49ers v. Cowboys - Divisional Round

[Niner Outlaw]

Well, here we are, playing the Cowboys again in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Last year's game ended in a nail-biter, so let's hope for a better showing this time.

Overall, Dallas is a better team than they were when we faced them last year. On offense, Dallas is better than last year in the running game--the Dak injury forced the team to focus more on the run and they've smartly stuck with it. Pollard made the PB at RB and the Cowboys like to bring in an extra OLineman to block as a FB. In the passing game, they no longer have Amari Cooper, but Dak can still put up big numbers through the air, as Lamb had 1,300yds at WR and Shultz had 500yds+ at TE . Shultz caught a lot of balls last year against us, so we should expect more of the same this year--lots of runs, play action, and deeper shots taken. While Dak led the league in INTs, a lot of those were fluky plays where the WR bobbled the ball (ala the Purdy/Jennings INT against Washington).
--what is really going to matter is whether the Niners D can get pass pressure like they did last season. Dallas's OLine is a bit shuffled with Jason Peters likely not playing, meaning they will put the rookie back out at LT (where he's played surprisingly well) and put Connor McGovern in at LG. We will need a big game from Armstead inside, as he's been missing from the stat sheet for weeks.

Dallas's defense is GOOD. They are 2nd in DVOA (behind the Niners).
--The D is much better against the pass than they are against the run. That plays into the Niners' offensive strength.
--They force fumbles like no other team in the league, so ball security will be paramount.
--They like to play man coverage and bring pressure, so it'll be interesting to see how Kyle goes after them.
--Parsons is a beast of a pass rusher, so the Niners may try to slow him and the pass rush down by running at him and throwing screens and quicker passes. ---It's interesting to note that they are dead last in defensive DVOA in defending #2 receivers, so the D is good at slowing down #1 WRs, but not nearly as good at defending the secondary receiver.


The Niners are also a better team than last year's.

CMC makes the entire offense more dynamic and Purdy's emergence has improved the offense over and above what Jimmy was giving us. And it's hard to forget that Jimmy wasn't exactly known for big playoff performances. BA, Deebo, Kittle, and CMC provide plenty of offensive firepower for Purdy and Kyle to use. The Niners run-heavy offense plays right into where Dallas's defense is weakest (its not weak, just relatively so), so we have ot establish the run game.

The Niners are the healthiest we've been all year. We're much healthier than we were in last year's game. Last year, Jimmy was playing through a thumb injury and injured his shoulder in the Dallas game to the point it needed offseason surgery (his INT was thrown after the shoulder injury). Purdy comes in not only playing better than Jimmy but he's healthy and more mobile. McGlinchey was out last year and TW was playing through an ankle sprain. Both are healthy this time around.

We have some improvements on defense and some losses. I think the interior of our DLine is weaker than last year, as I think we've missed Arden Key quite a bit. However, Bosa missed the entire 2nd half of the Dallas game last year. And we were without Warner in the 4th quarter. This year we're much healthier. The Niner secondary is better than it was last year. Sure, we're down Moseley, but Ward is an improvement over Moseley and the other Ward has played really well at NCB, haven taken over the spot from K.Williams from last year.

The worries for the Niners imo is at CB2 and safety. Demo has been picked on this season, so expect Dallas to try and isolate him in coverage and throw up some 50/50 balls his way and challenge him. Demo is coming off of his best game this year, so his confidence is high. The other weakness I see is at safety, where Hufanga has a history of blowing coverages and peeking in the backfield.

Another worry is turnovers. Purdy has been careful with the ball, but we seem to be due for a freak fumble and Dallas's defense forces a lot of fumbles.

It's worth noting that the Niners will get 2 more days of rest than Dallas b/c the Cowboys played on Monday night. It's also notable that this is the FOURTH straight road game for Dallas. All that extra time didn't help the Packers last year, so Here's hoping the Cowboys are a little fatigued by the travel and short week.

Vegas has the Niners favored by 3.5 to 4 points. Considering that the game is in SF, that's practically a pick em on a neutral field.

Well, what do we think?

 

[Dean_Youngblood]

Well, here we are, playing the Cowboys again in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Last year's game ended in a nail-biter, so let's hope for a better showing this time.

