Kyler Murray was the first person to hear his name announced by Roger Goodell in the 2019 NFL Draft, becoming the new face of the Cardinals.
Last season during the NFL Draft, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was the final player to be selected, becoming 2022's Mr. Irrelevant -- yet he too soon became the face of the 49ers.
One year later, Purdy isn't just relevant, but he's playing at an MVP level, and a focus of the Cardinals defense when they have a rematch with the 49ers Sunday at State Farm Stadium.
Purdy was fantastic when the Cardinals visited the Bay Area in Week 4, going 20-of-21 for 283 yards in the 35-16 49ers win. But unlike the first meeting, the Cardinals will have reinforcements. Safety Budda Baker, linebacker Josh Woods, and defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter missed the first meeting.
"I think it's a team thing, of course, everybody in alignment with each other and continue to trust each other," Baker said. "(Purdy) does a great job of knowing the defense and knowing exactly where he's going."
Every time Baker speaks to the media, he always stresses the importance of stopping the run. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey scored four touchdowns against the Cardinals earlier this season, and three were rushing touchdowns to go along with 106 rushing yards and 71 receiving yards. Purdy, meanwhile, is the league leader in completion percentage (70.2), yards per attempt (9.9), and in passer rating (116.9).
McCaffrey and Purdy will be tough to stop, but the 49ers also have wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk at their disposal.
"You got to play a holistic game and be able to do a lot of different things," defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said. "It's hard to pinpoint, let's just take this away and make them be one dimensional. Well, they're going to beat you with whatever way they're one dimensional."
As the season has progressed, as has the Cardinals production, despite it not always resulting in wins. Before the bye, the defense held the Steelers to 10 points, the least allowed all season. Having that type of performance against a playoff contender should give the Cardinals defense confidence.
Even though it has been 11 weeks since they last played each other, Rallis said there are things he can take away from the last outing that'll help slow the 49ers offense.
"When you play an opponent for the second time in a year, you got to look at things from the first game on what went good or what didn't go good or things that were good, but we can improve on," Rallis said. "It's layered in a lot of different ways. We need to be a little more efficient in the run game than we were that first game. Whatever those changes are or playing with better technique, that's got to show up on Sunday."
The Cardinals would love to spoil the 49ers' chance to clinch the division this weekend. Bigger picture, Baker feels like the defense has something to prove.
"I just want us to continue to get better in all facets, but of course you want to win those game and we take one week at a time and this week, we got a great challenge ahead of us," Baker said. "We're going to compete and play hard nosed football and grind it out and see what happens."
WILKINSON ACTIVATED TO ROSTER
The Cardinals activated guard Elijah Wilkinson (neck) from Injured Reserve on Saturday, filling out the team's 53-man roster. There were no elevations from the practice squad.
