A look back at how the Cardinals played on defense and special teams against the 49ers.

There isn’t much good to say following the Arizona Cardinals‘ second consecutive loss of 19 points or more after appearing to have gotten the ship righted in the Week 9 Monday night win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Allowing 44 and 41 points two weeks in a row surely doesn’t create optimism, although not all of the points could be laid directly at the feet of the defense.

It usually takes all three phases to have a chance to win over good NFL teams, and the defense and special teams haven’t done enough to keep the two recent games close.

Here’s a look at those two groups from Sunday’s 41-22 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Red-zone woes

The Cardinals entered the game ranked 11th in the NFL by allowing 18 touchdowns in their opponents’ 32 trips inside the 20-yard line (56.3 percent) and 19th in all scores at 90.6 percent.

Both those percentages suffered on Sunday when the 49ers reached the red zone five times and scored every time with four touchdowns and a field goal.

The percentage now on touchdowns is 59.5 and 91.9 overall.

Of course, all of the touchdowns were the result of excellent field position that put the defense in difficult spots.

The first was after the opening kickoff that was returned 98 yards to the 1-yard line. The 49ers needed one play to score a touchdown after only 16 seconds of the first quarter. The drive lasted one second.The next one came after the 49ers gained possession at their own 48 after a 58-yard missed field goal by kicker Chad Ryland. They needed only five plays plus a five-yard penalty to travel the 52 yards and score on a nine-yard pass from quarterback Brock Purdy to running back Christian McCaffrey. That possession lasted 2:16.The third followed a Jacoby Brissett interception that was returned 64 yards to the 14-yard line by Deommodore Lenoir. San Francisco needed five plays to cover the 14 yards in 1:50 on a four-yard pass from Purdy to tight end George Kittle.The final score came after an unsuccessful onside kick that was recovered by the 49ers at the Arizona 45-yard line. The seven-play drive took 3:44 off the clock and ended with a four-yard run by McCaffrey.

The four possessions took a total of 18 plays and 7:51.

Numbers can often lie

Looking at the final stat sheet, it would be easy to think this was a close game. The Cardinals controlled the ball for 34:15, outgained the 49ers 488-281 and ran 71 plays to San Francisco’s 52. The 49ers were 3-for-9 on third down and averaged 5.4 yards per play. Their longest possession was 5:05 and eight possessions were 2:43 or less.

Even though 147 of the Cardinals’ yards came in the fourth quarter with the score 35-10, they had outgained the 49ers 204-167 at halftime and 341-220 after three quarters.

While the Cardinals stopped some drives, at other times they had no answer for San Francisco’s offense.

On a 70-yard, first-quarter drive that made the score 13-0, the 49ers needed only five plays to reach the end zone with three plays gaining 13 and 25 by Demarcus Robinsion and Jauan Jennings, respectively, and a 30-yard touchdown by Kittle.

The 49ers had 24 first downs in the game, and 13 came on first-down plays, three by penalty. McCaffrey scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) and he had runs of 12, 14 and 20 yards, whole totaling 121 yards from scrimmage (81 rushing, 40 receiving). Fullback Kyle Juszczyk had a 21-yard receptions. Fourteen of their plays of 10 yards or more totaled 213 of the 281 yards.

Some silver linings

The Cardinals played without starting cornerback Will Johnson and Mike linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. as well as contributors outside linebacker Baron Browning and safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. Rookie Cody Simon replaced Wilson for the second consecutive game and had 12 tackles (four solo).

Outside linebacker Josh Sweat, who had a knee injury added to his injury status Friday, had the only sack of Purdy and added one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. Defensive lineman Walter Nolen III was back on the field after suffering a knee injury against the Seahawks and had two tackles for loss and one QB hit.

Outside linebacker BJ Ojulari didn’t show up on the stat sheet, but sacked Purdy on a late two-point conversion.

Some other downsides were getting no takeaways, although there were some near interceptions by safety Jalen Thompson and cornerback Max Melton. In the 17-penalty parade, the defense was responsible for only three: a hold on Melton, illegal contact by cornerback Denzel Burke and encroachment by defensive lineman P.J. Mustipher.

Isn’t that special? Or not

A roller-coaster ride is the best way to describe the Cardinals’ special teamson Sunday, but it wasn’t very thrilling.

It began with a 98-yard return on the opening kickoff to the Arizona 1-yard line that led to a touchdown 16 seconds into the game. There was another return for 42 yards.

The Cardinals blocked an extra point and field goal, but inexplicably, the latter by defensive lineman Calais Campbell on a 62-yard attempt with one second remaining in the first half was negated because Campbell contacted the snapper. The unnecessary roughness penalty moved the ball 15 yards closer and Eddy Pineiro connected from 47 yards on an untimed down to give the 49ers a 25-10 halftime lead.

Earlier in the first half, Ryland missed badly wide left on a 58-yard attempt and the prime field position led to a 49ers touchdown.

In addition to Campbell’s penalty, Akeem Davis-Gaither left too soon on a kickoff for a 5-yard penalty and Josiah Deguara cost the team 10 yards for holding that wiped out a 22-yard punt return by Greg Dortch, who did have a 40-yard punt return and a kickoff return for 31.

Finally, punter Pat O’Donnell had another mediocre outing with a 40.7 average and 37.7 net on punts of 31, 45 and 46 yards.

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