Overall, Dallas is a better team than they were when we faced them last year. On offense, Dallas is better than last year in the running game--the Dak injury forced the team to focus more on the run and they've smartly stuck with it. Pollard made the PB at RB and the Cowboys like to bring in an extra OLineman to block as a FB. In the passing game, they no longer have Amari Cooper, but Dak can still put up big numbers through the air, as Lamb had 1,300yds at WR and Shultz had 500yds+ at TE . Shultz caught a lot of balls last year against us, so we should expect more of the same this year--lots of runs, play action, and deeper shots taken. While Dak led the league in INTs, a lot of those were fluky plays where the WR bobbled the ball (ala the Purdy/Jennings INT against Washington).
--what is really going to matter is whether the Niners D can get pass pressure like they did last season. Dallas's OLine is a bit shuffled with Jason Peters likely not playing, meaning they will put the rookie back out at LT (where he's played surprisingly well) and put Connor McGovern in at LG. We will need a big game from Armstead inside, as he's been missing from the stat sheet for weeks.

Dallas's defense is GOOD. They are 2nd in DVOA (behind the Niners).
--The D is much better against the pass than they are against the run. That plays into the Niners' offensive strength.
--They force fumbles like no other team in the league, so ball security will be paramount.
--They like to play man coverage and bring pressure, so it'll be interesting to see how Kyle goes after them.
--Parsons is a beast of a pass rusher, so the Niners may try to slow him and the pass rush down by running at him and throwing screens and quicker passes. ---It's interesting to note that they are dead last in defensive DVOA in defending #2 receivers, so the D is good at slowing down #1 WRs, but not nearly as good at defending the secondary receiver.


The Niners are also a better team than last year's.

CMC makes the entire offense more dynamic and Purdy's emergence has improved the offense over and above what Jimmy was giving us. And it's hard to forget that Jimmy wasn't exactly known for big playoff performances. BA, Deebo, Kittle, and CMC provide plenty of offensive firepower for Purdy and Kyle to use. The Niners run-heavy offense plays right into where Dallas's defense is weakest (its not weak, just relatively so), so we have ot establish the run game.

The Niners are the healthiest we've been all year. We're much healthier than we were in last year's game. Last year, Jimmy was playing through a thumb injury and injured his shoulder in the Dallas game to the point it needed offseason surgery (his INT was thrown after the shoulder injury). Purdy comes in not only playing better than Jimmy but he's healthy and more mobile. McGlinchey was out last year and TW was playing through an ankle sprain. Both are healthy this time around.

We have some improvements on defense and some losses. I think the interior of our DLine is weaker than last year, as I think we've missed Arden Key quite a bit. However, Bosa missed the entire 2nd half of the Dallas game last year. And we were without Warner in the 4th quarter. This year we're much healthier. The Niner secondary is better than it was last year. Sure, we're down Moseley, but Ward is an improvement over Moseley and the other Ward has played really well at NCB, haven taken over the spot from K.Williams from last year.

The worries for the Niners imo is at CB2 and safety. Demo has been picked on this season, so expect Dallas to try and isolate him in coverage and throw up some 50/50 balls his way and challenge him. Demo is coming off of his best game this year, so his confidence is high. The other weakness I see is at safety, where Hufanga has a history of blowing coverages and peeking in the backfield.

Another worry is turnovers. Purdy has been careful with the ball, but we seem to be due for a freak fumble and Dallas's defense forces a lot of fumbles.

It's worth noting that the Niners will get 2 more days of rest than Dallas b/c the Cowboys played on Monday night. It's also notable that this is the FOURTH straight road game for Dallas. All that extra time didn't help the Packers last year, so Here's hoping the Cowboys are a little fatigued by the travel and short week.

Vegas has the Niners favored by 3.5 to 4 points. Considering that the game is in SF, that's practically a pick em on a neutral field.

Well, what do we think?

Another good synopsis... I think you laid it out pretty well. Now they just need to play the friggin game!

