NINERS UPSET CARDS TO OPEN NFL SEASON

San Francisco quarterback Shaun Hill steadied the erratic Niners’ offense, leading a late game touchdown drive that gave his team a 20-16 upset victory over the host Arizona Cardinals in the NFL opener for both teams.  Hill finished with 209 yards and a touchdown pass with no interceptions.  His Cards’ counterpart Kurt Warner put up 288 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice.

The Niners won outright as +4’ road underdogs, rewarding NFL betting devotees who took San Fran plus the points.  San Francisco has been a miserable ATS team in recent years, with the victory leaving their record against the number at 14-19 over the past three seasons.  Arizona, an ATS darling in recent years saw their pointspread record drop to 22-15 over the past three years.  The 36 combined points went UNDER the post total of 45.  San Fran has gone UNDER in 14 of their last 32 lined contests, while Arizona’s totals record still shows a strong OVER bias at 25-12 in their last 37.

After the game, Hill confessed that it wasn’t a rousing pep talk in the huddle that mobilized his team:

"It wasn't anything necessarily that I said. The whole unit was saying the same thing: 'Hey, it's time to go.'"

The Cards’ Warner, meanwhile, was very unhappy with his team’s performance in the loss:

"We're just not meshing. We never seem to get into a rhythm. There always seems to be something to stop us."

Arizona’s star receiver Larry Fitzgerald concurred with his quarterback’s assessment:

"We're definitely too good to be having these kind of performances.”

Cards’ coach Ken Whisenhunt blamed mistakes and penalties:

"The one thing I want to say for us is that you can't have penalties, you can't have mistakes and expect to win.  I'm really most upset by getting the ball back in the fourth quarter in the plus territory and going back 15 yards. That's horrible. That's unacceptable, and it's what causes you to lose football games. I said to the team afterward, guys that make penalties are not going to play."

Niners’ coach Mike Singletary was happy with his team’s effort as he won the opening game of his first full season at the helm:

"To come in their backyard, after everything they've accomplished, we knew it was going to be a tremendous challenge.”

The 49ers will return home to host the Seattle Seahawks and will find themselves in a role they haven’t seen very often in recent years—that of a favorite.  San Francisco is a -1’ point home chalk with the total set at 39’.  They’ll be back on the road the following weekend as they take on the Minnesota Vikings.  Arizona, meanwhile, will face another tough defense this weekend as they travel to Florida to play the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Jacksonville is a -3 home favorite with the total set at 42’.  The Cards will host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, September 27.