Defense comes up big late in 49ers’ win
Damontre Moore and Co. shirk injuries, early struggles and come through clutch in the end
SANTA CLARA >> Last Sunday, lineman Damontre Moore was cooking and watching his 6-month-old son at his house outside of Dallas, wondering if he would ever play in the NFL again.
This Sunday, he made the play that sealed the 49ers’ 36-26 win over the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium.
With the Cardinals down four with 31 seconds left, Moore tracked down receiver KeeSean Johnson from behind and forced a fumble that was recovered by safety Jaquiski Tartt at the Arizona 30. The 49ers later scored a defensive touchdown on the final play, sealing a turnaround for a team that was coming off a wrenching overtime loss to Seattle on Monday night and trailed 16-0 early against the Cardinals.
“I wanted to be as talented as (linebacker Fred Warner) and punch the ball out, but a part of me was like, ‘No, just secure the tackle and put your head on the ball,’” Moore said.
Moore, 27, was cut by the 49ers in the preseason despite a team-high 17 pressures. He was re-signed by the 49ers on Wednesday after Ronald Blair tore his ACL against Seattle.
“Just to experience all this being out all these weeks and wondering if this was really the end of my career, it was so emotional,” Moore said. “Like my dad always says, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
That was true of the entire unit, which came in second in the NFL in scoring defense (14.3) but allowed two touchdowns and a field goal in Arizona’s first four drives. Just 18 minutes into the game, the
their biggest deficit of the season.
“I think it’s great,” said Warner, who had a teamhigh 12 tackles. “It’s only going to make us stronger going forward knowing that we’ve been there before if we get in that situation again.”
Unlike the game in Arizona on Oct. 31, when the 49ers gave up an 88yard touchdown pass in a 28-25 win, there were no egregious errors by the defense (Arizona’s longest play Sunday was 23 yards). Instead, Kyler Murray kept the 49ers off balance with two passing TDs to go along with 67 rushing yards, including a 22yard TD run in the fourth
quarter.
The Cardinals also benefitted from three first-half pass interference penalties by Richard Sherman, who had only been called for six PIs total since the start of the 2016 season.
Sherman characterized the penalties as “really interesting,” especially the first one, which was reversed after an Arizona challenge and moved the ball up 41 yards to the 3.
“It’s football. Everything is subjective,” Sherman said. “You just continue to battle and continue to fight, and that’s what our team did. You can’t make excuses, it’s just on to the next play.”
Murray finished 24 of 33 passing for 150 yards and no turnovers, with a 101.8 passing rating that was 36 points higher than opposing QBs have averaged
against San Francisco this season. But the 49ers eventually got more pressure on him, and sacks by DeForest Buckner, Dee Ford, Arik Armstead and Jimmie Ward gave San Francisco seven straight games with at least three sacks.
Buckner celebrated by doing Blair’s sack celebration to honor his fellow lineman. Armstead’s sack was the most critical — it came on third-and-5 with three minutes left and Arizona up 3, giving the 49ers offense the chance to win the game.
After back-to-back weeks of going against dual-threat QBs in Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson, it doesn’t get any easier for the 49ers defense, which now faces 8-2 Green Bay and QB Aaron Rodgers coming off a bye.