Arizona Cardinals pull away from San Francisco 49ers in second half for needed victory

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Cardinals-49ers game Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium won’t be remembered by many, other than those who are passionate about punting, and it’s not likely to help the NFL’s dwindling television ratings.

To the Cardinals, however, it served as both an awakening and a relief. They were far from perfect in their 33-21 victory, but it was a victory in a game that tested their mettle.

As he sat in front of his locker after the game, defensive tackle Calais Campbell released a big sigh, big even for a man 6-feet-8-inches and 300 pounds.

“It’s huge,” he said. “We’ve been saying all week, ‘It starts with one and then just stack them.’ Now, we have to figure out we can do to keep that ball rolling.”

BOX SCORE: Cardinals 33, 49ers 21

Sure, the 49ers (1-4) are not a good team. But the Cardinals (2-3) haven’t been one this season, either, and they played Thursday night without their starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, who is out with a concussion.

After a rocky start, Drew Stanton was better than serviceable in Palmer’s place, especially when he started getting help from receivers who actually caught passes.

Stanton only completed 11 passes in 28 attempts, but six of the completions, including two touchdowns, went to Larry Fitzgerald.

It wasn’t all that much, but it was enough

“Once I got a chance to settle down, I felt good about everything,” said Stanton, making his first start since 2014. “Throughout the course of a game, you have to find that rhythm, and I hadn’t been out there in awhile. My goal was to come out of here with a victory, and I feel good about accomplishing that goal.”

BICKLEY: Cardinals get just what they needed in win

After the game, coach Bruce Arians preferred the word “hungry” over “desperate” to describe the Cardinals’ psyche entering the game.

“It’s a team that knows we dug a hole for ourselves and we had to win this game,” he said. “If that’s desperate, it’s desperate.”

What the Cardinals could rely upon all night was running back David Johnson, who pounded away at the NFL’s worst rushing defense.

Johnson finished with 157 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns. It was an impressive performance by Johnson and the offensive line, which played most of the second half without its two starting guards – Mike Iupati and Evan Mathis – who suffered ankle injuries.

“He was hot and we never really wore him out,” Arians said. “That’s what expected of him the whole time. He left a few yards out there.”

The defense and special teams came up with three turnovers, including an interception by Campbell at the end of the first half and a forced fumble and recovery by tight end Ifeanyi Momah on the opening kickoff of the second half.

Both led to touchdowns.

“We talked about it at halftime,” Arians said. “The defense doesn’t start the second half, it’s the kickoff team. I gave the whole kickoff cover team the game ball. That turned the whole game around, I thought.”

The Cardinals are not out of trouble, but at least on Thursday, they headed toward the exit signs.

Abysmal is too kind of word to describe either team’s offensive production in the first half, and the game turned on those two turnovers, one near the end of the first half and beginning of the second.

They led to the Cardinals scoring two touchdowns and taking a 14-7 lead.

Fitzgerald, 33, ran two perfect routes for the touchdowns, making double moves on each.

“Larry, he plays more outside receiver than people give him credit for,” Arians said. “We felt we could double move them, and Drew put them in a great spot where (Fitzgerald) could get physical and make the catch.”

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In the first half, the Cardinals had no offensive production until the final minutes. The Cardinals’ first seven possessions ended like this, in order: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt.

In the second half, however, they scored 26 points and punted only twice.

“We come in here, on the road, on a Thursday night, have things stacked against us and have a backup quarterback,” Campbell said. “The biggest thing was whatever it took to get this win. Find a way to get it done and try to figure it out from here.”

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