Something tells me that Kyle's gonna dial up some pass plays early with everyone expecting a heavy dose of the run game. He did that against Seattle out of the gate... whether it was nerves on Purdy's part or a wet football, they just didn't hit on them. I personally don't think he needs to get cute. The 9ers are extremely physical, and if they wanted to run the ball down Dalllas' throat, they are completely capable.

On D, if Dak gets time, the deep ball has me concerned... as does Schultz - that dude is a gamer and played out of his mind against Tampa. Much better gamer than Lamb, imo.

You just never know with Dallas. The can absolutely be world beaters, but the inconsistency creates question marks.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

This is probably as even of a matchup as it can get. Should be a great game. To give you guys a little more insight, the current Dallas OL with Tyler Smith at LT and McGovern at LG has been the most-used and most-successful combination this season for the Cowboys. If Zeke is in the game you can pretty much expect him to only get inside runs; his ability to run outside anymore is absolutely gone. Also, the run D is much better now that Hankins is healthy at NT, so the full season stats might not reflect what you guys can expect against Dallas' run defense.

 

[deep9er]

To me you start off by testing the Cowboy LB's in coverage. Don't run plays to set them up for later plays, but attack them right off. By doing this you get ball out quickly to avoid Parsons/blitzes, and let your playmakers play. This requires shorter passes which reduces the odds of INTs and holding penalties. Whether short passes to Kittle, 'dump offs' to CMC, or other short passes to Deebo, you force the LB's to cover in space.

Defensively, you start straight up meaning no blitzes and the Safeties play back. Ryans has shown the ability to adjust so you do so as the game goes on. Don't feel we need to get too "gimmicky" or "exotic" off the bat, because we don't want Pollard getting chunk plays. If Lamb and Schultz get their short catches fine, but make the immediate tackle. We can't expect to shut them down, but limit their run game and BIG pass plays.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

Mattress Mack places massive $2M bet on Cowboys to beat 49ers

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who is famous for his huge sports bets, wagered $2 million in cash on the Cowboys to beat the 49ers on Sunday.

www.nbcsports.com

He's the same guy that bet 3M on TCU. May his run of losing money continue...

Mattress Mack places $3.1+ million bet on TCU winning National Championship

Houston-based furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, lovingly known as Mattress Mack, placed a nearly $3.1 million bet on the TCU Horned Frogs.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Mattress Mack places massive $2M bet on Cowboys to beat 49ers

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who is famous for his huge sports bets, wagered $2 million in cash on the Cowboys to beat the 49ers on Sunday.

www.nbcsports.com

He's the same guy that bet 3M on TCU. May his run of losing money continue...

Mattress Mack places $3.1+ million bet on TCU winning National Championship

Houston-based furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, lovingly known as Mattress Mack, placed a nearly $3.1 million bet on the TCU Horned Frogs.

www.cbsnews.com

He made it big betting on the Astros winning the WS in 2017, now he's a cult hero in Houston. Since then he pretty much bets on any Texas team that makes it to a bigtime postseason game.

 

[Sportster 72]

Go 9ers

 

[deep9er]

Obviously a great win! I felt Shanahan was a LITTLE too cautious granted the Dallas D was solid too. Was hoping he attacks their LBs with short passes, but he didn't do much of this. Dallas was supposedly weak against the run, but there were tough until the 4th quarter. Kittle is Kittle, use him a little bit more.

The 49er defense carried the offense AND ST's today. Granted Dak's two INT's helped a lot, but the D still played solid. Just another opposing WR going over 100 yards, but Lamb didn't break our defense.

Next week, lets hope ST's coverage is better and McCloud hangs on. We supposedly added FA's to improve our coverages, so what happened today?

 

[deep9er]

Mattress Mack places massive $2M bet on Cowboys to beat 49ers

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who is famous for his huge sports bets, wagered $2 million in cash on the Cowboys to beat the 49ers on Sunday.

www.nbcsports.com

He's the same guy that bet 3M on TCU. May his run of losing money continue...

Mattress Mack places $3.1+ million bet on TCU winning National Championship

Houston-based furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, lovingly known as Mattress Mack, placed a nearly $3.1 million bet on the TCU Horned Frogs.

www.cbsnews.com

OUCH!

