The pressure was on for the Dallas Cowboys as they prepared to take on the undefeated San Francisco 49ers and the Cowboys would come up short, falling to the 49ers 42-10 on Sunday night.
This was the second of five primetime games lined up for San Francisco and they did not disappoint in what many could say was the most anticipated game of their regular season.
The Cowboys are one week out of beating a one-win team by 35 points, and they honestly played like that one-win team tonight in prime time. Dallas had been defeated by the 49ers in each of their last two playoff appearances against one another, so tonight was the night to prove that the Cowboys had made improvements against a strong 49ers team. Clearly, that did not happen.
Cowboys off to a rough start
While San Francisco’s QB Brock Purdy completed 71 percent of his passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns, the same couldn’t be said for Cowboys’ Dak Prescott who went 14-for-24 for 153 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. In total, Dallas only had 57 yards rushing and 197 yards without a trip to the red zone.
The 49ers were able to capitalize off of a pair of Dallas penalties, charging 75 yards in seven plays for the first score of the game. The Cowboys’ offense had yet to get a first down on their first two possessions and fumbled on the first snap of the third try. Going into the second quarter, Dallas’ defense was able to respond when cornerback Jourdan Lewis forced a fumble and recovered the ball. Unfortunately, nothing would come out of this.
Prescott completed 5-of-6 passes for 62 of the Cowboys’ 78 yards of play before dropping a dime to KaVontae Turpin for a 26-yard pass on the right side of the Cowboys’ end zone to finally get them on the board. Heading into the half, San Francisco had outrun Dallas 212 yards to 93, holding the Cowboys to only 21 yards rushing.
Prescott was also sacked three times, threw an interception into double coverage in the third quarter, and proceeded to throw two more interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Entering Sunday’s contest, Dallas led the NFL in scoring defense (10.3 points allowed per game), and was second in total defense (259 yards allowed per game). Over their first four games, the Cowboys only allowed 41 total points from their opponents, but the 49ers went for 421 yards and 25 first downs while Dallas had just 197 and eight first downs.
The bad luck kept coming for the Cowboys as returner Turpin (ankle) and special teams leader CJ Goodwin (shoulder) were injured in the game and eventually ruled out for the remainder. Not only them, but in the fourth quarter, Leighton Vander Esch was injured on a play causing him to leave the game, and Wilson was seen limping off the field later in the quarter.
49ers are still on top
Brock Purdy continues to show his elite status, leading his team to be undefeated and keep the winning streak against the Cowboys alive. A week after throwing just one incomplete pass, Purdy threw three of his four touchdown passes to George Kittle and was able to find repeated openings to Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.
Purdy finished the night 17-for-24 for 252 yards with no interceptions. All-time, the QB is 10-0 as a starter, and the defense behind him helped take down Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. The 49ers were able to hold Dallas to just six yards in the first quarter and no first downs for more than 17 minutes, respectively.
Kittle showed out against Dallas, opening the game with a 19-yard score to cap a 75-yard opening drive for the 49ers. The second quarter saw a hat trick for Kittle as he scored on a 38-yard connection from Purdy. Before making this connection, Purdy handed the ball off to RB Christian McCaffrey, who then pitched it to Samuel, who then pitched it back to the QB to connect with Kittle in the endzone.
The 49ers did have LG Aaron Banks leave in the second half due to a bicep injury.
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