Arizona Cardinals vs San Francisco 49ers (9/10/06)



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In what was perhaps the biggest day in the history of Arizona professional football, the Cardinals fans packed into their new state-of-the-art stadium. Retractable grass? Well it’s a good idea, but I get the feeling that since they have Kurt Warner, they want to take away any elements. The 49ers, well it’s a long road up.

The 49ers new star Vernon Davis made his presence known early when he caught a 31 yard touchdown. I was impressed with the young 49er talent, Frank Gore out ran Edgerrin James. Alex Smith looks like he’s improved since last football season. Still, their defense is bad, and this was the Cardinals big days. The Cardinals have a lot of fire power, they just need to protect Kurt Warner. The addition of the Edge is big for a team that struggled in the red zone last football season. Warner was throwing the football all over the football field and the Cardinals tied the game up when he threw a touchdown to Troy Walters.

Frank Gore fumbled the football, and the Cardinals wanted to prove they can run the football. Edgerrin James scored on a little one yard touchdown. The Edge had more running yards in his first game than any Cardinal runner had in a game last year. That’s pretty bad. The Cardinals kept putting points on the board when Kurt Warner found Anquan Boldin for a touchdown to give the Cards a 21-7 lead after one quarter. This offense looked good.

The Niners were not about to throw in the towel. Frank Gore scored his first in the second quarter. The Cards love shoot outs, and their main weapon from last year Neil Rackers kicked his first field goal of the day. The Cardinals went into halftime up 24-14.

The 49ers had a touchdown called back in the midway through the 3rd quarter. Kurt Warner reverted back to his 2005 form, as he fumbled the football, and the 49ers were able to capitalize when Frank Gore got his second touchdown of the day. Warner and the Cardinals answered right back with a touchdown of their own.

Both teams traded field goals in the fourth quarter. Trailing by 10 points late in the football game, the 49ers kicked a quick field goal, then recovered the onside kick. What a football game. The 49ers chance for victory ended when Alex Smith’s hail mary was knocked down. The Cardinals win in front of their fans 34-27.