 

[Niner Outlaw]

I would say the Niners survived that game. The Defense played lights out and kept the team in the game, but the offense struggled almost all day. The key point was that Purdy, didn’t turn the ball over and Dak did. Dallas’s 2 turnovers led to 6 Niner points, and add to that the blocked extra point and that (7) was the difference in the game.

Offense
Purdy was 19 of 29 for 214yds. No TDs, but no turnovers. He got sacked twice, but was under heavy pressure almost day. He definitely out played Dak.
--on Kittle’s great catch, he wasn’t even in the progression, but Purdy improvised and threw to him anyway
--Diggs dropped what would’ve been an INT on the Niner TD drive
--Dallas played tight man coverage for much of the day and combine that with the pressure they were getting up front and the Niner offense was stalled much of the day.
---Niner offense had only 7 drives in the last 50 minutes of the game, but the offense played just well enough to put up points on 5 of those drives.
--I’ve literally seen posts from Dallas fans that Purdy is basically Trent Dilfer. It's like they've never seen him play at all.
--Purdy now has as many career playoff wins as Dak Prescott
--The only other rookie QBs to make the Conference Championship Game? Shaun King, Big Ben, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez.

Dallas clamped down on Aiyuk. He had only 2 catches for 26 yards. He was open for an early TD, but Purdy was late on the throw.
--Jennings came up on 3rd downs like he usually does. 2 balls for 26yds. When is this guy going to get more opportunities?
--Deebo had only 4 catches for 45 yards and 4 rushes for 11yds. We were pulling Deebo off the field for several of our run plays. I have to assume he wasn't blocking well.

Kittle was most of the passing game. He caught all 5 balls thrown his way for 95 yards. 4 of his catches went for big plays, including a huge 31 yarder on the 2nd series that got the Niners into cowboys’ territory. Then came the big 30yarder later in the game that he bobbled around before hauling in--the Kittle Dribble Up the Middle
--Kittle also had an underappreciated play. On 3rd and 9 in the fourth quarter, Purdy got sacked, but the play was wiped out b/c Kittle forced a holding call on the dallas defense, giving the team a new set of downs.

The running game just couldn’t get things going until very late in the game, but they never gave up on it—we ran 30 rushing plays!
-- Mitchell carried 14 times for 51yds and CMC had 10 carries for 35yds.
--Almost all of Mitchell’s yardage came on 2 drives late in the game.
--Early on, Kyle seemed intent on running up the middle against a 9 man box. It didn’t work. Let's hope he has better runs planned for Philly.

The Oline struggled for most of the game.
--First half, McGlinchey got his ass kicked, as he frequently had Parsons lined up across from him. Parsons used the hump move on one play and it threw McGlinchey off...his...feet. Beaten in both pass pro and missed several run blocks. He got his shit together in the 2nd half and we were actually able to run the ball to the right for a strange change since most of our best runs go to the left.
--The Oline just about could not block D.Lawrence. He had 4 solo tackles, a sack, 2 QB hits, and 2 TFL and the guy blew up 2 other plays.

Defense
The defense was lights out. They limited Dallas to just 282yds of offense. Dak threw 37 times and got only 206yds. He had a TD, but threw 2 picks and the Niners dropped 2 others.
--half of Dak’s passing yardage went to Lamb who caught 10 balls for 117yds, including a 46yds bomb where Demo got a DPI called on him.
--for a change, the Niners didn’t let a TE beat them in the passing game. Shultz caught 5 balls, but he was targeted 10 times! And his catches only went for 27yds.
--the run D was good. Even with Pollard in, he was only 6 carries for 22yds and half those yards came on 1 carry. Elliott didn’t do any better, carrying 10 times for 26yds.
--Well, Dallas lost Pollard, so….so, nothing. You’ll get no sympathy from Niner fans about injuries. #2 CB is out of the season, Kinlaw missed most of the season, Deebo and Mitchell both missed significant time, and we are on our 3rd QB.

Fred Warner was all over the field. He had an INT, 9 tackles, 1 TFL, a pbu, etc. He was also pretty good in coverage, targeted 5 times, but giving up only 2 catches for 15 total yards. OTOH, Greenlaw did not have a good game. He had a 15yd flag for a hit out of bounds, gave up a 10yd throw in the redzone and then a TD catch to Shultz. He also dropped an INT that would’ve gone for 6 and sealed the game.

