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By JOSHUA CLARK
Cronkite News

TEMPE — “Reloading, not relaxing.”

That’s how the Arizona Cardinals spent their bye week after coming off an embarrassing 33-0 loss to the division rival Los Angeles Rams, coach Bruce Arians said Tuesday.

The team will need to reload, and fast, if they have any chance of making the playoffs in the competitive NFC. Coming into this week, the team is 3-4, two games behind the Rams and Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West but have the perfect opportunity to turn things around when they face the winless 49ers Sunday in San Francisco.

Those 49ers made the biggest splash in a wild trade deadline day Tuesday when they acquired former Patriots quarterback and Tom Brady heir-apparent Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick.

Most reports suggest rookie C.J. Beathard will remain the 49ers starter at least one more game with less than a week for Garoppolo to learn the playbook.

Beathard, who was drafted in the third round of the 2017 draft, has been mediocre in his short career. He has completed just 52.7 percent of his passes for 647 yards, with two touchdowns compared to three interceptions.

Regardless of who starts, Arians says the game plan will remain the same.

“We get ready for the offense that’s on film,” Arians said. “That’s the second time this happened this year, and you get ready for their offense. You go back and look at Jimmy when he played us, but whether they play him or Beathard it doesn’t matter, just got to get ready for their offense and stop them. Stopping their run first of all, and then those explosive wide receivers.”

The last time these two teams played, the Cardinals needed an extra quarter to eke out a Week 4 18-15 win, but this Sunday will be two completely different teams. Both teams will start different quarterbacks, and the Cardinals have replaced that game’s leading rusher, Chris Johnson, with future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson.   

The Cardinals could have been a suitor for Garoppolo considering the giant hole they have at quarterback. Carson Palmer suffered a broken arm that will likely keep him out for almost all if not the remainder of the season, not to mention the future of the 37-year-old is in question.

Arizona general manager Steve Keim told Arizona Sports that the team was very active in trade talks, and Arians was impressed with Garoppolo’s performance against the team last year, but in the end the Cardinals were not one of the teams to make a move during this busy trade deadline period.