The Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers should put on quite a show on Sunday afternoon.  The Cardinals will likely come out throwing against the 49ers as Kurt Warner will be gunslinging.  The Niners will need new DE Justin Smith and outside linebackers Manny Lawson and Tully Banta-Cain to bring the pressure against Warner or he will likely have a field day.  Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin will offer a huge challenge to CBs Nate Clements and Walt Harris.  The Cardinals would love to run the football to protect a lead if they can get one throwing the football.  Edgerrin James and rookie Tim Hightower will likely have to fight for every yard they get against middle linebacker Patrick Willis.

The 49ers will also be throwing the ball the minute they get off of the team bus.  New QB J.T. O’Sullivan doesn’t have a lot of game experience so the Cardinals will likely try to blitz him often and fluster him.  DEs Darnell Dockett, Antonio Smith and OLBs Chike Okeafor & Travis LaBoy will likely try to apply pressure to O’Sullivan.  Veteran WR Isaac Bruce will likely be the #1 WR for the Niners this season and he should have a decent game against the Cardinals as CBs Roderick Hood and Eric Green aren’t the best pair in the NFL.  O’Sullivan will likely also attack the Cardinals’ safeties (Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle) with TE Vernon Davis who is a athletic freak.  Despite all of the passing the Niners intend to do, they will not forget who the best player on the offense is (Frank Gore) and they will keep him busy.

PREDICTION:  ARIZONA CARDINALS 40, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 37

If J.T. O’Sullivan is the real deal the Niners will win more than 6.5 games in 2008, but, I would have to bet against that happening.  The Niners will be more exciting to watch but they just aren’t good enough to win 7 games this season.  Take the under as the Niners won’t be winning too many games in 2008.

The 49ers have claimed linebacker Ahmad Brooks off waivers from the Bengals.  Brooks has played in 13 games (7 starts) in his NFL career and he has made 37 tackles, has 2 sacks and he’s defensed 2 passes.  Brooks has a nice upside so he’s worth taking a gamble on.

The 49ers have placed 2nd year DE Jay Moore on the Injured Reserve List ending his season due to a biceps injury.  Moore had 6 tackles and a sack this preseason as he was looking pretty good before the injury.  This is a real bad break for Moore who was showing his skill in training camp and the preseason.

The 49ers have released WR Ashley Lelie as he was a huge disappointment for them.  He played in 15 games (3 starts) in his one year in San Francisco and he only caught 10 passes for 115 yards (11.5 avg) for them.  The 49ers won’t miss him one bit as he is softer than a roll of charmin.

The 49ers have signed RB Thomas Clayton and WR Dominique Zeigler to the practice squad after both of them had strong preseasons.  Clayton carried the football 42 times for 186 yards (4.4 ypc) with a TD run in the preseason.  He also caught 7 passes for 52 yards (7.4 avg).  Zeigler played in all 4 preseason games for the Niners and he caught 15 passes for 162 yards (10.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The fact that neither of these guys made the final roster suggests that the 49ers should have a much better offense than last season.