The Niner pass rush was up and down. Bosa only had 2 tackles, 1 TFL, and no sacks. But the man blocking him had multiple penalties, both false start and holding. Ebukam got the team’s only sack of Prescott and he blocked a Cowboy extra point. Omenihu got some early pressure, but he had to leave the game for a while. Willis, his replacement, wasn’t nearly as effective. Armstead had a quietly effective game inside, but it didn’t show up on the stat sheet, and he had Prescott for a safety in the EZ but he missed the tackle.
--Speaking of Willis—Willis was in the game b/c Drake Jackson was a HEALTHY SCRATCH. He didn’t even suit up for the game. Is Willis outplaying him this badly in practice? Jackson better get his shit together b/c he’ll be counted on next season (and this season isn’t even over yet).

J.Ward was our best DB out there. He had a great game--7 total tackles, 1 TFL, 2 pbu, but he did drop an INT that Warner caught off off the bounce. Mooney Ward was getting taken to the cleaners by Lamb. I don’t understand why he was playing so far off of Lamb for most of the day.
--Demo gave up a bomb, but he had an early pick that led to points. He is playing with a lot of confidence. Gotta hope that he keeps it up. That’s 2 playoff games and 2 INTs for him.

ST was good for Gould, who hit all his FGs, but on coverage, they were a disaster, allowing Turpin several big returns and McCloud fumbled away one of his chances. Without that turnover, the game wouldn’t have been so close.
--I said before the game that we were due for a freak turnover of some kind. Let’s hope we got it out of our system.
--Gould also had a potentially game-saving tackle on Turpin, who had broken loose and was headed for the game-tying score before Gould body checked him.
--After Maher missed a couple of practice kicks, Jerruh Jones walked onto the field to talk to him. That’s just crazy. I have never seen anything like that before.

Look at this odd sequence of events
After next to last Niner drive, Dallas got the ball back with 2:59 left in the game. 1st down--Greenlaw drops what would’ve been a game-sealing pick 6. 2nd down--Prescott misses an open Gallup on a deep shot. 3rd down—Dak is sacked. 4th down—Dallas lets 45 seconds run off the clock before punting the ball (WOW), when they should have been able to save 10-15 of those seconds.

On the ensuing drive, the Niners ran the ball a few times to whittle down the clock and make Dallas use its timeouts, and Mitchell gets free on a toss play, but steps out of bounds. Had he stayed in bounds, the Niners run 2 plays, then kneel down for the win, but b/c he stepped out of bounds, the Niners had to run 3 plays and then punt.

Turpin then fair catches the ball at the Dallas 6 with 45 seconds left and no timeouts? WTH was he thinking fair catching that ball?

And the last play by Dallas—WTH was that?
--It looked like it was designed to have the ball go out quickly, then be tossed back to Zeke at some point. All the blockers were on the edges, so it was a weird formation. Nice call by the coaches to call a time out and prepare the defense.
--Al-Shaair blew up Zeke on the play and immediately pressured Dak. When I say blew up, I mean Zeke looked like he exploded. Pancaked.
--So, Dak had to quickly throw the ball, but it was so high, Turpin had to jump for it, giving Ward enough time to tackle him before any laterals could be thrown.
--I’m sure that wasn’t how they practiced it. Then again, I’m sure no one destroyed Zeke on the play in practice.

NEXT UP—a road trip to Philly to face the Eagles. The Niners open as 2.5 point underdogs. I figure that line will go up to 3 or even 3.5. This trip the Niners have to travel to the eastern time zone to play the early game. How will we fare?

 

[Niner Outlaw]

Some things i forgot to mention:

McGlinchey had the key block on the CMC TD run.

Yesterday was the eleventh anniversary of the Kyle Williams game. So when McCloud fumbled, my heart dropped into my stomach.

