49ers lead Cardinals at halftime on MNF
Published
Jimmy Garoppolo threw two touchdown passes to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a 17-10 lead over the Arizona Cardinals at halftime on Monday Night Football.
Garoppolo completed 14-of-21 passes for 153 yards to go with the two touchdowns, and Christian McCaffrey added five carries for 31 rushing yards and five catches for 48 receiving yards.
Colt McCoy, starting in place of the injured Kyler Murray, who was a late scratch for the Cardinals, completed 17-of-23 passes for 172 yards and an interception. His favourite target was DeAndre Hopkins, who caught seven passes for 77 yards.
On their final drive of the first half, the 49ers worked downfield efficiently but were forced to settle for a 39-yard field goal by Robbie Gould with less than a minute remaining in the half.
The Cardinals found their big play of the first half while trailing 14-3 on a 47-yard catch-and-run on a screenplay by Greg Dortch. The drive was capped off by a short James Conner touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-10.
Arizona tried to put an offensive drive together while trailing, but a taunting penalty by Hopkins hurt their momentum, and a dropped pass by James Conner fell into the hands of Jimmie Ward for a Niners interception and the first turnover of the game.
That interception gave the 49ers great field position, which they converted almost immediately with a 39-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle.
Both teams traded punts to the end of the first quarter, but the Niners put together a very good drive - helped by a phantom facemask call that gave an extra 15 yards on a McCaffrey run - that resulted in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo to Brandon Aiyuk to give the Niners a 7-3 lead.
The Cardinals' offence found their footing on their second drive, with a pair of long completions to Hopkins setting up good field position before a Matt Prater field goal from 40 yards out gave Arizona a 3-0 lead.
A torrential downpour opened at kickoff, and both teams had trouble adjusting: a throw in the dirt by McCoy and a dropped pass by 49ers TE Kittle contributed to quick punts by both sides on their opening possessions.