Arizona

San Francisco 49ers 24, Arizona Cardinals 47: Grades

Published

1 year ago

January 5, 2025

San Francisco 49ers 24, Arizona Cardinals 47: Grades

Glendale, AZ — The San Francisco 49ers just lost 47-24 to the Arizona Cardinals. Here are the 49ers’ grades for this performance.

QUARTERBACK: D

Joshua Dobbs turned the ball over three times and was one of the main reasons the 49ers lost. He’s not a good backup quarterback and the 49ers should not re-sign him this offseason. And yet, he led the 49ers offense to 24 points on the road while playing with backups and against the Cardinals starters. As opposed to Brock Purdy, who led the 49ers’ starters to just 23 points at home against Arizona in Week 5. If Brock Purdy truly is worth $60 million per season, the offense would perform much better with him on the field than with Dobbs on the field, but it doesn’t. The 49ers need to keep their options open at quarterback. Extending Purdy to a big-money deal would be a huge mistake. This season exposed Purdy for what he is — a liability in the second half of close games.

RUNNING BACKS: A

Isaac Guerendo left the game early with an MCL injury — he may not be durable enough to succeed as an NFL running back. To be determined. After he left the game, Patrick Taylor Jr. replaced him and gained 109 rushing yards on 17 carries. No matter who the running back was this season, the 49ers were able to rush the ball effectively, which makes this 6-11 season all the more baffling.

FULLBACK: A

Kyle Juszczyk caught a 36-yard touchdown pass when he was wide open in what hopefully was his final game with the 49ers.

WIDE RECEIVERS: B

Jauan Jennings got ejected after committing personal fouls on back-to-back plays. After the game, instead of taking responsibility for his penalties, he said that the referees made a mistake. He seemed pleased with himself despite his team losing its seventh game in the past eight weeks. The 49ers are so undisciplined. Meanwhile, Ricky Pearsall had another good game — 6 catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. If only the 49ers had gotten him involved earlier this season, they might have won more than six measly games.

TIGHT ENDS: C

George Kittle played half the game and finished with 27 receiving yards. After the game, he said he’s going to talk to Kyle Shanahan tomorrow about Shanahan’s performance this season. When I asked Kittle how he thought Shanahan did this season, Kittle said he’d save his thoughts for Shanahan. Sounds like Kittle has something serious to say.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: B-PLUS

The 49ers averaged 4.9 yards per carry and Joshua Dobbs got sacked only twice. Not a bad performance considering all the backups who are starting for this unit.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: F

Went through the motions and sacked Kyler Murray zero times.

LINEBACKERS: F

Went through the motions and gave up 5.6 yards per carry against an offense that was missing its starting running back.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: F

Went through the motions and gave up 4 touchdown passes and a 128.5 passer rating to one of the most inconsistent quarterbacks in the NFL.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F

Played like they usually do, which means they got burned by a fake punt and Jake Moody missed his weekly field goal. How many games would the 49ers have won this season if their kicker were anyone else?

COACHES: F

The defense simply stopped playing for Nick Sorensen. Three weeks ago when the season was on the line, the defense gave up just 12 points in a loss to the Rams. Then the 49ers were eliminated from playoff contention. Since then, the defense has given up 116 points in the final three games. Shameful. The 49ers have no choice but to fire Sorensen now. Clearly, promoting Sorensen to defensive coordinator was one of Kyle Shanahan’s biggest football sins of the year. But Shanahan’s football sins were numerous. In today’s game, his team committed a whopping 13 penalties while the Cardinals committed just one. That’s because the Cardinals are well-coached and the 49ers are not. Shanahan can blame this humiliating season on injuries, but he should blame himself. His utter refusal to honestly assess himself and hold himself responsible for the Super Bowl collapse is precisely how the 49ers scapegoated Steve Wilks, replaced him with Sorensen and ended up 6-11. Now Shanahan has to figure out what went wrong, and his analysis must begin with a deep dive into himself. Will his ego allow him to look in the mirror, or will he continue to blame others for his failures? We’ll find out.

