Interesting reading...they both bring up good points.

*****

"The Line of Scrimmage falls on the 49ers' performance against the Cardinals this past week, and Ben and J.R. debate whether the 49ers actually won that game, or the Cardinals simply choked it away.

J.R.: The 49ers Won

Obviously the Cardinals made some significant errors en route to their second straight loss to the 49ers, culminating with Kurt Warner's fumble in the end zone. Easy kicks were missed, easy catches were dropped, and great opportunities were salted away, and they all contributed to the 49ers winning the game.

However, you cannot take away that the Niners, no strangers to mental errors themselves, played well enough to win in all aspects of the game.

The argument of course, begins with Frank Gore. Although he has had a letdown season, you certainly can't think that the Cardinals expected this to be the game where the 49ers' passing game would suddenly come alive and start picking them apart. No, the defensive recipe has pretty much remained the same, crowd the box to stop Gore and send those extra guys on a blitz when the QB drops back and you have no worries. The Niners will take care of the rest. But somehow, someway, Frank keeps coming up with funky-ass shit nearly every single day. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) Seriously though, even though the defense put a big target on his back, Gore found ways to get his yards, and you have to commend the offensive game plan for finally forcing that issue. It's a simple equation: Gore touches the ball more, the 49ers score more points. Duh.

Secondly, even though the defense did give up a hefty amount of points and yards to Arizona, they dug pretty damn deep when it came down to the end. When you read the box score and see that the 49ers punted the ball three times in the extra period, you almost have to assume that they lost the game. After giving up all that they did, giving the Cardinals three chances to score in a 15 minute period usually means they're going to get at the very least a field goal, which they should have.

Which brings us to special teams. Once again Andy Lee turned in a fantastic performance and gave the Niners great field position when it mattered most. Joe Nedney is solid as a rock and in my opinion, is undervalued. He makes every kick he's supposed to and when I think about the days of Owen Pochman and Jose Cortez, well, I'd rather not talk about that.

Overall, I think you have to say that this was the most complete game the team has played all season, and they got the win. Football is a game of execution and consistency, and even though the Cardinals' last couple of mistakes were obviously the most costly, the Niners' had to overcome their own as well, and in the end, they did just enough to snare the victory.

Ben: The Cardinals lost.

552 total yards. 456 passing yards. Two touchdowns by Kurt "please don't call me Brenda" Warner. I dont mean to sound so negative all the time but please, these numbers dont necessarily scream to me that the 49ers did a whole lot of positive things in winning this game.

Yes, Frank Gore rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, Trent Dilfer had a good game, passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns. (By the way, he averaged 6.6 yards a completion. That still stinks.) And yes, Tully Banta-Cain found himself in the right place at the right time when Warner had a brain fart and couldnt figure out what to do with the football at the end of the game.

But lets look at the money statistics. The 49ers were plus-4 in turnovers, with Arizona coughing up the rock twice on fumbles and throwing two interceptions. The Cardinals had 10 penalties for 70 yards compared to the 49ers' three for 42. Herein lies the problem with saying the 49ers won this game. The Cardinals made mistake after mistake after mistake and finally, the 49ers put together a game where they let the other team come to them. This is not a case of the 49ers putting together a win, its a case of the 49ers capitalizing with a win against a team that looked equally awful.

There is one bright spot that I cant ignore though, and hes been a bright spot all year long. Patrick Willis is half-man, half-beast. 17 solo tackles, half a sack and 18 tackles overall. Come on! The guy is leading the NFL in tackles in his rookie season! Pencil him and Andy Lee in for Hawaii right now."

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