Tag: 49ers vs Cowboys

1 major concern for 49ers against Cowboys

This could be a real problem for the 49ers on Sunday night!

The San Francisco 49ers will go into their Week 8 showdown with the Dallas Cowboys in desperate need of a win.

San Francisco’s schedule gives them an opportunity to make a playoff run if they can enter their Week 9 Bye with a 4-4 record. If they lose Sunday night and fall to 3-5, their path to the postseason becomes even more difficult.

Dallas has struggled through their first six games on both sides of the ball, but special teams is where things could really get sideways for the 49ers.

While the Cowboys’ offense and defense haven’t been great, their punt and kick returner KaVontae Turpin has been perhaps the best player at those two positions in the NFL. That’s particularly problematic for a 49ers coverage unit that’s surrendered a whopping 18.4 yards per punt return and 33.2 yards per kick return.

Turpin this season is averaging 19.2 yards per punt return and 43.0 yards per kick return. He also returned a punt for a touchdown in Week 1 against the Browns this season.

The 49ers have already had multiple games swing because of special teams mishaps, including long punt returns against the Rams and Chiefs, and a kick return touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks.

San Francisco is favored to win, but there may not be a player more capable of turning the game toward Dallas than Turpin against a shoddy 49ers special teams group.

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Has negative rest differential hurt 49ers this season?

How much has rest differential hurt the 49ers so far in 2024?

The San Francisco 49ers for the last two seasons have been up against the dreaded ‘rest differential‘ thanks to their schedule.

A key talking point when the NFL releases its full schedule is the number of days a team has off between games compared to its opponent. If Teams A and B face off after having played the previous Sunday, the rest differential is zero for both teams. If Team A played Monday night, and Team B played Sunday, Team B would have a plus-one rest differential when facing Team A the following Sunday.

The 49ers have been on the wrong side of the rest differential by historical proportions in each of their last two schedules. In 2023 they had the sixth-worst rest differential of all-time. This year they have the third-worst.

In 2023 it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of the season as the 49ers finished 12-5 and snagged the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

So far in 2024 it hasn’t mattered much either.

San Francisco through six weeks has yet to play a game with a positive rest differential, and there’s no clear evidence that being at a rest disadvantage has actually hurt the 49ers.

They had neutral rest differentials in Week 1, Week 3, Week 5 and Week 6.

In Week 1 they beat the Jets. They lost in Weeks 3 and 5 to the Rams and Cardinals, respectively. Then they beat the Seahawks on Thursday Night Football in Week 6.

In Week 2, thanks to a Week 1 Monday Night Football game, the 49ers were a minus-1 rest differential in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

On the other hand, the Patriots had a plus-three rest differential in Week 4 when they visited Levi’s Stadium, and San Francisco handled them with relative ease.

Now it’s up to the 49ers to continue shrugging off rest disadvantages because they’re going to have two big ones entering their next two games.

The Chiefs, who were on a bye in Week 6, will have a plus-three rest differential at Levi’s Stadium in Week 7.

Then the 49ers host the Cowboys in Week 8 after Dallas has its bye in Week 7. That means they’ll have a plus-seven differential when they visit San Francisco.

While the rest advantage is a preseason talking point, the 49ers don’t have the margin for error to use it as an excuse. They overcame a season full of tough schedule spots last year, and they did it once already this year. That trend needs to continue heading into their Week 9 bye if they want to put themselves in position to potentially push for the No. 1 seed again.

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Trent Williams vs. Micah Parsons matchup an easy pick

Micah Parsons vs. Trent Williams isn’t as good of a hypothetical matchup as it looks like on paper.

Let’s get something out of the way up top here. There are a lot of very good edge rushers in the NFL. One of them is Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, who is a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

It makes sense that the 33rd Team, an NFL site that provides analysis from a ton of former players, current players and executives, would aim for some social media engagement by including Parsons in a hypothetical pass rusher-offensive lineman matchup. It makes less sense that his opponent in their hypothetical matchup is 49ers left tackle Trent Williams.

The 33rd Team on Sunday posted this on Twitter:

The numbers on the graphic are genuinely compelling. It’s a player who racks up a ton of sacks facing a player who does not give up very many sacks. Pitting the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object is a good way to spark debate.

