The Dallas Cowboys return home at 4-5 after escaping the Indianapolis Colts with a nail-biting victory, but the difficulty level rises considerably this week. The San Francisco 49ers are at 7-1 and own the best record in the NFC. Dallas showed against the Colts that its offense can move the football against anybody, but beating San Francisco will require a much cleaner performance, and scoring touchdowns rather than settling for field goals, or worse, falling victim to turnovers.
When San Francisco has the ball
Everything starts
with Christian McCaffrey. San Francisco does not need him to simply line up and run between the tackles, Kyle Shanahan moves him around, gets him involved in the passing game and uses his presence to create space for everyone else.
McCaffrey already has nine rushing touchdowns, while Brock Purdy has thrown 17 touchdowns against only five interceptions and ranks among the NFL’s most efficient quarterbacks. San Francisco also leads the league in red-zone touchdown rate at an incredible 84%, so Dallas cannot rely on tightening up once the 49ers get close to the goal line.
When Dallas has the ball
Dallas should take confidence from what it produced in Indianapolis. The Cowboys gained 508 total yards, with Dak Prescott throwing for 335, CeeDee Lamb producing 195 receiving yards and Javonte Williams topping 100 yards rushing.
The problem was everything around those numbers. Dallas committed 14 penalties and lost two fumbles, turning what should have been a comfortable win into another game that required Prescott to rescue them in the final minutes.
The good news is San Francisco’s defense can be attacked. Despite all the talent in its front seven, the 49ers have only 15 sacks, ranking 28th in the NFL. Nick Bosa and recently acquired DeForest Buckner make the defensive line much more dangerous than that number suggests, but Dallas should still give Prescott opportunities to attack downfield.
Lamb is now up to 904 receiving yards and is coming off one of his best games of the season. San Francisco also began the week with injuries to their starting cornerbacks and their game status is questionable. If either is missing or limited, Lamb becomes the obvious place for Dallas to attack.
Now onto the predictions from your BTB writers…
Tom Ryle (4-5)
I just don’t see the Cowboys being that competitive against one of the Super Bowl favorites. In a matchup of organizational dysfunction and well oiled machine, I’ll sadly pick the 49ers to win 31-16.
Brandon Loree (6-3)
At this point, it’s probably the Cowboys’ toughest challenge and, unfortunately, their biggest thorn in the side since 2021.
The 49ers are way better in almost every category compared to Dallas despite having similar if not worse, injury luck.
If the Cowboys can somehow pull a rabbit out of their hat and win this game, get ready to hear some outrageous playoff talk. Seeing is believing, so I’ll have to see it happen in order to believe—Dallas loses at home 33-23.
Dyllan Rivers (5-4)
Sometimes the NFL makes absolutely no sense. Teams that have no business winning will go out and upset the heavy favorite. But this is not one of those weeks. Christian McCaffrey goes crazy and Dallas falls to the 49ers 37-27.
Matt Holleran (4-5)
Until I see it happen I refuse to believe the Cowboys will beat a Kyle Shanahan-lead 49ers team. Dallas does not win back-to-back games under Brian Schottenheimer and I would be absolutely shocked if they did just that against a San Francisco team that just may be the best in the league. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see this one being close. Give me the 49ers in a rout, 37-17.
Mike Poland (4-5)
An entire panel going for the 49ers to win this one, and my head says the Cowboys lose this week to a strong San Francisco roster. But I’ll break the clean sweep here so any optimistic Cowboys fans here on BTB have something to align with on the staff predictions. A very tentative and nervous score prediction here where Dallas wins 28-21. And I’m willing to take the hit on this one.
