SANTA CLARA — Trap game, huh?
The 49ers seemed to be on Sunday and certainly not looking ahead to their Week 5 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
The 49ers executed the offense correctly against the Arizona Cardinals and flew to the defense to jump out to an early lead.
But the scrappy Cardinals hung in and made the 49ers work hard for a 35-16 win at Levi’s Stadium.
Christian McCaffrey scored a career-best four touchdowns and super-efficient quarterback Brock Purdy did what he has done since breaking into the 49ers’ starting lineup last season.
The 49ers (4-0) remain undefeated heading into their Sunday night showdown against the Cowboys.
Here are the big takeaways from the Week 4 win over the Cardinals (1-3):
The McCaffrey Show continues
McCaffrey, coming off NFC Offensive Player of the Month honors, started October in good form, too.
McCaffrey rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, while catching seven passes for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Whenever the 49ers needed anything, coach Kyle Shanahan made sure to get the ball in McCaffrey’s hands.
McCaffrey ended the 49ers’ first drive of the game with a 1-yard touchdown run. It was the 13th consecutive game, including the postseason, in which he entered the end zone.
That streak broke a tie held by Jerry Rice (1987) for the longest streak in franchise history. He tied Emmitt Smith and Arian Foster for the second-longest hitting streak behind Smith, who also had a 14-game streak during the 1995 season.
But McCaffrey saved his best for the 49ers’ next possession.
McCaffrey caught a lateral pass from Brock Purdy down the right sideline in the second quarter and blocked rookie cornerback Kei-Trel Clark while picking up blocks from Kyle Juszczyk, George Kittle, Jake Brendel and Deebo Samuel to score. on an 18-yard run that LeBron James described as “EVERYONE LAUGHING!!!!”
Of course, McCaffrey wasn’t done.
He added a 6-yard touchdown reception from Purdy for McCaffrey’s 18th touchdown in 18 games with the 49ers.
Purdy is so perfect
Purdy completed 20 of 21 pass attempts for 283 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and a passer rating of 134.6.
He set the 49ers’ single-game record for completion percentage at 95.2 percent. The previous record (least 20 attempts) was Steve Young, 1991 vs. Detroit (18 of 20) 90 percent.
The 49ers touched the ball on just three drives in the first half (not including a kneel in the final seconds), and every possession ended in a touchdown.
Purdy didn’t put the ball on the ground before halftime, completing all 10 of his pass attempts for 145 yards and a touchdown. His first-half passer rating was 152.1.
It was the first time a 49ers quarterback didn’t throw an incomplete pass in the first half of a game with at least 10 attempts since Steve Young (also 10-for-10) on October 16, 1994, against the Atlanta Falcons .
Brandon Aiyuk returned to action and tallied the game’s longest catch with 42 receptions against double coverage when he returned for the ball to make a finger-tip grab.
Aiyuk caught three passes for 69 yards in the first half of his return to action after missing the 49ers’ Week 3 game against the New York Giants with a shoulder injury. He finished the game with 148 yards on six receptions.
Dobbs gave the 49ers defense a go
The 49ers defense has some things to clean up before the Cowboys come to town.
While they forced two punts on Arizona’s first two possessions of the game, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ team didn’t have much of an answer for quarterback Josh Dobbs, who the Cardinals acquired in a trade of two just days before their final 2023 preseason game.
The 49ers struggled to slow down Arizona once Dobbs got rolling. Arizona was especially good on third downs against San Francisco’s vaunted defense. Dobbs helped the Cardinals convert eight of 15 third-down opportunities.
And he engineered long scoring drives at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third quarter to pull Arizona within striking range.
Dobbs completed 28 of 41 passes for 265 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions.
The 49ers didn’t apply much pressure on Dobbs, but defensive tackle Javon Hargrave dropped him for an 8-yard loss on a third-and-10 play in the fourth quarter that stymied an Arizona drive.
The 49ers held a 21-3 lead in the second quarter. But Arizona’s 99-yard scoring drive in the third quarter pulled them within 21-16.
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