NFC West rivals trying to find way at quarterback collide

NFC West rivals trying to find their way at quarterback collide Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers meet in Santa Clara, Calif.

Cardinals rookie Josh Rosen is scheduled to make his second start, having thrown for 180 yards and his first NFL touchdown in last week's 20-17 home loss to Seattle.

Meanwhile, second-year 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard is slated to make his seventh career start, and second this season, after having replaced injured starter Jimmy Garoppolo late in the Week 3 loss at Kansas City.

The game matches 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, the former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator, against first-year Cardinals head coach Steven Wilks, who came to Arizona after climbing the defensive ranks of the Carolina Panthers.

Shanahan admitted this week that while he's never duelled head-to-head with Wilks as head coaches, he knows what to expect after having gone up against his defences four times over two seasons in NFC South battles in 2015 and 2016.

"It's an extremely tough, aggressive defence," Shanahan said of Wilks' style, which produced a 38-0 Panthers embarrassment of the Falcons in 2015. "They put the pressure on you. They blitz a lot. They present a lot of challenges with a variety of their coverages and their pressures. It's always been one of the tougher (defences) to go against."

Beathard kept the 49ers (1-3) competitive on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers last week, throwing for 298 yards and two touchdowns in a 29-27 defeat.

But the 49ers potentially lost three offensive linemen -- centre Weston Richburg and tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey -- to knee injuries, sending the team into scramble mode at practice this week to patch something together in front of Beathard.

The San Francisco defence also will be without a key player in cornerback Richard Sherman, who was off to a great start in his first season with the 49ers until suffering a calf injury in the Kansas City loss.

That's a break the Cardinals (0-4) could use at this point, as they come into the game ranked second-to-last in the NFL in both rushing and passing.

An injury that might not help matters: Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has been slowed by a hamstring issue at practice this week and might not be available Sunday.

Wilks moved star running back David Johnson into more of a wideout role at times in the loss to Seattle, and liked what he saw.

"I think our offence is getting ready to flourish," he boldly proclaimed this week. "I'm so encouraged based on what I saw (in the Seattle game)."

The Cardinals have won six in a row in the series, most recently featuring a two-game sweep last season that included a 20-10 road win at Levi's Stadium.