NFL
By: Greg Rector
Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
Sunday 6:30 PM FOX
The Dallas Cowboys advanced to the NFC divisional round after exorcising the demon of Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They won a game on grass, and a playoff game on the road, and were impressive in doing so. Now it’s on to another familiar playoff foe the San Francisco 49ers. Dak Prescott “I’m Money Maher’s biggest fan… I just played like s— a week ago” and yes I know that Brett Maher missing 4 extra points will be pounced on by all the naysayers. The “Cowboys Hate Brigade” will mostly ignore that Dak had one of the best playoff performances in NFL history accounting for 5 TDs and was just 3.5 away from a perfect QBR. Instead, it will be a week of bringing up what happened last year against the Niners in the wild-card round and the “experts” will question everything Cowboys related. Bring it all on, I’m used to it. Dak’s post-game answer to the sideline reporter “I didn’t listen to any of the talk” may be the most important words I’ve heard from a Dallas Cowboy in ages. Football games are won and lost on the field, not on TV network studios (Sorry SAS, Shannon, and the rest of you jackals) Oh it’s funny how if Cowboys fans mention anything positive in their past the immediate reply is “Stop living in the past” yet all we hear is the negative things that have happened to the Cowboys in the past?
Dallas Defense versus San Francisco Offense
Indeed, the Niners’ offense has weapons, no one will deny McCaffrey, Samuel, Kittle, and Aiyuk, can all do damage and quickly. Not going to deny either that rookie quarterback Brock Purdy has played remarkably well in his 6 undefeated starts. Their offensive line led by Trent Williams is a strong unit as well. The Cowboys’ defense has really only stunk up the joint on a couple of occasions this year. That can’t happen this week. Instead, right from the Niners’ first offensive snap the Cowboys need to do precisely what they did against Tampa Bay, shut down whatever play they try. Watch the Seahawks’ second quarter when they were doing just that to the Niners took the lead. The defense was helped by the return of Leighton Vander Esche and Johnathan Hankins, everyone stayed disciplined, and not once was there any panic even when Brady did have one good drive. They buckled down and took advantage of a Brady mistake for an interception. It’s no different this week. Micah Parsons was the “Hungry Lion” Monday night. He had 9 pressures the most pressures the guy called the GOAT has faced in 5 years, Brady went 2 for 8 on those plays and was sacked. Wonder how Purdy will fare if he faces that same type of pressure not just from Micah but from the Cowboys’ defense as a whole. The one thing Purdy hasn’t faced in any defense so far is the speed that he’s about to against Dallas. Dallas ignored all the talk that Evans and Godwin would carve them up along with Brady. This group needs to do exactly the same thing this week. For all those who fail to remember these players are human, Micah announced on Saturday that he had just become the father to a 7.1 lb baby girl. Now we have no direct knowledge that it was a difficult pregnancy for his partner, but if you are a father tell me the last bit of time before the arrival wasn’t a bit stressful, add to that the toll the NFL season takes on every player and maybe just maybe that had something to do with Micah not seeming to be quite as dangerous down the stretch as well. Seen it happen before in sports, Fred Van Vleet in the Raptors title run in 2019 was putrid until his baby girl was born and then was unreal from that point on. “Girl Dad Life” seems to suit Parsons just fine. I’m not dismissing the talent of the Niners, I’m instead focusing on the talents of the Dallas Cowboys. It boils down to the defense doing what they’ve done to other offenses including the Vikings, Bengals, and others. They win when they have dictated the terms. That was missing in stretches last year against San Francisco. That mindset has to be there for 60 minutes on Sunday. I get the letup in the 4th quarter against Tampa Bay, but I hated the “prevent defense” decades ago and still do. There can be no let-up against the Niners’ offense. Bend but don’t break and pounce on every opportunity Purdy gives you. That’s right I want the Trevon Diggs ballhawk this week, I want to see every carry by McCaffrey and Samuel that ball being attempted to be stripped. Be that defense.
Cowboys Offense versus Niners Defense
The return of Tyler Biadisz at center was most welcome and although they were far from perfect the overall play of the offensive line was good enough against Tampa Bay, sure the Niners have a guy named Nick Bosa that is going to cause havoc as he has all year. Guess what? They’ve withstood many other great pass rushers this season already. This is no different. Expect an extra tight end (Jake Ferguson) over a third wide receiver and of course Ezekiel Elliott as he has always done will be tasked with helping to block Bosa. The Cowboys have been here before. Know your job and execute it. Geno Smith and DK Metcalf put up plenty of yards against this San Francisco defense, absolutely no reason this Cowboys offense can’t do the same. Ceedee Lamb and Dalton Schultz can do the same for Dallas as Kittle and Aiyuk do for the Niners. While stout against the run San Francisco has recently been run on more lately see the wild card game and the Raiders game, so Tony Pollard, no reason you can’t wreak havoc the way McCaffrey and Samuel have done for the Niners. Are you sensing a theme yet? “I didn’t listen to any of the talk” that’s all it is right now, just talk. When this Cowboys offense is working they can absolutely carve up any defense in the NFL.
Intangibles
Now like any fan, I get upset when things do go wrong, be it a play call, miscommunication between the quarterback and the receivers, missed blocks, etc. Nothing and I mean nothing about the Cowboys in the last 27 years though angered me as much as all “The Talk” about the players being fearful leading up to last year’s game. I was furious that McCarthy and his assistants didn’t shut that down. All season long in 2022 the Cowboys have been resilient. Lose to Tampa Bay, come back and beat the Super Bowl runner-ups, lose to the Eagles, come back and shut down Detroit, lose to Green Bay, come back and hammer a one-loss Vikings team, lose to the Jaguars, come back and put up another 40 point game against the then one-loss Eagles. As we just witnessed play like s*** against the Commanders and hammer Tampa Bay. The often-heard criticism of the Cowboys is that they will fold like a cheap suit in the face of adversity. They did fold last year but I will remind the “Cowboys Hate Brigade” that’s in the past and y’all don’t get to live there. This time the Dallas Cowboys must dictate the terms of engagement. I’m not talking about being overconfident in any way, I’m talking about being in control of the things you can control. Let’s see how the Niners fare when an opponent is setting the terms and not them. No team in the NFL has more wins against teams with 11+ victories than the Dallas Cowboys. revenge is always a good thing. Coach McCarthy if you want to show your Cowboys something from the past, show them the 1992 Cowboys beating this same Niners organization avenging “The Catch” from a decade earlier.
That has to be the mantra this week. No Fear. The doubters and haters can say all they want. The Dallas Cowboys need to ignore all of it once again.
Prediction
If the non-fearful Dallas Cowboys appear on Sunday and they dictate instead of reacting to the San Francisco 49ers and I believe they can do just that, I have Dallas beating San Francisco in a very close game 30-27 and unlike last year Dak Prescott will execute the two-minute drive and Brett Maher will redeem himself with the game-winning field goal. NO FEAR!!!
As always you can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
