And then there was one.
The NFC East entered the weekend with three teams remaining in the divisional round. In the first game on Saturday, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Giants to advance to the NFC championship.
On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to give the NFL an all-NFC East title game next week, but the San Francisco 49ers had other plans. San Francisco’s defense dominated Dallas in the second half to walk away with a 19-12 win and advance to the NFC championship game next week in Philadelphia.
49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy won his seventh consecutive game as a starting quarterback, completing 19 of 29 passes for 214 yards. While Purdy didn’t throw a touchdown pass, he avoided the big mistakes, something Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott didn’t do.
Prescott completed 23 of 37 attempts for 206 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Prescott should have been intercepted on Dallas’ next-to-last drive, but 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw dropped a would-be interception that would’ve easily been a pick-six.
Dallas finished the game with 282 yards of total offense, rushing the ball 22 times for 76 yards. The Cowboys lost running back Tony Pollard in the second quarter, and after the game, he was on crutches with what was deemed an ankle injury.
Tony Pollard pic.twitter.com/tEKGJWLaYq
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 23, 2023
Now, the NFC championship will feature the top two teams from the regular season. The Eagles looked dominant again on Saturday, while the red-hot 49ers had to battle to come away the victory.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]