Week 3 takeaways: Arizona had the ball for 38 minutes and never led

San Francisco beat Arizona 36-30 at Levi's Stadium on Sunday and is 3-0. The 49ers scored on their first possession and led for the rest of the afternoon. Arizona got within two points with 2:51 left and within six with 34 seconds left, and never in front.

The Cardinals held the ball for 38:44 of the 60 minutes. San Francisco scored 36 points on 50 offensive plays.

1. Purdy needed 27 throws#

Fifteen of 27 for 297 yards, four touchdowns, no interception, a passer rating of 133.8. San Francisco averaged 11.0 yards per pass play and 8.7 per play overall, on 50 offensive plays for 437 yards. Arizona ran 81 plays for 365, at 4.5.

Purdy was not sacked. It is the third straight game in which that line reads zero, and this one included 22 snaps with a backup at left tackle.

He also ran for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:52 left that did not count, which is the next item.

2. Kittle's hold took a touchdown off the board, and Kittle put one back#

George Kittle was flagged for offensive holding on Purdy's scramble, and the penalty moved the ball from the end zone back to the Arizona 20. Two snaps later Purdy threw deep right to Kittle for a 20-yard touchdown, and with 1:31 left it was 36-27.

Kittle caught six of the seven passes thrown to him for 82 yards and both fourth-quarter touchdowns. The first was a 10-yarder at 8:42 that ended an eight-play, 65-yard drive. He was on the field for 46 of 54 offensive snaps.

3. The defense was on the field for 87 snaps and held Arizona's longest completion to 19 yards#

Jacoby Brissett threw 52 passes and completed 38 of them for 280 yards. That is 7.4 yards a completion. Arizona's longest pass play went 19 yards. The Cardinals ran it 27 times for 93.

The volume still told. Arizona converted 9 of 18 third downs and both of its fourth downs, and its three touchdown drives in the second half ran 14, 5 and 14 plays. Five of its ten possessions got inside the San Francisco 20, and three of those five ended in touchdowns.

Fred Warner played all 87 defensive snaps and was credited with 17 combined tackles. Nobody else on either side had more than 13, and Renardo Green had those.

4. Nine defensive linemen dressed, and two of them had never played an NFL game#

The line was missing Nick Bosa, Romello Height and James Thompson Jr., all inactive, and Sunday's nine produced both sacks. Keion White took Brissett down for eight yards in the fourth quarter. Ogbo Okoronkwo got him for no gain in the third.

Sebastian Valdez, elevated on Saturday, played 32 of 87 snaps in his NFL debut and was credited with three tackles. Kevin Givens played 21 and was credited with a quarterback hit. Vili Fehoko played 13. Osa Odighizuwa played 71, the most of any lineman.

Gracen Halton, the rookie, played 30 snaps and was credited with a tackle for loss and a pass defensed before he left with cramps.

5. Deebo Samuel scored the first touchdown on a lateral, and Jordan Watkins got his first snaps#

On third and 12 from the San Francisco 18, Purdy threw short left to Mike Evans for two yards and Evans pitched the ball to Samuel, who went 80 yards. The book credits it as an 82-yard pass play. Samuel finished with no targets and 80 receiving yards.

Watkins, inactive for the first two games, played 15 of 54 offensive snaps and caught both passes thrown to him for 60 yards. The second was a 34-yarder with 17 seconds left in the half that set up Eddy Piñeiro's 57-yard field goal as time expired.

Jacob Cowing, who played 29 snaps across the first two games without a target, was thrown to twice and caught neither.

6. The kicking game handed back points#

Piñeiro made the 57-yarder and missed two extra points, wide left after Christian McCaffrey's one-yard touchdown run and off the right upright after Kittle's first touchdown. Made, those two kicks would have had San Francisco up four at 2:51 instead of two.

With 41 seconds left in the third quarter, Siran Neal muffed a punt that Arizona recovered at the San Francisco 28. The Cardinals scored five plays later.

7. Evans and Williams both left, and Shanahan did not know yet what Evans has#

Evans went down on an incompletion over the middle with 1:45 left in the second quarter and was ruled out at halftime. He had three catches on six targets for 34 yards and a 23-yard touchdown, on 18 snaps. "We don't know yet. We couldn't tell if it was a broken rib; we couldn't tell if it was an oblique, so it's something we'll find out probably more tomorrow," Kyle Shanahan said afterward.

Trent Williams left in the third quarter with a stinger, according to Shanahan. He was carted to the locker room, came back to the sideline without his helmet and did not return. He played 32 of 54 offensive snaps. Vederian Lowe played the other 22.

Dre Greenlaw left late with a quad. "He came back for one play, then we shut him down," Shanahan said. Deommodore Lenoir and Green were each evaluated for a concussion and each returned. Garret Wallow left with a stinger and returned.

Without Evans, the receivers on the 53 who finished the game were Samuel, KhaDarel Hodge, Cowing and Watkins. Denver is next, on Sunday.

Sources: NFL official game book, Arizona at San Francisco, Sept. 27, 2026 (scoring, individual, team, drive, defensive and playtime pages, play-by-play); Kyle Shanahan postgame, via Nick Wagoner, ESPN, Sept. 27, and David Bonilla, 49ers Webzone, Sept. 27; club inactives release, Sept. 27.