SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Arizona Cardinals have spent the past week picking up the pieces from their blowout loss to the Washington Commanders and on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, in grueling heat, they looked whole again in a 24-23 comeback victory over their NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.

The Cardinals needed a 35-yard field goal from kicker Chad Ryland, who was signed off Wednesday by Matt Prater due to knee soreness, with 1:37 left in the game for the deciding points, putting the finishing touches on an emotional and focused week That ended them with a 2-3 record but 2-0 in the division.

“This league is very tough and I was frustrated with the way we played in the first half,” quarterback Kyler Murray said. “I felt like we moved the ball well and the interception gave us a block field goal. I feel like the score doesn’t reflect how well we moved the ball and the way we played.”

“When I said, ‘This competition is difficult’, the margin for error is very small and I feel like we didn’t necessarily give the game away, we just didn’t take advantage of the chances we had when we got there and got the ball put it in the end zone. So that was frustrating. But to battle back, fight back and ultimately win this game on the road against a great team is huge.”

The Cardinals made a statement on their first offensive possession when Murray broke off a 50-yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage. When Murray hit the 44-yard line, Murray pointed, knowing there was nothing but green grass between him and the end zone.

“When (tight end Elijah Higgins) got that block and I cleared the two guys, I was gone,” Murray said. “It’s not often you get to do that in the NFL, but to finally be able to hit it off in a long run was good. It was fun.”

From that point on, the Cardinals’ scoring stagnated. Running back James Conner had just nine yards on six carries at halftime before finishing with 86. The passing game found a rhythm, but not the end zone. Arizona scored just six more points — two field goals by Ryland — until early in the fourth quarter.

At that point, Arizona took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and marched 73 yards in 6:27, ending the drive with a touchdown pass from Murray to Higgins that brought Arizona within 23–21.

Marvin Harrison Jr. Didn’t really play a role on Sunday until late in the fourth when he picked up a game-changing first down. To that point, he had caught just one pass on six targets for 22 yards, with his most recent target coming at the 2:17 mark of the third quarter. Then, with 2:49 left in the game, on fourth-and-5 from their own 40, Murray went back to Harrison for what Gannon called a “gotta have it” play.

A miss on the play and Arizona would have given the ball back to San Francisco to run out the clock. But with pressure in his face, Murray hit Harrison down the left side of the field for a 14-yard gain to move Arizona within San Francisco territory. Harrison finished with two catches for 36 yards.

“Again, we’ll be better,” Murray said. “He’s young. This is our fifth match together, we’ll figure it out. I’m not worried about it at all, but that just shows the confidence. Fourth, who am I going to?” One-on-one against Marv, I trust Marv to win, and I trust all the guys to win, but that was huge, I think, for his confidence and for us to stay there and keep the chains moving keep.”

Murray took off on the next play for 13 yards and then Conner had 10 on the next play. At the two-minute warning, Arizona had the ball at the Niners 23. Four plays later, Ryland hit a 35-yard field goal to give Arizona the lead.

“They went crazy in the locker room (for Ryland),” Gannon said after the game. “… half the guys don’t even know him.”

San Francisco got the ball back at its own 27 with 92 seconds left. Murray, on the sidelines, couldn’t bear to watch.

“I hated it. I hated it,” Murray said. “Yes, I hated it to be honest. I didn’t want to give them the ball back. I didn’t. I was hoping we could convert and end the game on our terms. That didn’t happen.”

“That comes down to the confidence of the boys. Confidence that they are going to play something, play complementary football. They were behind us the entire game.”

Indeed they did. Despite giving up 384 yards, the 49ers blocked a field goal in the second quarter and gave it back for a touchdown to go up 20–10, and 49ers linebacker Nick Bosa picked off Murray with a screen pass on the next drive, beating the defense the Cardinals didn’t back down. They held San Francisco at the 10-yard line or inside four times, giving up three field goals and recovering a fumble, instead of potentially four touchdowns. It was a sign of resilience, Gannon said.

“We knew they were going to move it, though,” Gannon said. “That’s a good attack, man. They were top of the league and being able to keep points off the board was huge.

“I’m proud of how they fought, man. Really and truly.’

The forced fumble and subsequent recovery was one of three turnovers for the defense. Another came on the 49ers’ final drive that sealed the game. On first-and-10 at the San Francisco 42, safety Jalen Thompson blitzed untouched and hit Niners quarterback Brock Purdy as he was throwing, resulting in the ball popping up in the air. Linebacker Kyzir White crashed it, sealing a second half in which Arizona shut out the 49ers and jumped to second place in the NFC West, while helping put last week’s show to bed.

“They were set on fire. They were set on fire,” Gannon said. “They know it’s a good football team. And last week wasn’t a good performance from us and they took that in some way. But again, that’s why I’m convicted. Of course you never want to look into the past, right Now I don’t want to talk about that, but going into that week, we stuck together. We took the arrow in the forehead and put all our energy and focus into San Fran.

“We had a really good week of practice. Our captains stepped up. The leadership, I thought this week, was tremendous. All four of those guys. (Wide receiver Greg) Dortch played a key role this week with energy and focus. That’s why he’s a game captain. He’s practicing.

“But we had a lot of good guys in our locker room and the reaction was right. Now we have to learn from it and move on to the next one because we’re going to play a very good football team in Green Bay.”