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Will the 49ers Pluck the Cardinals?

I don't think that Shanahan will rest anyone completely, but I hope he limits the usage of all the super stars, stars and key starters.

Ted Hazelrig

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This Sunday at Levi's Stadium, the Cardinals will be without DeAndre Hopkins, Kyler Murray, Rondale Moore, Justin Pugh, Rodney Hudson, Colt McCoy, Antoine Wesley, DJ Humphries, Zach Ertz, Rashard Lawrence, Byron Murphy Jr. and Budda Baker, to name a few.

Then they have a slew of guys who are questionable: James Conner, Robbie Anderson, Kevin Beachum, Billy Price, Leki Fotu, Antonio Hamilton, Chris Banjo, Marco Wilson, Zach Allen, Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons.

Basically, everyone you know and don't know, besides Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, Greg Dortch, AJ Green, Trey McBride, Marcus Golden and the retiring JJ Watt.

The 49ers should pluck the Cardinals and win this game easily -- even without Christian McCaffrey, Dre Greenlaw, Aaron Banks, Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell, if they don't play. The argument for Samuel and Mitchell playing is to help get them into game shape for the playoffs. I don't think that Shanahan will rest anyone completely, but I hope he limits the usage of all the super stars, stars and key starters. It's possible that the 49ers get trapped, while looking forward to wildcard weekend, but I'd say that's very unlikely.

The biggest question on my mind is wether Nick Bosa can get 2.5 or more sacks to beat Aldon Smith's 49ers single season sacks record of 19.5? Either way, Bosa should win the DPOY award.

The second biggest question is whether McCaffrey can overtake Eric Dickerson's record of 1145 yards as the most ever for a midseason acquisition? He already has 1131 yards as 49er, plus 670 as a member of the Panthers equals 1791 total scrimmage yards for the 2022 season thus far.

As always, I will reply to this article with my official score prediction about an hour before kickoff, once we know exactly who will play and who won't.

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Ted Hazelrig
TED HAZELRIG

Ted Hazelrig grew up on the mid peninsula in the '70s and '80s and is a life-long, rabid 49ers fan from prior to Eddie DeBartlolo Jr., Joe Montana and Bill Walsh, all the way through to the present. He is a graduate of Santa Clara University, who enjoys golf, biking, hiking, tennis and water/snow skiing. He was a 49ers season ticket holder at Candlestick Park and still attends several games every season at Levi's Stadium.  His career has been as a tech recruiter, but he would like nothing more than to pivot into covering the 49ers on a full-time basis. He loves to read, watch and listen to all the brilliant 49ers content creators. To take his knowledge to the ultimate extreme, he has found that arguing with passionate and knowledgeable fans of both the 49ers and opposing teams really puts his knowledge over the top.  Right now, his most hated team is the Seattle Seahawks. For many years it was the Troy Aikman led Dallas Cowboys and for a while the Brett Favre led Packers. The Patrick Mahomes led Chiefs are his most-hated AFC team. Ted's second-favorite team is the Josh Allen led Buffalo Bills. While he may like other teams, Ted is passionate about the 49ers. He endeavors to always be honest, polite, not profane and never get personal. He got his break covering the 49ers for @49ersHive and also has written some articles for @49ersCap. You can find him at @TedH6 on twitter, or Ted Talks Ball on YouTube and other platforms. Ted is thrilled to join Grant Cohn and his extremely talented team at @All49ersFN.

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