After a 2-0 sweep yesterday with Green Bay and the Indy Colts, my record now stands at 13-5. Lets breakdown tonight’s Monday Night matchup.

Arizona Cardinals (-3.5) over San Francisco 49ers/ Monday 8:35 pm

At the ripe age of 38, Kurt Warner may be playing the best football of his career. As anybody who watched last Sunday Night’s game against the Vikings can see, Warner is releasing the football before the defensive line has a chance to pressure him. With receivers like Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald on the field, Warner is deadly when he is in a rhythm. The duo of Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells are also doing a fine job mixing power and speed just enough to keep the defense off balance. With each passing week this offensive unit gets more comfortable. It is evident when you have the back shoulder throws that are almost impossible to stop when thrown correctly. Boldin and Warner connected on several of them last week, where Boldin just manhandled the opposing cornerback and took the ball away from him. It is a pretty common concept on how to stop a quarterback in the NFL, and the concept also applies to Kurt Warner. To stop him, you must pressure him. The only problem is, when Warner has been pressured by the blitz, he has stepped into the blitz, taken a shot and still delivered the football. He does not get happy feet, he does not flee the pocket prematurely, and he does not throw off of his back foot to avoid a big hit. He is fearless in the pocket and hangs in there until the last possible second. The way to stop Warner will be to bring outside pressure that he does not see. Outside linebackers and cornerbacks will have to blitz for the 49ers, catching Warner off guard.

For the 49ers, who started the season 3-1 and then went into a complete tailspin after having to make a quarterback change, they are very tough to figure out. With Frank Gore in the back field and Alex Smith behind center you would think this would be a run-heavy offense. In reality, the 49ers have decided to transition to a spread offense, similar to what Alex Smith ran at Utah in order to make him feel more comfortable. Of course they now have the ability to run this type of offense now that Michael Crabtree is on the football field. Even their defense has been extremely inconsistent, giving up 34, 6, 30, 3, and 20 in their last five games all against inferior offenses than this Cardinals team. After an impressive victory against the Jaguars, they came out last week and laid an egg against the terrible Seattle Seahawks and gave Frank Gore just 8 carries on the game. I realize they are trying to make Smith comfortable but he is not Peyton Manning, where you can drop him back 30+ times a game and expect to compete. Frank Gore is a power runner and thrives off of the carries you give him. He needsto get in a rhythm just like a quarterback does and until the 49ers start to return to a balanced offense, they will not win games. On top of all of this, Nate Clements, the niner’s starting cornerback is doubtful and left tackle Joe Staley is most likely out tonight. With the way the Cardinals defense likes to put pressure on the passer, Staley’s injury may be a very big part of this game.

All in all the Cardinals are clicking on all cylinders right now. They confused Brett Favre last week, causing him to have the worst game of his brilliant season, they shut down Adrian Peterson fairly easily, and they scored at will on a very talented Vikings Defense. The offense for the Cardinals will be too much for the 49ers to handle as their spread-run style similar to the Colts system is also taking effect as the players learn the complex scheme and it is apparent they are more comfortable with it after each passing week. The 49ers are nothing more than a slightly below average NFL football team right now without a clear identity on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. Alex Smith cannot win football games by himself for you, and when you expect him to do it for you, you are going to end up on the losing end more times than not. Roll with the Cardinals minus the points tonight as we look to push this to our 4th winner in a row. Enjoy the game.

Tags: alex smith, anquan boldin, arizona cardinals, Football, frank gore, indy colts, Johnny G, larry fitzgerald, Monday Night, NFL, night matchup, offensive unit, quarterback change, san francisco 49ers, Week 14