Niners In Romp

For the third consecutive matchup, the San Francisco 49ers dealt the Dallas Cowboys a crushing defeat. In each of the last two postseasons, the Niners sent the Boys home by prevailing in close games. On Sunday night, it looked like the gap between the two teams had widened considerably as San Francisco controlled the proceedings from the start and was never seriously threatened as it prevailed by a final score of 42-10. 

The 49ers held the Cowboys to a combined 8 yards on their first four drives, forcing three three-and-outs and a fumble and eventually staking themselves to a 14-0 lead before Dallas even recorded a first down. After the Cowboys finally got on the board, the Niners answered right back, and they never allowed the Cowboys to make it a one-possession game for the rest of the night. 

San Francisco looked unstoppable offensively, racking up over 400 yards and efficiently moving the ball at more than 6 yards per play. The vaunted Dallas pass rush never had a chance to get going, and Brock Purdy calmly tore up the secondary for 252 yards and four touchdowns (three of them to George Kittle) while completing 17 of 24 pass attempts as his receivers ran completely wide open all night long. Even with Christian McCaffrey largely getting bottled up on the ground, the Niners just kept driving right down the field for scores. There was nothing Dallas could do about it.

The Dallas offense, meanwhile, looked inept for pretty much the entire evening. With the exception of an 11-play, 78-yard touchdown drive early in the second quarter, it was a disaster zone littered with stuffed runs, limp check-downs, sacks, and turnovers. The Cowboys kept trying to go east-west against a 49ers defense that is much faster than their offense, and it did not remotely work. The Niners defense had Dak Prescott absolutely flummoxed all night long, giving him nothing down the field and picking him off three times.  

As if the final score wasn’t bad enough, the Cowboys also lost several players to injury during the contest, including defensive starters Leighton Vander Esch, DaRon Bland and Donovan Wilson, as well as core special-teamers KaVontae Turpin and C.J. Goodwin. 

In this game, the 49ers reasserted themselves as the class of the NFC, and a team that is a good deal better than the Cowboys. It’s really that simple.