After a dominating Week 2 victory over the Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco 49ers return to NFC West play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Cardinals could have had some momentum coming into Week 3 after their “upset” win in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers, but all that came to a halt after getting trounced by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2.
But the 49ers once again got some bad injury news with the announcement of Nick Bosa’s calf injury. While that certainly changes the outlook
on the 49ers season, it shouldn’t change the result against a lesser Arizona team.
Here are the three numbers to know entering Week 3:
50
Sacks. The 49ers rostered defensive line has combined for 50 career sacks.
For reference, I am going off of Matt Maiocco’s tweet from Friday afternoon after the news of Nick Bosa’s calf injury went public.
It was a rough way for 49ers fans to wake up on Friday morning with the news of Bosa’s newest injury that will cost him a few weeks. Unfortunately for the 49ers, they mostly ignored the need for pass rushers along the defensive front for the offseason, and Sunday will be the first real showing of that lack of depth.
San Francisco’s big move this offseason was trading for Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, who accounts for 17 of the 50 sacks. And while Odighizuwa helps the interior pass rush, the exterior rush wasn’t really addressed. The 49ers drafted Romello Height to help Bosa, but with him also out against Arizona, it’ll likely be Keion White and his 8.5 career sacks in the No. 1 role.
Behind White, it looks like it will be Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, who matches Odighizuwa’s 17 career sacks but hasn’t recorded more than five in a season since 2022.
Bosa going down with an injury was a worst-case scenario San Francisco hoped to avoid, but here we are, three weeks into the season, with the pass rush already at code red. Obviously, the sooner Bosa returns, the better, but it will be a tough watch until the All-Pro pass rusher returns.
25/9
TD/INT ratio. Jacoby Brissett has thrown for 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions in his 16 games as the Cardinals quarterback.
While Arizona’s record under Brissett will be at the forefront, the veteran quarterback has quietly been good for the Cardinals. While the Cardinals are 2-12 under Brissett since he took over, he has been putting up the numbers you’d come to expect from Brissett, even though he doesn’t get talked about among the best quarterbacks in the league.
What might be Brissett’s best trait is how he doesn’t turn the ball over much. He has a 1.6 interception percentage with Arizona, which is actually higher than his career average. Actually, let’s do a quick exercise: quick, without looking it up, who has the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, minimum 2,300 pass attempts?
No, it’s not Brissett; it’s Aaron Rodgers, who has a career interception percentage of 1.4055. But right behind him is Brissett, who’s thrown an interception on 1.428 percent of his 2,311 career pass attempts.
But what Brissett has improved on with Arizona is his scoring ability. Before joining Arizona, Brissett’s touchdown percentage sat at 3.0 percent. In his 16 games with Arizona, Brissett has thrown a touchdown on 4.5 percent of his passes, the highest touchdown rate for any of the five teams he has started for in his 11-year career.
The 49ers defense will be without Bosa and haven’t exactly been forcing turnovers the past two seasons. Brissett could create an interesting matchup for the 49ers defense, especially with the weapons he has around him.
7
Games. The Cardinals have lost seven straight NFC West games, dating back to last season.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they do not get the advantage of playing the Arizona Cardinals twice per season, but instead get the murderer’s row of the 49ers, Rams, and Seahawks twice each year. And in 2025, that was an especially tough schedule, with the trio all winning more than 12 games last season, with Arizona only winning three.
With their 31-7 loss against the Seahawks in Week 2, Arizona’s NFC West losing streak extended to seven games. That streak started last season, when Mac Jones and Eddy Pinieiro led the 49ers to a 16-15 win at Levi’s Stadium. That would be the closest Arizona would get to an NFC West win in 2025.
During the seven-game skid, Arizona has been outscored by an average score of 33.8-17.6, an average defeat of more than two scores. It’s been so bad, Arizona has allowed more than 30 points (5) more times than they’ve been able to tally more than 20 points (4) during the streak.
Now, the last two Arizona divisional wins have come against the 49ers, both occurring in 2024. Arizona topped the 49ers in their first 2024 matchup by shutting San Francisco out in the second half en route to a 24-23 win. The second matchup wasn’t better for the 49ers, with Arizona blowing out a 49ers offense led by Joshua Dobbs and Patrick Taylor, closing the 2024 season with a 47-23 victory.
But Arizona has been shut out in the NFC West since, and there’s no reason to expect the losing streak to end Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