Alas, there’s a flaw in this hypothetical. We’ve seen it play out when Parsons faces the 49ers, and it doesn’t go well for the Cowboys do-everything LB.

In three career games against Williams and San Francisco, including two playoff games, Parsons has 17 tackles, one tackle for loss, 13 pressures, one quarterback hit, and 0.0 sacks.

Conversely, in those same three games, Williams has allowed neither a sack nor QB hit while giving up just three total pressures.

Parsons bounces around the line when he plays San Francisco, lining up over both the left and right tackles so it isn’t just a straight across Williams vs. Parsons matchup every time. He hasn’t had much sustained success against any 49ers offensive lineman though, much less Williams.

Alas, the answer to the hypothetical presented by the 33rd Team is a simple one. We’ll take Williams, the player who has already won this matchup repeatedly in games that matter.

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49ers injury news: LG Aaron Banks avoids major injury in Week 5 win

The #49ers got some very good injury news on LG Aaron Banks.

The 49ers on Monday got some good injury news in the aftermath of their Week 5 win over the Cowboys.

Left guard Aaron Banks exited the game early and was listed as questionable to return with what was originally thought to be a biceps injury. He never re-entered, and after the game head coach Kyle Shanahan expressed some optimism that Banks avoided a catastrophic injury to his arm.

In a conference call Monday, Shanahan confirmed that Banks avoided a major injury. He said the left guard has a mild shoulder strain and is considered day-to-day.

A biceps injury could have potentially cost Banks the rest of the 2023 season. Veteran Jon Feliciano filled in for him vs. Dallas and did a fine job. Banks has been one of San Francisco’s best offensive linemen since the start of last season though and losing him would’ve created a significant void on that unit. Not to mention Feliciano is the team’s only backup center so that would’ve made the 49ers even thinner up front.

Banks’ availability for Sunday’s game in Cleveland is still up in the air, but he won’t be out long-term which is a big win for San Francisco.

The only other update from Shanahan on the injury front was that running back Elijah Mitchell, who’s missed the last two games with a knee injury, is still day-to-day.

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NFL Twitter reacts to Brock Purdy’s 4 TD performance in blowout win vs. Cowboys

After Brock Purdy shredded the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football with four TD passes, the NFL Twitter community exploded with reactions.

Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5 was billed as Brock Purdy’s first “true test” of the season against a highly-touted defense. With four touchdown passes in a blowout win, it’s safe to say the San Francisco 49ers passer passed his test with flying colors.

On the way to a 42-10 blowout win over the Cowboys, Purdy cut the Micah Parsons-led defense apart with four touchdown toss.

While looking calm and poised throughout the game, Purdy passed for 17-of-24 on 252 yards and four touchdown passes. Three of his touchdown tosses landed in the hands of George Kittle. Purdy finished with a passer rating of 144.4 and a QBR of 83.6.

After Purdy led the 49ers to another win on Sunday, the NFL community on Twitter exploded with different reactions. Here’s a look at what fans and analysts were saying after Week 5.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

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Who was good, who wasn’t for 49ers in 42-10 win over Dallas?

The good and bad from the #49ers demolition of the Cowboys.

The 49ers needed to be on point in prime time against a team that some thought would be in their class of competitor in the NFC.

San Francisco squashed any notion that the Dallas Cowboys belonged in the tier of Super Bowl contender by throttling them 42-10 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score.

There were plenty of outstanding performances for the 49ers, and a couple not-so-good ones:

Notebook: 49ers blast Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, 42-10

In a touted matchup between NFC heavyweights, the 49ers landed haymaker after haymaker on their way to a knockout win over the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, 42-10.

In a highly anticipated battle between NFC heavyweights, the San Francisco 49ers landed haymaker after haymaker on their way to a standing eight-count against the Dallas Cowboys.

George Kittle caught three of Brock Purdy’s four touchdown passes while the 49ers’ defense harassed Dak Prescott under the lights in Santa Clara on Sunday Night Football. The 49ers sacked Prescott four times while picking him off three times.

With another blowout win on their resume, the 49ers are proving to be one of the top teams in the NFL with a 5-0 record after tearing through the Cowboys, 42-10.

