December 16, 2009

NFL- San Francisco upsets Arizona and denies them the NFC West Title

By Audrey Nolan

While the Arizona Cardinals faced a disastrous night, the San Francisco 49ers enjoyed one of their best performances. The 49ers took advantage of Cardinal fumbles, several bad passes and seven turnovers to take the win 24-9.

Alex Smith, SF’s starting quarterback, had one of his best games ever, repairing the damage from last week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Smith performed well last week throwing for a career high of 310 yards, but it was not enough for his team to claim a victory. In this week’s game against the Cardinals he completed two touchdown passes to Davis and Crabtree and completed 19 of 35 passes for 144 rushing yards. The 49ers forced Arizona to commit seven turnovers. Smith threw great passes after each turnover, resulting in a great win.

Arizona can possible still take the title for the NFC West if they win two of the last three games that they have remaining due to their credible record. However, San Francisco will still have to work hard to take the Title and win the next three games in a row.

Cardinal Coach Ken Whisenhunt played down the loss explaining; "I don't think clinching the division was ever that big of a thing," We were wanting to play against an opponent that had beaten us earlier this year, and it was on Monday Night Football, and we had an emotional game against Minnesota the week before. We were excited and we lost our discipline, and that's something you cannot do."

Arizona started the game very badly giving three offside penalties. Their running backs couldn’t have held the ball is it was glued on and by the end of the game; the Cardinals had regained the ball seven times. Fumbles were the order of the day and Coach Ken Whisenhunt ran out of players, both experienced and rookie, who could hang onto the ball.

Currently, the Cardinals hold the highest record on turnovers for this season with their second game of having six or more. Last season, they ended up with seven on a loss against the New York Jets. On the other hand, San Francisco made a new record by forcing seven turnovers for the first time since they were forced eight against the New Orleans Saints.

49er Frank Gore happily proved to his doubters that he was the right man for the job. Not only did he improve his performance over the last three games, but he had his second best show of the season. He redeemed himself by earning 104 yards with 13 carries just for the first half of the game. He finally ended up with 167 yards and 25 carries, proving that San Francisco should work their running game more often.

San Francisco is not completely bereft on their chances to earn a berth in the playoffs this season, but they have a hard row to hoe. They haven’t been in the playoffs since 2002. Right now, they must win the last three games they have left against Philadelphia, Detroit and Saint Louis. Coach Whisenhunt thinks that the opportunities that they have right now are good and it’s not a big deal, but they will have to fight harder to get there.

About the Author

Audrey Nolan is a top senior copywriter for the NFL games as well as the top ranking online sports betting site: www.instantactionsports.com/uk/

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