By James Huber and Jackson Dean
It was an ugly and often boring season opener for the 49ers at Monster Stadium. The 49ers struck first with a touchdown when Walt Harris picked off Matt Leinart’s first pass of the game. Frank Gore pounded it in from close range and the 49ers took a 7-0 lead. The Cardinals settled down after that and established their running game with tailback Edgerrin James. They scored twice; one with a field goal and another with a touchdown to go up 10-7. Both young quarterbacks struggled mightily and neither attempted any long passes in the first half. Frank Gore did worse that was expected of him and he was stuffed behind the line often. The 49ers wide receivers were quiet in the first half.
After two field goals the 9ers went into half time clinging to a 13-10 lead. Bill Walsh, a legendary NFL coach died over the summer and was honored at halftime. The 3rd quarter went by without either team scoring and the fans snoring. Both teams consistently were shut down by the defense and the 49ers and Cardinals had to punt often. When the score stayed 13-10 nearing the end of the 4th quarter, the 9ers felt confident that they would win the game.
However, with about 5 minutes left in the game, the Cardinals drove right down the field led by Edgerrin James’ smash mouth running. They did a play action pass to Anquan Boldin who scored to take the lead, 17-13. With 2 min. left in the game the 49ers hope faded. They had only gained 30 yards so far in the entire second half, how were they supposed to drive 85 yards in 2 min. for a touchdown. Alex Smith, who had been horrible up till that point completed some short passes and ran for a long 1st down. Then he completed a post to Arnaz Battle who fumbled at the 1-yard line. He redeemed himself by scoring on the next play to win the game.
Star cornerback Nate Clements dazzled in the secondary and shut down Larry Fitzgerald. 1st round draft pick Patrick Willis also was solid at linebacker. Frank Gore and Alex Smith both disappointed in the opener but managed to scrape an important win to open the season.
