What we learned as Brock Purdy, CMC, Kittle fuel 49ers' big win vs. Cardinals

BOX SCOREQuarterback Brock Purdy’s return to the 49ers’ starting lineup on Sunday went as well as San Francisco could have hoped.Purdy and the 49ers romped over the Arizona Cardinals, 41-22, at State Farm Stadium to improve to 7-4 this season.Playing in his first game since Week 4, and his third contest overall this season, Purdy completed 19 of 26 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. He didn’t throw any interceptions, though he came close on a few instances when he dangerously threw into traffic.Christian McCaffrey had a productive day, gaining 81 yards on 13 carries and scoring two rushing touchdowns. He also caught five passes for 40 yards and one touchdown.Purdy’s favorite target, tight end George Kittle, caught six passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns. Career touchdown No. 50 for Kittle pic.twitter.com/Pr0iG5TYrL — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 Wide receiver/kick returner Skyy Moore got the 49ers off to a great start, taking the opening kickoff 98 yards to the Cardinals’ 1-yard line, setting up McCaffrey’s first touchdown of the day.A few minutes later, Purdy hit Kittle for a pretty 30-yard touchdown pass, giving the 49ers an early 13-0 lead after Eddy Piñeiro missed the extra point.The Cardinals (3-7) scored on their next drive, but the 49ers never let them get much closer, pulling away for an easy win over their NFC West rival.McCaffrey iced the win late in the fourth quarter with a season-long 20-yard run down to the 4-yard line, followed by an easy touchdown run — his third score of the day. CMC for the hat trick pic.twitter.com/IAbamSTmBu — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 San Francisco now will prepare for a “Monday Night Football” showdown with the 6-5 Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium.Here are Matt Maiocco’s takeaways from the 49ers’ bounce-back win:Purdy looks like PurdyPurdy returned to action after being sidelined for the last six games with turf toe, and it did not take him long to get back into the swing of things.After throwing incomplete on his first attempt, he hit Jauan Jennings for 25 yards and Demarcus Robinson for 13. On the next play, he found Kittle along the right side for a 30-yard touchdown. The Purdy-Kittle connection is BACKKKK pic.twitter.com/vQrTPIlyUO — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 Purdy was well-protected and ended the first half with 10 completions on his 15 attempts for 123 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 131.4.The 49ers’ 25 points in the first half were the team’s top first-half output since Purdy’s first career start. The 49ers scored 28 points in the first half of their 35-7 victory over Tampa Bay on Dec. 11, 2022. CMC finds the end zone again pic.twitter.com/1QPdSRp83d — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 Special teams’ ups and downsThe 49ers’ vastly improved special teams made a strong contribution on Sunday. That phase of the game also had its flashbacks to the 2024 season.Things could not have started much better for the 49ers, as Moore returned the opening kickoff 98 yards to the 1-yard line. McCaffrey scored on a 1-yard run on the 49ers’ first play from scrimmage. Skyy Moore ALMOST housed the opening kick pic.twitter.com/1hdWkqQoD7 — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 One play, one yard, six points for CMC pic.twitter.com/RfY9zhjvxa — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 But Piñeiro had an extra point blocked and missed another extra point to the right. The 49ers also gave up a long punt return and Brian Robinson Jr. had a long kickoff return. Neither of those plays led to any points.Piñeiro had a 62-yard attempt blocked, but he got another chance when Calais Campbell was called for unnecessary roughness. Piñeiro made a 47-yarder on the final play of the first half for a 25-10 lead.Mustapha’s momentum-swingerArizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett does not throw many interceptions. The 49ers’ defense is not exactly known for coming up with takeaways.But late in the first half, those rare occurrences converged.Malik Mustapha made his first interception of the season on a deep throw intended for Xavier Weaver with just 19 seconds left in the first half. The 49ers had enough time to get into range for Piñeiro’s field goal as time expired in the first half. Malik Mustapha gets the INT pic.twitter.com/Uv44I3mSdi — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) November 16, 2025 The 49ers’ defense had a difficult time putting consistent pressure on Brissett. But they made the plays at the right times to get off the field, enabling them to build a comfortable lead.In the end, Brissett completed an NFL record 47 passes on 57 attempts for 452 yards. But the Cardinals committed a franchise record 17 penalties for 130 yards, offsetting anything positive from the offense.Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast

What we learned as Brock Purdy, CMC, Kittle fuel 49ers’ big win vs. Cardinals

Similar Article Found

Recap: 49ers romp over error-prone Cardinals in 41-22 victory

Read Next

Latest

Trending News