Niner Rushing offense:
1st half: 11 carries, 27 yards (2.5 per carry)
2nd half: 21 carries, 86 yards (4.1 per carry)

I know the Niners have several key starters up for free agency after this season, but Dallas has a lot of starters up for Free Agency this year too, including TE Dalton Schultz, RB Tony Pollard, S Donovan Wilson, LB Leighton Vander Esch, G Connor McGovern, CB Anthony Brown, LB Anthony Barr, etc.

QB Brock Purdy was pressured a career-high 14 times Sunday.
--He was 3-of-10 for 24 yards and sacked twice when under pressure.
--He was 16-of-19 for 190 yards when he wasn't.

Brock completed 63.6% of his passes on 3rd down and converted on 45.5% of them with his arm. He may not have been flashy but he was keeping the chains moving a high rate.
--8 of the 11 3rd downs that Brock attempted a pass were 3rd and 7+

 

[Dean_Youngblood]

Brock played a clean game... in a defensive battle like last night, that's "overperforming" on some level, especially for a rookie. He continues to impress me, even though this was probably his least flashy game.

Dallas' defense was prepared and came to play. They played fast, swarmed to the ball in the running game and tackled really well. They gave Dallas a shot to win the game.

 

[deep9er]

The running game just couldn’t get things going until very late in the game, but they never gave up on it—we ran 30 rushing plays!
-- Mitchell carried 14 times for 51yds and CMC had 10 carries for 35yds.
--Almost all of Mitchell’s yardage came on 2 drives late in the game.
--Early on, Kyle seemed intent on running up the middle against a 9 man box. It didn’t work. Let's hope he has better runs planned for Philly.

Apparently, all of Dallas' road games and shorter week caught up to their run defense? If so, understandable that our run game started to work end of 3rd and into the 4th.

Yes, I felt Shanahan was a LITTLE conservative including too much running up the middle. Dallas' defense was stout so give them credit.

 

[deep9er]

Look at this odd sequence of events
After next to last Niner drive, Dallas got the ball back with 2:59 left in the game. 1st down--Greenlaw drops what would’ve been a game-sealing pick 6. 2nd down--Prescott misses an open Gallup on a deep shot. 3rd down—Dak is sacked. 4th down—Dallas lets 45 seconds run off the clock before punting the ball (WOW), when they should have been able to save 10-15 of those seconds.

On the ensuing drive, the Niners ran the ball a few times to whittle down the clock and make Dallas use its timeouts, and Mitchell gets free on a toss play, but steps out of bounds. Had he stayed in bounds, the Niners run 2 plays, then kneel down for the win, but b/c he stepped out of bounds, the Niners had to run 3 plays and then punt.

Turpin then fair catches the ball at the Dallas 6 with 45 seconds left and no timeouts? WTH was he thinking fair catching that ball?


haaa, i was thinking the same thing, what the hell kind of ending was that? Also, why didn't Armstead sack Dak in the end zone, that would've ended the game too?

I believe Mitchell didn't necessarily have to go down where the went out of bounds? I think he could slowed down and then step backwards before going out of bounds? Anyway, not so sure they told him go down prior to the play, because didn't we need about 7 yards for the 1st? IF so, can't blame Mitchell for having the priority of getting that 1st down, the rest was instinct.

Why does Shanahan waste his timeouts?

 

[deep9er]

NEXT UP—a road trip to Philly to face the Eagles. The Niners open as 2.5 point underdogs. I figure that line will go up to 3 or even 3.5. This trip the Niners have to travel to the eastern time zone to play the early game. How will we fare?


Yep, as the #2 seed, we had the advantage over Seattle and Dallas, but now Philly has it over us. But that's the system so no tears, just go play and see what happens? As in all games, it starts with limiting your mistakes. No turnovers would be huge but also, no big penalties. Greenlaw made the stupid penalty yesterday, the prior week it was Jimmie Ward.

Speaking of penalties, the other reason we need to take a few shots downfield, is the potential PI call. If you don't throw it 20 yards or so, we never get that penalty to even out.

 

[deep9er]

Brock played a clean game... in a defensive battle like last night, that's "overperforming" on some level, especially for a rookie. He continues to impress me, even though this was probably his least flashy game.

Dallas' defense was prepared and came to play. They played fast, swarmed to the ball in the running game and tackled really well. They gave Dallas a shot to win the game.

