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49ers seek to keep pressure on Seahawks

Dec 24, 2006 - 5:51 PM Arizona (4-10) at San Francisco (6-8) Sunday 4:05 pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The San Francisco 49ers stayed alive in the playoff race with a victory over the Seattle Seahawks last week. Now they hope to keep the pressure on the defending NFC champions.

The Niners host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in a battle of NFC West rivals while the Seahawks face the San Diego Chargers, who own the best record in the AFC.

However, the Cardinals have won the last three meetings with the Niners, including a 34-27 victory in the season opener.

Kurt Warner threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns and Larry Fitzgerald caught nine passes for 133 yards.

Of course, the Cardinals have since switched to rookie Matt Leinart, who is 3-7 since taking over as the starter.

The season opener at Arizona was a sign of things to come for Niners running back Frank Gore, who collected 170 yards of total offense and ran for a pair of touchdowns.

A third-round pick in 2005, Gore leads the NFC with 1,491 rushing yards and has 53 catches for 418 yards.

On Tuesday, Gore was named as a Pro Bowl starter ahead of Tiki Barber of the New York Giants and Steven Jackson of St. Louis.

Guard Larry Allen, who signed with San Francisco after being released by Dallas, was named to the Pro Bowl for the 11th time.

Alex Smith threw three touchdowns and ran for another score and Gore rushed for 144 yards in the Niners' 24-14 win at Seattle on December 14, completing a sweep of their NFC West rivals. That would give San Francisco the edge in the tiebreaker for the division title if the teams finish 8-8.

The Cardinals close the season with road games against San Francisco and San Diego. Last week, Leinart threw for 214 yards with no touchdowns and was intercepted twice and sacked three times in a 37-20 loss to Denver.

Arizona had two players selected to the Pro Bowl - wide receiver Anquan Boldin and safety Adrian Wilson. Boldin has 75 catches for 1,027 yards and four touchdowns and Wilson has four interceptions, including one he returned for a score, and four sacks.