The Cardinals mixed some things up on defense and got the desired result against the 49ers.
No matter where he puts them in his house, the game balls for Christian Kirk would serve as bookends.
The Cardinals’ only two wins this season have started and ended with a familiar call: “Rosen to Kirk for the touchdown!”
And if anyone is getting used to that call, it’s 49ers fans.
The Cardinals’ first play against San Francisco in Week 5 was a 75-yard touchdown from Josh Rosen to Kirk. On Sunday, sandwiching 111 other plays against the San Francisco defense, the Cardinals capped a game-winning drive with the same rookie-to-rookie connection. Arizona notched its second win of the season, 18-15.
It was also the first touchdown at home for Kirk, an Arizona native who played high school ball at Scottsdale Saguaro.
Kirk finished the game with just three catches on seven targets, but two of his catches and that game-winning touchdown came on the final drive.
It took a while for the connection to get re-established Sunday. Kirk’s first catch came midway through the second quarter.
Prior to that, he had only been targeted once. Rosen thought he had Kirk over the middle in the second quarter, but San Francisco safety Jaquiski Tartt darted across to intercept Rosen.
It was Rosen’s lone interception of the game, and he didn’t let it rattle him.
The Cardinals orchestrated their fourth-quarter turnaround behind Rosen, who was 7-for-12 as the Cardinals drove 73 yards to take the lead. It culminated with the touchdown to Kirk, a 13-yard pass over the middle with 0:34 left in the game.
For a few moments after, Kirk stayed on the ground as fans erupted, but he wasn’t exactly soaking in his first touchdown in front of the home crowd.
“I laid there for a second because it didn’t feel good, getting hit like that,” said Kirk, who was drilled on the play. “So, I kind of had to let that wear off.”
Once it did, other emotions took over.
“It feels amazing; it was just a lot of pent up emotion,” he said.
“Obviously, we’ve all been kind of frustrated with what’s been happening, and this week I think we just approached it with a different attitude, a different mindset, a lot of energy, working our tails off and it just all came out tonight and worked for us.”
The change in mood in the locker room was clear for the 2-6 Cardinals. Kirk joked with veteran Larry Fitzgerald about which of them would be buying dinner once they left the stadium. If Fitzgerald gets his way, it sounds like Kirk is buying steaks for the whole restaurant.
Rosen also said more than once how much fun he had in the comeback.
The rookie quarterback finished 23for-40 with 252 yards. Rosen still has a lot to learn, but the game-winning touchdown to Kirk was a testament to his ability to make in-game adjustments and learn from some of those incompletions.
“That was the same play earlier in the game with the same short motion with Ricky (Seals-Jones),” Rosen said. “It was a specific look that I kind of missed a little bit earlier in the game and came back to it, and Christian can tell you, we knew where the ball was going before the ball was snapped.”
Kirk echoed that he knew the ball was coming right to him. He knew there’d be some defenders there, too.
“I knew just from the depth of my route that I was going to be in-bounds, just based off the ball that Josh gave me,” Kirk said. “I had to stretch out for a little bit, so that’s why I knew, when it hits my hands, I’ve got to tuck it really quick because I’m about to get hit.
“So it seemed like the ball was in the air forever, but once it hit my hands, I’ve just got to make sure I hang on to it.”
Rosen and Kirk haven’t connected for a touchdown outside of the two wins over the 49ers, but both expect the numbers to keep piling up. The two are friends off the field, studying extra film in the apartment complex they both live in.