francisco is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games.
San Francisco is 1-8 ATS in its last 9 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Francisco’s last 6 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of San Francisco’s last 6 games when playing Arizona.
San Francisco is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games when playing Arizona.
San Francisco is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Arizona.
Arizona is 7-0 SU when leading at the start of the fourth quarter this season. San Francisco is 5-2 SU when leading after three quarters.
San Francisco is 5-2 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, and only 1-4 SU in games where it loses the turnover battle.
Arizona has provoked an average of 8.0 penalties on opponents this season. San Francisco is only 2-5 SU when penalized at least 8 times in a game.
San Francisco is rated higher in the ground game on both sides of the ball. Its fifth-ranked rushing attack will face the eighth-ranked run defense of Arizona, while its seventh-ranked rush defense will look to contain the 30th-ranked run game of the Cardinals.