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Arizona

Where to watch New York Mets vs Arizona Diamondbacks: TV channel, start time, streaming for May 8

Published

4 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

Where to watch New York Mets vs Arizona Diamondbacks: TV channel, start time, streaming for May 8

Baseball is back and finding what channel your favorite team is playing on has become a little bit more confusing since MLB announced plans to produce and distribute broadcasts for nearly a third of the league.

We’re here to help. Here’s everything you need to know Friday as the New York Mets visit the Arizona Diamondbacks.

See USA TODAY’s sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division.

What time is New York Mets vs Arizona Diamondbacks?

First pitch between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. (ET) on Friday, May 8.

How to watch New York Mets vs Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday

All times Eastern and accurate as of Friday, May 8, 2026, at 6:33 a.m.

Matchup: NYM at ARI
Date: Friday, May 8
Time: 9:40 p.m. (ET)
Venue: Chase Field
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
TV: DBACKS.TV and WPIX – PIX 11
Streaming: MLB.TV on Fubo

Watch MLB all season long with Fubo

MLB regional blackout restrictions apply

MLB scores, results

MLB scores for May 8 games are available on usatoday.com . Here’s how to access today’s results:

See scores, results for all of today’s games.

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Arizona

New Arizona State coach Randy Bennett ‘catching my stride’ after health issue arose in March

Published

16 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

New Arizona State coach Randy Bennett ‘catching my stride’ after health issue arose in March

TEMPE, Ariz. — Randy Bennett on Thursday shed light on the health situation that delayed his start as Arizona State’s new men’s basketball coach for several weeks. Although Bennett did not disclose the exact details of his condition, he made clear it was serious and expressed appreciation for those involved in his recovery.

“Thank God for Mayo Clinic,” Bennett said. “I don’t know where I’d be without them.”

Arizona State hired Bennett on March 23, but the 63-year-old coach started feeling ill shortly after his arrival to the Phoenix area. After meeting with the team, Bennett left work early. The next morning a program trainer took him to Mayo Clinic, where he stayed for 10 days.

“Threw me off a little,” Bennett said at Thursday’s official introduction, nearly six weeks after the first event had been scheduled, which Bennett jokingly referred to as a “pump fake.”

“But the last thing I needed to be doing was stressing out about the (transfer) portal or the job,” said Bennett, crediting his staff for leading the transition in his absence. “But now I’m catching my stride and am able to work longer days. We’ve gotten a lot done in five weeks. I feel good now.”

This is a homecoming of sorts for Bennett. The son of legendary high school and junior college coach Tom Bennett, he grew up in nearby Mesa, Ariz., at a time when stars such as Lafayette Lever and Alton Lister had the Arizona State program rolling. Over 25 years at Saint Mary’s, where he led the Gaels to 12 NCAA Tournaments, Bennett said he always had Arizona State in the back of his mind as a future destination.

Bennett, who is known for his work ethic, said he did not consider retirement because of the health scare. He said it was a blessing that the Mayo staff caught the undisclosed issue early. Then he had to deal with the recovery process, which initially left him powerless to start rebuilding Arizona State’s roster.

“Hard,’’ Bennett said, describing the hospital stretch. “You just got this job. You want to get going. You want to start building. You feel a sense of urgency that you need to be in the office. But it just wasn’t going to happen. It was tough.”

Once Bennett returned to work, he joined his staff and helped rebuild the Sun Devils, which had missed six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments under previous coach Bobby Hurley. Among their portal additions: Saint Mary’s forward Paulius Murauskas (18.4 points per game in 2025-26), Portland guard Joel Foxwell (15.6), Boston University forward Ben Defty (15.1) and Saint Mary’s guard Dillan Shaw (7.5).

There are still issues to resolve. The Arizona Board of Regents in April approved Bennett’s contract, which starts at $3.5 million and runs five years. The Arizona Republic reported this week that Bennett had not signed it, but athletic director Graham Rossini said Thursday the parties were simply working through the “legal red lines” and suggested Bennett’s signature was simply a formality.

Rossini also said Bennett has no physical limitations the rest of the summer. However, Bennett admitted he needed to do a better job of taking care of himself.

“We’re resourced a lot better here,” he said. “I mean, this program is powerful. I think all that helps. I don’t want to say it’s easier — it’s definitely not easier because of the league (Big 12) you’re in — but it’s resourced better. And I think I can do a better job as far as managing my time and days.”

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