Cowboys must exploit this: 49ers expert points toward the matchup that could cost them Week 8 showdown
The Dallas Cowboys take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football for a game in which both NFC squads enter in desperation mode. The Cowboys need a win to shake off both a tough 49-7 loss last week to the Detroit Lions and the bitter taste of last year's 42-10 loss to the Niners. […]
The Dallas Cowboys take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football for a game in which both NFC squads enter in desperation mode.
The Cowboys need a win to shake off both a tough 49-7 loss last week to the Detroit Lions and the bitter taste of last year's 42-10 loss to the Niners. It'll be the same stage yet a very different narrative for two teams that don't have a winning record seven weeks into the season.
To help prepare for the showdown, I reached out to fellow A to Z Sports writer Nicholas McGee, who covers the 49ers, for some insight on the Cowboys' upcoming rival. He delivered, including his first answer laying out the two areas that have "consistently cost" the Niners games this season. Let's dive in.
The 49ers are seriously banged up right now but is the storyline of their demise largely overblown? What has been the biggest issue amid the injuries?
McGee: I think it’s still too early to say whether their demise is overblown. It’s TBD on that, but their issues are plentiful. You can look towards the run defense, but the two that have most consistently cost them games have been an inability to score in the red zone and an utterly miserable special teams. One of those needs to be fixed for the 49ers to turn it around.
Note from Mauricio: The Cowboys defense has been terrible inside the 20-yard line, allowing the second-highest percentage of touchdowns within the red zone. If Mike Zimmer wants his unit to have a chance, he'll have to exploit San Francisco's weakness that Nicholas just pointed to.
Brock Purdy made some costly mistakes vs the Chiefs but has been quite good this season and he seems to keep improving. What is the way to get to Purdy from what you've seen?
McGee: The way to get to Purdy is to essentially do what the Chiefs did. He isn’t a bad QB against man coverage, but when you can make him uncomfortable and throw off the timing with the receivers like Kansas City did last Sunday, then he has a tendency to hesitate and make some really bad decisions.
The Niners defense appears to be struggling more than expected, ranking 28th vs the run in early downs per EPA/play. What are some areas the Cowboys offense, which struggles to run well, could exploit?
McGee: It’s a tale of two sides really. The pass defense has objectively been good and ranks third in DVOA, but the run defense continues to be plagued by the issues that reared their head in the playoffs last year. The 49ers’ weakness is mainly on runs up the middle, with teams too easily able to blow their defensive tackles off the ball with double teams. The Rams in particular had success in that regard and it’s something the 49ers desperately need to remedy.
San Francisco has owned the Cowboys over the last few years. Do you expect the same to happen on Sunday Night Football?
McGee: Much depends on how healthy they are. If Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings are able to play, that will really help. I don’t expect the level of dominance we saw last year, but I still think the 49ers will win. They should be able to run the ball with a lot more success in this game and good things tend to happen when the Niners can do that. That said, the 49ers still need to finish the drives and not give life to the Cowboys as they’ve done to so many teams this year.
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Openly disagreed with him.
