Cardinals React to Eye-Opening Victory

The Arizona Cardinals battled for 60 minutes - and their work paid off.

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals were never truly out of it.

It looked as if the San Francisco 49ers were well on their way to rolling through the Cardinals at the beginning of the second half, though Arizona's defense stepped up in major fashion - shutting out one of the game's best offensive minds in Kyle Shanahan for the final two quarters en route to a victory.

"That’s a really good win for us. That's a good football team over there. They're well coached. You have a lot of good players. They do things the right way here, which is why they've been so successful for the last however many years," said head coach Jonathan Gannon.

"Down at half, but still felt really good about what we were doing. Had a couple of plays go against us there, with the block kick for a touchdown and the interception, so the game kind of swung in their favor. But we battled. They were convicted at halftime. We talked about it all week, what kind of game it was going to be. We wanted to get to the fourth quarter and have a chance to win a game. And that's what we did.

"If you look at the second half, off the top of my head, three takeaways by the defense, scoring drives by the offense, field goals, special teams. Blake hit a huge punt that flipped the field, which was huge for us. All three phases, they stayed connected. They played well.”

The Cardinals are now 2-3 moving into their Week 6 battle against Green Bay with a 2-0 mark within the NFC West.

“Yeah, I'm focused on right now obviously, that it's huge to go two and 0 in the division. To be able to
flush last week and coming here against the divisional opponent and get a win on the road. Just to be
able to go home with a win, man. I think it does wonders for us," said quarterback Kyler Murray.

"I'm not looking forward to down the line, but it's the biggest one because it's the next one. It's the current game that we're playing. So, I'm excited to get back and watch the film.”

Arizona was coming off one of their worst performances in the Gannon era, courtesy of Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.

That was only fuel for the fire, says linebacker Kyzir White.

“Yeah, terrible performance last week. We put that on the back burner, used it as fuel, and came out here against the Super Bowl contender, multiple NFC championship team. We came out here and we battled," said White.

"We got punched in the mouth at times, but we kept punching back and ultimately came out with the win. Definitely proud of my guys and I feel like it could still be a lot better.”

There's been a consistent message from the Cardinals: Control what you can control.

“If you stick with it, the game will reward you. There’s no point in getting frustrated. We just control what we can control," Cardinals running back James Conner told reporters.

"We stuck with it in the second half and we were able to put drives together and getpoints, so it worked out.”

Make sure to bookmark Cardinals On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

- How Cardinals Continue to Excel in Red Zone
- Report: Cardinals Lose Starting OL for Season
- Tom Brady Shouts Out Kyler Murray
- Analyst: Cowboys Should Trade for Budda Baker