49ers vs. Cardinals 2015 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online

This is all you need to know about the NFC West matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.

by James Brady

Sep 27, 2015, 1:50 PM UTC

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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The Arizona Cardinals are 2-0 on the season and look like they might just be the new force in the NFC West if they can keep up this level of play. They'll do themselves a big favor in the division if they down the San Francisco 49ers in their Week 3 game on Sunday.

San Francisco is 1-1 after two weeks, beating the Minnesota Vikings in the opener but being thoroughly dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2. If they can beat the Cardinals then they'll be on equal footing in the division, with the Seattle Seahawks back by at least a game.

But why is Arizona looking so good at this point? It's because Carson Palmer has been excellent for them and the Cardinals have been great at keeping him upright. Palmer is getting up there in years and has a long injury history, but when he's healthy and not under duress he's one of the top quarterbacks in the league.

Through two weeks, the Cardinals haven’t allowed a single sack, and Palmer has only been hit a handful of times. As a unit, the offensive line is playing quite well, and Palmer is getting all the time he needs to find his receiving targets and keep the ball moving. As far as Palmer is concerned, the defenders coming at him aren’t even his problem to worry about. His line has kept him so clean that he’s focused entirely on his receivers and nothing else.

That's a big problem for the 49ers. They were unable to put real pressure on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in Week 2, and Roethlisberger made them pay for it. The Steelers hung 43 points on the 49ers before it was all said and done, and while guys like Kenneth Acker and Eric Reid were being beat in the secondary, that might not have been the case if guys like Aaron Lynch and Ahmad Brooks had generated any pressure up front.

If the 49ers can get to Palmer, then they’ll have a good shot at winning Sunday’s game. But they’d also be the first team to get to him this season.

For Arizona, the obvious goal is to protect Palmer, but the other goal here should be attacking San Francisco’s secondary deep. He has been excellent hitting his guys over the tops of cornerbacks and in between the deep zones, and the 49ers haven’t been great at stopping that stuff thus far. Acker is the team’s second cornerback and he was burned multiple times against the Steelers. It’s probably a safe bet that Palmer will target him early and often.

San Francisco will have to watch for scoring from all over the field, however. The Cardinals have returned an interception for a touchdown already, and the defense has been good at putting the offense in a position to score. On special teams, rookie running back David Johnson had a 108-yard kick return touchdown that has to be encouraging for the Cardinals. This one seems to favor them, but it's difficult to predict what will happen when the NFC West rivals play each other.