The San Francisco 49ers kept pace in the NFC West title race and dealt a blow to division rival Arizona’s playoff hopes with a 27-6 victory over the Cardinals on Monday.
Brian Westbrook, coming in for injured running back Frank Gore, had 136 rushing yards to help the 49ers climb within a game of first place in the West despite owning a 4-7 record.
After starting the season 0-5, San Francisco now have a real chance of making the playoffs for the first time since 2002 as the two teams above them in the division — St Louis and Seattle — have 5-6 records.
PHOTO: AFP
Westbrook had carried the ball just five times prior to Monday’s game, but he took his chance when Gore went down with a hip ailment in the first quarter.
“I was fresh, only having five carries,” Westbrook told reporters after he recorded his first 100-yard rushing game since 2008. “I try to go out there and get ready every single week and this week I got the opportunity.”
Gore returned to the game briefly, but Westbrook handled the load, taking 23 carries and recording an eight-yard score in the first half where San Francisco claimed a 21-6 lead.
Michael Crabtree caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Troy Smith for the opening score just over five minutes into the game and Anthony Dixon added a one-yard touchdown as the 49ers led 14-3 after the first quarter.
Quarterback Troy Smith improved to 3-1 since becoming the starter in place of Alex Smith and San Francisco finished with 261 yards on the ground to control the clock.
Arizona’s (3-8) offense could manage only two field goals as the Cards slid to their sixth successive defeat, their longest losing streak since dropping eight in a row in 2006.
Arizona quarterback Derek Anderson completed just 16 of 35 passes with an interception. Following the game he responded angrily to a reporter who asked why he was seen smiling on the sidelines during the loss.
“Every single week I put my heart and soul into this,” Anderson said.
“I don’t want to go out there and get embarrassed on Monday Night Football in front of everybody,” he said.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS