SANTA CLARA – All it took was 10 seconds for the 49ers’ lead to disappear after an impressive opening offensive drive.
Free safety Adrian Colbert is responsible for the deep middle of the field in the 49ers’ zone defense. But his eyes went to future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, which allowed rookie Christian Kirk to get behind Colbert.
The 49ers surrendered a 75-yard Josh Rosen-to-Kirk touchdown pass on the Cardinals’ first offensive play in their 28-18 loss to Arizona on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. The Cardinals took a 7-6 lead, and the 49ers trailed for the remainder of the game.
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Although the 49ers’ defense played well the rest of the way, it was the first play that set the tone for the team's seventh consecutive loss to the Cardinals.
“You feel bad,” Colbert said. “Some of the plays that you missed were some of the plays that you go over in practice throughout the week. You have to take it with a grain of salt, come back the next day, watch tape and make the corrections on the things that you messed up on.
“It was just an undisciplined play by me. I saw [Fitzgerald] flash and it was just a bad play on my part. It is something that I have to correct.”
Kirk, the recipient of Rosen's deep pass, said he knew since Friday afternoon that the deep ball would be the first play call of the game, so he was eager to see how Colbert would react.
San Francisco 49ers
“At first, he was hanging back,” Kirk said. “We knew he was going to cut [Fitzgerald], so once he planted and drove, I knew we had a shot and just waited for the ball to go up. Once I saw it go up, all I had to do was go finish.”
Veteran cornerback Richard Sherman has remarked previously this season about the inexcusable mistakes being made on defense. Sherman knows the defense as well as anyone, based on his seven seasons in this scheme with the Seattle Seahawks, and he said defensive coordiantor Robert Saleh had the defense prepared for that play.
“It’s frustrating,” Sherman said. “Obviously, the first play of the game on defense, we give up a big play. We just have to be better than that. It was a simple play. It was easy to get stopped and we just didn’t execute it like we needed to. So that’s where you need to because after that they didn’t have much.”
Including the 75-yard pass play, Rosen completed 10 of 25 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The Cardinals, owners of the 32nd-ranked offense in the NFL, totaled just 220 yards of total offense.