49ers vs. Cardinals: Brock Purdy's 4 TDs, Deebo Samuel's Hook-and-Ladder Push San Francisco to 3-0 in Week 3

On San Francisco's third snap of the day, facing third-and-12 from the 49ers' own 18, Kyle Shanahan reached into the junk drawer and pulled out a hook-and-ladder the 49ers had barely rehearsed. Brock Purdy hit Mike Evans short, Evans pitched it back to Deebo Samuel Sr. on the run, and 82 yards later San Francisco led. "It was crazy because we walked through that play like once this week," Samuel said.

That set the tone for a wild Sunday at Levi's Stadium, where Purdy threw four touchdown passes, George Kittle caught two of them in the fourth quarter, and the injury-battered 49ers outlasted the Arizona Cardinals 36-30 to move to 3-0.

Trick Plays, Missed Kicks and a Comeback That Fell Short

The opening act was all San Francisco. After the hook-and-ladder, the 49ers rolled 93 yards on their next drive, with Jordan Watkins grabbing a 26-yard ball for his first regular-season catch, and Purdy capped it with a 23-yard touchdown to Evans for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Then Arizona started leaning on the clock, and the injury bug started biting. Jacoby Brissett piloted a 14-play drive that burned 8:09 and ended in a 26-yard Chad Ryland field goal. Evans left late in the half with a rib injury, and Ryland added a 41-yarder before the break. San Francisco answered with a 34-yard Purdy shot to Watkins and a 57-yard Eddy Pineiro field goal at the gun for a 17-6 halftime lead. "I was really pumped for Watkins," Shanahan said, according to the 49ers' site. "That was such a big seam route that he ran on third down."

Christian McCaffrey plunged in from a yard out on the opening drive of the third quarter, but Pineiro missed the extra point, a small crack that would matter later. At 23-6, the Cardinals started chipping. Brissett found Michael Wilson for a 5-yard score to finish an 8:05 drive, and when Siran Neal muffed a punt that Simi Fehoko recovered at the San Francisco 28, Brissett flipped a 1-yard touchdown to Jeremiyah Love. Suddenly it was 23-20 early in the fourth quarter, and a 17-point cushion had evaporated.

Purdy, Kittle and a Linebacker Who Never Sat Down

The 49ers answered with an 8-play, 65-yard drive that got a lifeline when Josh Sweat was flagged for roughing the passer after what looked like a third-down stop. Purdy hit Kittle for a 10-yard touchdown, though Pineiro clanged his second extra point off the upright to leave it 29-20.

Purdy finished 15 of 27 for 297 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions and no sacks, averaging 11.0 yards per attempt. Per the AP, his 10 total touchdowns through three games tie the most in franchise history, and he leads the league with a 133.1 passer rating. "It's the NFL, it sucks when your teammates go down, but that's part of the game," Purdy said. "As a quarterback, it's also part of handling that and doing what I can, which is my job."

Kittle finished with six catches for 82 yards and two scores. McCaffrey added 75 rushing yards and 41 more as a receiver. And Samuel posted the weirdest line in the box score: zero receptions, 80 receiving yards, all on the lateral. The 49ers noted it was the 50th scrimmage touchdown of his career.

Defensively, Fred Warner was everywhere, piling up 17 tackles while Arizona ran 81 plays. "Brock is amazing," Warner said. "The offense is humming right now. It's our job as a defense to make sure that we handle our business."

The Hold, the Redemption and the Onside Kick

Arizona would not go away. Brissett led a 14-play, 68-yard drive and sneaked in from the 1 with 2:51 left, cutting it to 29-27. Brissett, who completed 38 of 52 passes for 280 yards, had the Cardinals one stop from a real shot at the upset.

What followed was pure cinema. Purdy took off on a 45-yard scramble into the end zone, only for a Kittle holding penalty to erase it. Two snaps later, Kittle made amends in the most Kittle way possible, hauling in a 20-yard touchdown from Purdy with 1:31 to go for a 36-27 lead. It was the athletic version of knocking over the vase and then buying your mom a nicer one.

Ryland hit a 49-yard field goal with 34 seconds left, but Samuel corralled the onside kick and Purdy took a knee.

Brissett pointed the finger inward. "Any time in the first half when we got something going, and then we'd have self-inflicted wounds," Brissett said. "Against good teams, you can't do that."

By the Numbers

• 81 to 50: Arizona's edge in offensive plays. The Cardinals also held the ball for 38:44.
• 8.7 to 4.5: Yards per play, San Francisco over Arizona. Volume lost to efficiency.
• 10 for 86: Arizona's penalties and penalty yards, including the roughing call that extended a touchdown drive.
• 3 of 5: Pineiro on extra points, which helped turn a comfortable win into a nail-biter.

A 3-0 Start Built on Duct Tape

Per the AP, this is the third time in four seasons the 49ers have started 3-0, and they did it while losing Evans, left tackle Trent Williams (stinger) and linebacker Dre Greenlaw (quadriceps) during the game. They were already without receivers Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and Demarcus Robinson. Shanahan had no update afterward, and the Evans injury is the one to watch. After a 27-7 rout of the Rams in Melbourne and a 35-13 win over Miami, San Francisco hosts Denver next.

Arizona (1-2) opened with a road win over the Chargers, then lost 31-7 to Seattle and now this. The AP noted the Cardinals have lost 22 of their last 26 division games. There is something here: Love ran for 90 yards, Wilson caught 11 balls, and Trey McBride added nine catches. But the Cardinals keep losing the games where one clean drive would flip the ending. They visit the New York Giants next.

Speed Kills, and So Does Self-Belief

The 49ers are 3-0 with a growing list of skill players in the training room and a quarterback playing on easy mode. Samuel, who ran through a Budda Baker tackle attempt near midfield on that opening touchdown, had the last word: "Budda showed up and I showed the speed that people don't think I got."

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press, plus Kyle Shanahan's quote and the Samuel note from the San Francisco 49ers (49ers.com).