It’s Week 10 for the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers will be coming to AT&T Stadium in a bigtime matchup. It’s an old rivalry that’s had its share of classic games, but the Cowboys need to find a way to win to break the spell from the 49ers.
The Cowboys haven’t been able to beat the 49ers in the last four meetings, that needs to end if Brian Schottenheimer’s team wants to prove they’re a playoff caliber group. After surviving to get a victory last week, the Cowboys must find a way to win consecutive games for the first time this season. Here are three reasons to love the Cowboys against the 49ers in Week 10.
Lack pass rush
The 49ers’ defense has gotten a reputation as being one of the most feared in the league, but this season they’ve had issues getting
to the quarterback. With only 15 sacks on the year, Raheem Morris’ unit ranks 28th in the league.
Team Pressure Rates
— SFdata9ers🏈📊 (@sfdata9ers) November 10, 2026
Data: @FantasyPtsData pic.twitter.com/iBgJHDt2Ud
There is no dominant pass rusher for the 49ers and their best pressure player, Nick Bosa, is still trying to work his way back from a calf injury. Bosa lined up against the Las Vegas Raiders for just his third game of the season, and he’s yet to get a sack.
No defensive player has more than 3.5 sacks on the season and the 49ers have four games where they have failed to get to the quarterback more than once. The Cowboys sometimes struggle in pass protection, but if they can keep the defense away from Dak Prescott, they’ll have a chance at scoring enough points to win the game.
No Mike Evans
One of the game’s worst passing defenses will catch a break by not having to face the 49ers’ top wide receiver Mike Evans. The veteran WR is questionable to play, but appears unlikely to line up against the Cowboys.
Before Evans got hurt, he was leading the team in targets, yards, first downs and yards a game. He’s always been a high-quality red zone target, which came with three scores through six games this season.
That’s a big part of the passing game missing for the 49ers, even if they do get some WR help this week. Deebo Samuel is expected to return and the team also traded for veteran WR Keenan Allen, who will face the Cowboys in back-to-back weeks if he plays after the deal.
None of those options are as good as Evans, who continues to play at a high level in his first year in San Francisco. Not facing him is a gift for the Cowboys.
Bad on special teams
The 49ers are a sound team all-around, which is why they’re 7-1 through eight games. However, one of their weaknesses is on special teams, where they have been bad, especially on kickoff returns.
#49ers kick coverage has been awful today. And for the past few weeks.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) November 8, 2026
Since Week 5, the Niners are last in the NFL in kick return yards allowed (31.8).
That’s good news for the Cowboys on the surface, but they’ll likely be without their top two kickoff returners in this game. All-Pro return man KaVontae Turpin isn’t likely to play, and Tyler Goodson went on IR this week with sprained MCL and ACL injuries. That will hurt the in return game but the next man up will get a boost due to the poor coverage unit by the 49ers.
San Francisco’s kicker is also having a down year, making just 70% of his field goal attempts. Eddie Pineiro has struggled on longer kicks, but his bigger issue has been on extra points, where he’s made just 86.7% of his tries. That’s third worst in the league and could give the Cowboys a slight advantage.
If the Cowboys can win this part of the game on Sunday, they stand a better chance of pulling off the upset.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 3 reasons to love the Cowboys in the Week 10 matchup with the 49ers
