Though many of the wild-card games in the 2021 postseason are regular-season rematches, there isn’t much recent background on the 49ers-Cowboys playoff game. These two teams last faced each other in Week 15 of the 2020 season. It was a 41-33 Cowboys win in which neither Dak Prescott nor Jimmy Garoppolo were on the field. Dallas’ defense, then run by Mike Nolan, wasn’t a patch on the defense we’ve seen under Dan Quinn in 2021, while the 49ers’ defense has stayed solid from season to season.
Now, we have two offenses with recent question marks who have seemed to turn things around of late. Prescott hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 14, and he had 13 touchdown passes in Dallas’ last four games. Garoppolo doesn’t have the same juice as Prescott does, but he did make some big-time throws in the Week 18 win over the Rams that put his team in the playoffs.
This game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 16. and if the Cowboys are to win their first playoff game since 2018, here’s a few things they must do.