SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No Kyler Murray? No DeAndre Hopkins? No A.J. Green? No problem for the Arizona Cardinals.
Being down three of their top offensive stars before the game and then losing starting running back Chase Edmonds to an ankle injury after their first offensive play of the game didn’t slow the Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Arizona routed its NFC West rivals 31-17 to improve to 8-1, showing the Cardinals can win — and win big — without some of their top playmakers.
Colt McCoy started in place of Murray, who missed the first game of his three-year career, and the Cardinals’ offense didn’t look like it missed a beat. McCoy threw for 249 yards and one touchdown.
With Hopkins and Green out, Arizona leaned on Christian Kirk, Rondale Moore and Antoine Wesley at receiver. Kirk finished with 91 yards on six catches, and threw his first completion since high school on a 33-yarder to Wesley, who caught three passes for 62 yards.
Arizona’s defense kept on trucking without J.J. Watt, who was put on injured reserve on Saturday. It had five sacks for the third time this season, the most in the NFL, and held the Niners to 36 rushing yards.
But the story of the Cardinals’ offense Sunday was running back James Conner.
Picking up the slack for Edmonds, Conner set two new career highs against the 49ers. He had three touchdowns for the first time and his 45-yard touchdown catch early in the third was the longest reception of his career.
He finished with 96 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, and 91 receiving yards on six catches.