The latest San Francisco 49ers win might have been too close for comfort for the team's fans, but it was at least fun to watch coming down the stretch.

The 49ers held a 23-6 lead over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday but had to hold them off in the end for a 36-30 win, which was a somewhat different experience than the 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1 and the 35-13 win over the Miami Dolphins last week. But even though it was more tense for fans, perhaps Sunday's game was more indicative of what 49ers games will be like the rest of the way.


"I think the last two weeks we got, not comfortable, but like that's not truly NFL ball where you have your starters sitting out in the fourth quarter, right?" linebacker Fred Warner said Sunday. "I mean, that's great. That's the goal, right? You want to be able to dominate teams, but that's the NFL. You know, it's always close."

The 49ers needed a few clutch plays at the end on offense to hold off the Cardinals, including a touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Purdy to tight end George Kittle with less than two minutes to play that gave the 49ers a 36-27 lead. We'll take a look at that play in this version of 49ers Notebook, as well as the play just beforehand that could have given Purdy the decisive touchdown instead. Plus we'll dive into some other odds and ends, including an incomplete pass to remember and a key stat that shows the success the 49ers have had on offense this season. Let's get into it...

Down the stretch


The Cardinals and 49ers went back and forth throughout the fourth quarter of Sunday's game, first with the Cardinals cutting the lead to 23-20 after getting a short field when they recovered a punt that went off the foot of 49ers defensive back Siran Neal. The 49ers answered with a touchdown of their own to stretch the lead to 29-20, but kicker Eddy Pineiro missed the point-after attempt, keeping the Cardinals within nine points. The Cardinals scored another touchdown to trim the lead to 29-27 with just under three minutes to play.

The Cardinals just needed to force a punt to give themselves a chance at a game-winning drive, but the 49ers didn't let that happen. The 49ers started their decisive drive at their own 35-yard line and got across midfield with an 11-yard catch and 12-yard run by running back Christian McCaffrey, and then they were pushed back to the Cardinals' 45-yard line when McCaffrey was stopped for a three-yard loss. But on the next play, Purdy broke free for a 45-yard run for a touchdown, or so it seemed.


The touchdown was overturned due to a holding penalty on George Kittle that took place right before Purdy reached the end zone. The penalty placed the ball on the 20-yard line, and after a run for no gain by McCaffrey, Kittle got his number called and hauled in a 20-yard completion for a touchdown and a 36-27 lead.



After the game, Kittle and Purdy walked reporters through the sequence of plays that included Kittle's touchdown and the penalty that negated what would have been a highlight play for Purdy. Purdy told reporters he took off running after nothing opened up in the passing game, and with Kittle's help, he got into the end zone.

"Obviously a passing down for us, and I just went through my progression on the right side," Purdy said. "Sort of felt like nothing really declared really quick, so got my eyes to the backside, and felt a hole. And I was like, 'All right, I'm going to take this and try to get as much as we got.' And then sure enough, George was down there blocking, and it just turned out to be a good scramble moment. So, that's all that took place, really."

Officials thought Kittle helped a bit too much, which Kittle carefully disagreed with.

"I'm not going to argue with anything on that," Kittle told NBC Sports Bay Area after the game. "Refs make calls. I disagree with it, but it is what it is."

Kittle's frustration turned to joy two plays later when he made his way into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. He saw it coming based on how things were lined up on previous plays.


"I was so excited when they called that play because the way they've been running downhill this whole drive because they've been doing six on the line," Kittle said. "I was like, 'I'm going to be uncovered here.' And I was uncovered."

The safe decision for Kittle to make would have been to avoid running into the end zone, which would have led to the 49ers being able to run out the clock to win the game. But he wasn't told to avoid a touchdown, so he ran the ball in when he caught it.

"Probably should have just gone out of bounds. We could have kneeled it out," Kittle said. "But no one told me to, so that's their fault, not mine."

The "no one" Kittle referred to is head coach Kyle Shanahan, who admitted afterward he forgot to give instructions to run out the clock.

"That's on me," Shanahan said. "I didn't remind him in the huddle. I don't expect him to be paying attention to the clock ... but I definitely wish I did the play before that."


The Cardinals were able to add a field goal after the touchdown and attempt an onside kick, which was recovered by the 49ers. Those final opportunities could have been negated if the 49ers didn't give the ball back to the Cardinals, but things worked out in the end.