I agree, even though Purdy's stats took a step down, he didn't turn it over. Granted, Dallas should've had one but they didn't, so too bad. There were at least two plays I was glad he avoided the rush and threw it away. I kept thinking GOOD because he avoided the potential sack/fumble, and didn't force a pass which might've been intercepted.

Also agree with Dallas, their defense deserves a lot of credit for holding up our offense.

 

[deep9er]

On the first play, quarterback Dak Prescott received the shotgun snap at the one, rolled right, started into his throwing motion, and then took a hit from 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead. Prescott bounced away, ran toward the line of scrimmage, and threw an incomplete pass.

After the game, Armstead explained why he pulled up before hitting Dak.

“I wasn’t trying to get a penalty,” Armstead said. “I should have just smacked him.”

On Monday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan addressed Armstead’s chance to end the game then and there with a safety.

“I think he thought Dak was going to throw it, so I think he was going in there with the mindset to get his hands up to try to tip it and then Dak didn’t and it caught him off guard and then he was afraid the position he was in, he was about to hit him high and get a penalty,” Shanahan said. “When you’re approaching a quarterback, it’s so hard for these guys to hit in that target area and not get a penalty that you really have to approach it the right way. . . . He didn’t want to get that 15-yard penalty. . . . Once I watched the tape, I can totally see why it happened and that’s just kind of the challenges these guys have.”

It’s a difficult spot for any defender, balancing the inherent aggression of football with the urgency to protect the most important players on the field. If Armstead had indeed “smacked” Dak, the Cowboys may have ended up with a first at 10 at the 21, only 79 yards from the end zone.


Yeah ok, i can understand the thinking of not making a stupid penalty. At the time Armstead was standing high and might've hit Dak's head. Thing is, then do lift your arms up?!

 

[deep9er]

Below are the three lowest-graded 49ers players on offense.

• Daniel Brunskill, RG, 47.8, 34 snaps
• Jake Brendel, C, 53.6, 66 snaps
• Ray-Ray McCloud III, WR, 58.3, 2 snaps

Below are the three lowest-graded 49ers players on defense.

• Kevin Givens, DT, 35.8, 19 snaps
• Javon Kinlaw, DT, 44.2, 23 snaps
• Samson Ebukam, DE, 49.1, 45 snaps

Yep, it did look like the Dallas D-line was outplaying our O-line.

Would REALLY help if Kinlaw starts an upward trend. Not asking him to be All-Pro, but at least flash some plays.

 

[deep9er]

What was Shanahan thinking at the end of the 1st half? While NOT saying throwing 20 yards downfield, why not run plays as opposed to just killing the clock?

Even if you call WR screens, draws, check downs, etc., TRY. As it turned out, we did get the field goal but only after Jenning's 31 yard (or so) catch. But then this still forced Gould to make a 50 yarder.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

haaa, i was thinking the same thing, what the hell kind of ending was that?

Strange that both of the Dallas playoff games against the Niners ended on weird, unconventional plays. This one was even funnier than the last one.

McCarthy was asked about the last play and how the play was supposed to go, but he didn't want to talk about it.

I agree, even though Purdy's stats took a step down, he didn't turn it over. Granted, Dallas should've had one but they didn't, so too bad. There were at least two plays I was glad he avoided the rush and threw it away. I kept thinking GOOD because he avoided the potential sack/fumble, and didn't force a pass which might've been intercepted.

Looked like Purdy bailed out of the pocket a little too early a couple of times. At times, he looked a little rushed, like he was hurrying too much. Considering the pressure he was getting, it's hard to blame him, really.

What was Shanahan thinking at the end of the 1st half? While NOT saying throwing 20 yards downfield, why not run plays as opposed to just killing the clock?

Even if you call WR screens, draws, check downs, etc., TRY. As it turned out, we did get the field goal but only after Jenning's 31 yard (or so) catch. But then this still forced Gould to make a 50 yarder.

IIRC, Shanny said he was playing for the FG and to try and run out the clock at the same time so just in case we stalled or the FG was no good, Dallas wouldn't get any time to move the ball before the half (b/c Dallas was getting the ball first in the 2nd half).