Following their win over the Cowboys, here’s a look into the notebook from Sunday night.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

Tale of 2 halves: 49ers figure it out in 2nd half vs. Dallas

The 49ers offense became more efficient in virtually every way after halftime against the Cowboys.

There wasn’t a point in the 49ers’ divisional playoff win over the Cowboys where San Francisco asserted the level of offensive domination we’ve seen from them during Brock Purdy’s run as the starting quarterback. An avalanche of points became something of an expectation for that unit, but it never came in a narrow 19-12 victory over Dallas.

While the high-level domination never came, there was a discernible difference in the 49ers’ offense between the first and second halves. They became significantly more efficient over the final 30 minutes once they’d gotten a chance to feel out an excellent Cowboys defense.

The result is a pretty staggering difference in production between the first and second halves.

Overall the 49ers ran 32 plays in the first half and gained 141 yards, good for just 4.4 yards per play. That mark over a full season would’ve been last in the league. In the second half they fared much better, racking up 171 yards on 31 plays. Their 5.5 yards per play in the second half would’ve ranked in the top 15 for an entire season.

It’s difficult to discern whether the passing attack or the run game were more responsible for the offensive improvement that sparked San Francisco’s second postseason win over the Cowboys in as many years.

While they saw about equal upticks in efficiency on the ground and through the air, it was the run game that helped kickstart the engine. After a dreary first half where San Francisco’s vaunted run game tallied 27 yards on 11 rush attempts (2.5 yards per carry), they came out strong in the second 30 minutes. Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell helped plow forward for 86 yards on 21 carries, good for a more respectable 4.1 yards per tote. The big change came on the 49ers’ offensive line where they started winning some one-on-one matchups as Dallas wore down. Holes started opening, and the 49ers’ run game started working.

A byproduct of the uptick in rushing production was less leaning on Purdy to make plays. He tossed it 19 times in the first half, completing 12 for 129 yards. His 6.8 yards per attempt would’ve been tied for 23rd in the league this season. The 49ers threw it significantly fewer times in the second half. On 10 throws, Purdy notched seven completions for a very efficient 85 yards. Those 8.5 yards per attempt would’ve been second in the league this year.

The 49ers have done a nice job this year of making adjustments out of the half, and Sunday was another example even if San Francisco didn’t rack up 30-plus points. They did what they needed to do and became more efficient over the final 30 minutes in a game their defense kept close at halftime. If the 49ers can manage to stay efficient, the points will come. They just can’t spend too much time in offensive ruts as the games get more difficult beginning with the NFC championship.

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6 takeaways from 49ers’ divisional playoff win over Cowboys

Some takeaways after the 49ers knocked out the Cowboys again in the playoffs.

The improbable run continued for the 49ers on Sunday when they knocked off the Cowboys 19-12 in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. It was the second year in a row San Francisco knocked Dallas out of the postseason.

After a long stretch of games where the 49ers weren’t really tested, Dallas provided San Francisco’s biggest challenge of their 12-game winning streak. We went back through some of the key aspects of Sunday’s game and came away with a handful of takeaways:

Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers, live stream, TV channel, kickoff, how to watch NFL Playoffs

The Dallas Cowboys will travel to Santa Clara, CA to take on the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC Divisional playoffs at Levi’s Stadium.

The Dallas Cowboys will travel to Santa Clara, CA to take on the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC Divisional playoffs at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday. The Cowboys advanced to this game after a convincing win over the Buccaneers on Wild Card Weekend with the defense playing a big role in the win, holding the Buccaneers to just 14 points.

Meanwhile, the 49ers advanced to this game after a convincing win over the Seattle Seahawks last weekend and will look to Brock Purdy to lead them to the NFC Championship next week with a win.

This will be a great Sunday of Playoff football, here is everything you need to know to watch and stream the game today.

Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers

  • When: Sunday, January 22
  • Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: FOX (4K), FOX Deportes
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

How to watch the NFL throughout the Playoffs

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NFL Football Odds and Betting Lines

NFL odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds were last updated Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET.  

Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers (-4)

Over/Under: 46.5

See more at Sportsbookwire.com

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