"it was all about getting a first down, running out the clock," Purdy said. "But in that moment, if we had an opportunity to score to make it a two-score game, we've got to do it. Sure enough, I thought it was a great play call. Obviously, just they're trying to stop the run and everything, and then for us to boot out and have George wide open was really cool. But again, that's stuff that we do talk about as a team where if we're in a situation to milk the clock and get a first down, don't want to score, those are things that he tells us ahead of time. But in this moment, it was like, 'Let's go up two scores if they present it to us, and if not, let's continue to chip away, get first downs, and run out the clock that way.'"

Incomplete pass of the year


Maybe one of the most memorable moments in Sunday's game was one that didn't count on the stat sheet.

It came in the first quarter when Purdy escaped the Cardinals' rush by running towards the sidelines, then jumped in the air right before going out of bounds and threw the ball downfield to tight end Luke Farrell. Farrell caught the ball but was ruled out of bounds on the play.


Fans in Levi's Stadium gasped and cheered upon seeing the replay, which made it seem like Farrell may have actually gotten both feet in bounds. But the pass was ruled incomplete, and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan decided not to challenge the call.


We'll never know how officials would have reacted had the catch gone to replay, but the pass will forever go into the record books as being incomplete. Still, it was another dazzling moment for Purdy, who has a habit of trying to make such plays.

"That doesn't even shock me anymore with him because he's always trying to keep the play alive and make the right play," guard Dominick Puni said. "And it was the right play. It was a perfect ball, a perfect catch, just the out-of-bounds line was too close to us. But Brock, he's such a baller, and Luke for almost catching it and almost keeping it in, it's a special bond they've got."

Clean pockets


Purdy finished Sunday's game with 297 yards and four touchdowns on 15-of-27 passing. He now stands at 789 passing yards through three games with nine touchdowns and one interception on 60-of-83 passing.

And there's another stat surrounding Purdy's start that the 49ers love to see, which is zero sacks allowed. Purdy gave credit all around on Sunday for that number, which has certainly helped him get off to a torrid start to the season.

"That's everybody," Purdy said. "Obviously, the play calling, the boys up front, the receivers being on top of making sure they're running the right routes and getting the ball out on time and stuff on our end at quarterback. So, it's a unit thing. It takes everybody.


"Obviously it starts with the boys up front too, though. They're playing their butt off right now. Like I've said before, they've all played with each other for a while. They understand all their different rules and passing things off and they're playing really hard right now. So, proud of those guys. But, obviously it's early in the season and we've got to turn the page and learn from this game and get ready for next week."

The offensive line had to finish the game Sunday without All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, who left the game with a shoulder stinger. They'll be challenged next Sunday against the Denver Broncos with or without Williams, who gave some credit to Purdy for the offensive line's performance so far.

"(There's) some good, some things we can clean up," Williams told reporters Sunday. "It'd be hard to give you a fair assessment without watching the film from this past game. But I think our quarterback makes it easy on us to protect him. He gets the ball out. So that process is going pretty good. Obviously, we can do better here and there, but it's all going pretty good. It's not where we want to be, but we're heading that way."

Not-so-steady Eddy


Eddy Pineiro has been almost automatic since the team added him last season, but on Sunday he was shakier than usual.

Pineiro came through at the end of the first half with a 57-yard field goal to put the 49ers up 17-6, but he missed two consecutive extra points in the second half. Had the Cardinals been able to force a punt with the 49ers up 29-27 late in the fourth quarter, they would have been able to take the win with a field goal instead of the touchdown they would have needed if Pineiro made those extra points.


Pineiro was well on his way toward possibly getting a game ball from Kyle Shanahan after his long field goal, but the missed PATs changed the head coach's mind.

"I thought that (57)-yard field goal he made at the end of the second quarter was one of the biggest kicks I've seen," Shanahan said. "I mean, for us to get down there and have a chance to kick it that far with whatever we had—I think there was 20 seconds maybe on the clock, maybe 17 when he started. I mean, that was such a big-time kick. And then, especially for us to open it in the third quarter and have a chance to lap them, which we did. I was going to probably give him a game ball or something, but he ruined that with the two extra points missed."

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