Seeing how Arizona reacted after upsetting San Francisco showed Hall of Famer Jerry Rice how seriously the Cardinals took Sunday’s season opener.

“They were running around like they had won the Super Bowl,” said Rice with a laugh Monday on 95.7 The Game’s morning show out of San Francisco. “They knew the importance of that game. A rival. A team that went to the Super Bowl last year and they were able to come into our house and get a win.”

In attendance at Levi’s Stadium, the NFL’s greatest wide receiver and arguably best player ever was very disappointed in his 49ers after their 24-20 loss. 

“I’m looking down on the field and I’m saying to myself, ‘when you look over and you see an opponent wearing a different jersey, it’s time to compete,'” said Rice, who won three Super Bowls with the 49ers. “It’s time to go. I didn’t see that with the Niners.”

Rice felt San Francisco should’ve been up 21-0, noting the blocked punt Arizona turned into a one-play, 10-yard scoring drive to cut the 49ers’ lead to 10-7 in the first quarter.

“The Cardinals should’ve never been in this ball game ’cause the Niners really had a chance to run away with this game,” Rice said. “But because of bad execution and all of that, the Cardinals, they were able to get back in the game.” 

Rice called Arizona’s biggest offseason acquisition, DeAndre Hopkins, the “X-factor” in Sunday’s game. The All-Pro receiver caught 14 passes for 151 yards in breaking Larry Fitzgerald’s team record for most receptions in a Week 1 game.

“Also you got to look at (Kyler) Murray and what he did,” Rice continued as Murray threw for 230 yards and a touchdown and ran for 91 and a score. “He was a like a little kid just running out there. We had nobody that could get to him.” 

Rice thought conditioning played a part in how the 49ers defended Murray in the second half as compared to the first half.

“I saw a shot of (Nick) Bosa walking off the field and he looked like he was about to collapse,” Rice said. “I think that has a lot to do with those preseason games. Not having any. These guys are not where they need to be right now.” 

Murray and the Cardinals playing tempo offense played a part in that fatigue, too.

“Murray is very elusive,” Rice said. “He’s running all over the field. You got defensive players trying to chase this guy and trying to tackle him. So that has a lot to do with that, too. That’s something that’s really tough the first game of the season.” 

This was a home game for the 49ers, but without fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco didn’t have the usual home-field advantage.

However, Rice said that can’t be used as an excuse. 

“We are paid professionals,” he said. “This is what we do for our livelihood. Yes, we miss the fans. We would love for the fans to be in the stands, but if you cannot get up for a game for an opponent in your stadium, I got a problem with that. These are some of the scenarios that really are going to have to be addressed in the locker room.” 

Rice acknowledged San Francisco missing key players and no preseason, but said the 49ers “should’ve been ready to go” in the season opener.

“A home game against a rival and we know how competitive the (West Division) is,” Rice said. “Seattle won yesterday and also the (Los Angeles) Rams won. So it was an important game.”

Rice said “nobody” played well for the 49ers and he was “embarrassed,” by what he saw, but being a wide receiver, Rice was critical of their wideouts.

“This is not the standard,” said Rice when asked what he would say to the receivers.

Rice said he was “really heated” seeing how the wideouts were acting on the sidelines.

“I’m not going to call any names or anything like that,” Rice said. “During a break, they were playing music and we had certain guys dancing that hadn’t done anything on the football field. That didn’t have a reception or anything. That’s not the standard of the San Francisco 49ers. If you want to dance, you want to be a dancer or do whatever, you shouldn’t be wearing that uniform. You’ve got to be productive. You’ve got to contribute to the team, and if you can’t do that, go do something else. That pissed me off.” 

Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-33 passing, but only four of those completions were to receivers. He didn’t throw an interception, but missed receiver Kendrick Bourne in the corner of the end zone on first down that would’ve put San Francisco up with a minute, 14 seconds left the fourth quarter.

Garoppolo missed his last two passes with the second one coming on fourth-and-5 from the Arizona 16-yard line with 33 seconds left.  

“I was surprised that they just didn’t look as sharp,” Rice said. “Can it be corrected? Yeah. We had problems in the red zone. You want touchdowns in the red zone. Whenever you get in the red zone, you want points.”

In making his point about third-down conversions, Rice said that final drive brought “bad memories” of San Francisco squandering a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead in falling to Kansas City in Super Bowl LIV, 31-20, last season.

“We had the opportunity,” Rice said. “We had the ballgame. We had the ball in our hands. We could move the ball down the field and if we score, we win the football game.”  

The 49ers were 2-of-11 on third down while the Cardinals went 7-of-14. 

San Francisco was 0-for-2 on fourth down. 

“It was a big win for the Cardinals, but I was disappointed in the execution of the Niners and I just felt like they weren’t where they needed to be,” Rice said.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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