The San Francisco 49ers pulled a rabbit out of their hat Sunday when they beat the Arizona Cardinals 16-15 at Levi’s Stadium.

It’s hard to envision the 49ers continuing to win games with the injuries they’re dealing with, but their ability to string together three wins despite the adversity means we’re learning a lot about the club. Sunday’s win over Arizona provided a ton of takeaways with some good and not-so-good performances in all three phases.

Here are the nine biggest takeaways for us from the 49ers’ Week 3 victory:

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49ers injuries lead to gritty win

San Francisco’s Week 3 win wasn’t pretty, but it was certainly impressive. Defensive end Nick Bosa went down in the first quarter, joining quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle, and wide receivers Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk on the sideline. San Francisco still managed to piece together a victory through complimentary football. The 49ers will need to continue improving, but finding ways to win games like Sunday despite the injuries puts them in a better spot to be competitive down the stretch.

NFC West standings get a shakeup

The 49ers now have two wins inside the division through three weeks. Those two wins eclipse their total NFC West wins from a year ago. Their win Sunday also put them alone in first place in the only division where every team is above the .500 mark. San Francisco is the leader at 3-0 with every other team now sitting at 2-1.

Fred Warner Defensive Player of the Year stock up

With Bosa out, Warner led the way once again in a stellar defensive effort from San Francisco. They gave up only one touchdown while Warner hung up 11 tackles and two pass breakups as the emotional fulcrum of the 49ers’ defense. San Francisco may not be the No. 1 defense in the NFL, but they look like they’re trending toward being a championship-level defense thanks in large part to Warner’s exploits in the middle of that unit.

49ers QB Mac Jones injured, but strong when it counts

Jones said he aggravated the PCL strain he suffered in the preseason when he was hit late in the third quarter. He played the rest of the game with a brace on and stepped up big-time with the game on the line. After throwing an interception halfway through the fourth quarter, Jones bounced back to complete five-of-seven throws for 59 yards on the 49ers’ game-winning field goal drive. That was a big-time performance from the backup QB.

RB Christian McCaffrey has another heavy workload

McCaffrey came out of the gate with a whopping 31 touches in Week 1. The 49ers managed his touches a little better in Week 2 when he finished with 19. Sunday’s game was another whopper. He had 27 touches, including 17 carries and eight receptions on 11 targets. There weren’t a ton of designed passes for him, but with so many primary pass catchers out, Jones leaned heavily on his running back as a checkdown option when the receivers and tight ends weren’t open.

Rookie CB Upton Stout’s defensive play of the game

It wasn’t a huge game for Stout, but he saved the game for San Francisco’s defense in the fourth quarter. Arizona had a third-and-9 coming out of the two-minute warning, and Arizona elected to try for the first-down that would have effectively ended the game. Stout was matched up one-on-one with veteran receiver Zay Jones. Jones got a step on Stout and was open on a deep out. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray but the ball on Jones for what looked like a completion and a first down, but Stout closed the gap to get a hand up and wrestle the ball away as the two players went to the ground. There were a handful of big plays by the 49ers defense, but Stout’s PBU quite literally saved the game and gave the 49ers offense a chance to go for the win.

49ers rushing stats still an issue

The 49ers offense isn’t doing a bad job overall, but they’re having a hard time getting their run game going. McCaffrey broke his longest run of the year with a 15-yard scamper, but he finished the game with 52 rushing yards on 17 carries. Brian Robinson broke the 49ers’ longest run of the year with a 19-yard carry and finished the contest with 22 yards on two attempts. San Francisco ran 20 times for 73 yards, and now they have 82 carries for 269 yards. They’re averaging 3.3 yards per carry this year āˆ’ a number that would have been last in the NFL by a significant margin last season.

49ers D-line steps up after Nick Bosa injury

It looked like the 49ers may have a hard time getting stops with Bosa out. They didn’t really miss a beat without their star defensive end. Rookie DE Mykel Williams continues to produce, and DE Bryce Huff put together a really nice all around game in an expanded role. The 49ers defensive line stepped up to make Murray uncomfortable, and to hold the Arizona run game to 106 yards on 28 carries with only one explosive run (10-plus yards).

Kicker Eddy Pineiro is what the 49ers have been wanting

When the 49ers picked Jake Moody in the third round of the 2023 draft it was with the expectation they wouldn’t have to worry about their kicker. It appears Pineiro is the player they were looking for. Since missing an extra point on his first attempt with San Francisco, Pineiro has drilled all of his kicks. Sunday he made field goals from 38 and 51 yards out with relative ease. Then his 35-yard game-winner traveled about as down the middle as a kick can get. It’s likely Pineiro will miss a kick or two this season, but it will be a surprise when he misses rather than a surprise when he makes it.

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