Dallas City News

Back when the NFL schedule was released for the 2024 season, everyone marked this game down as one to look forward to. It’s why NBC claimed it for Sunday Night Football, after all. Cowboys and 49ers, a historic rivalry that’s been (sort of) renewed lately, under the bright lights of prime time television.

The setup for this one is easy. There are decades of history between these franchises, and even the recent history has been juicy. The 49ers knocked the Cowboys out of the playoffs in two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, with each game ending with some odd plays from Dallas, namely the Dak Prescott draw play and the Ezekiel Elliott at center non-Hail Mary. Then, last year on Sunday night, San Francisco obliterated Dallas just one week before their bye. Afterwards, Micah Parsons somewhat foolishly vowed that the next one would be personal.

Now that the game is finally here, though, it hardly seems exciting for either side. For starters, Parsons may not even play, as the star pass rusher is still working back from an ankle injury. In his own words, Parsons’ status for Sunday is “up in the air.” That could be a good description for how many Cowboys fans feel about this team too, as they went into their bye following a blowout loss to the Lions that felt just as demoralizing as last year’s loss to the 49ers.

The good news? They’re not alone. The 49ers have hardly looked like themselves this year, as they come into this one with a 3-4 record. Christian McCaffrey has yet to play this season due to an Achilles injury he suffered during training camp. The same goes for linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who has been on the PUP list all year after tearing his Achilles in last year’s Super Bowl.

That’s not all, though. Star defensive tackle Javon Hargrave went on the injured reserve following a Week 3 loss and safety Talanoa Hufanga joined him after a Week 5 loss. In their most recent loss, the 49ers suffered even more injuries to critical players. Deebo Samuel left the game with an illness, later determined to be pneumonia following his hospitalization. Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL and has already been ruled out for the year. And George Kittle is considered day-to-day with a sprained foot.

Of course, no one in Dallas is going to feel sorry for San Francisco given all the injuries the Cowboys are also dealing with, but this all makes for a rather unappealing prime time matchup. Neither team has looked all that good, with both defenses struggling and both quarterbacks having several ill-timed turnovers in games this year.

Only three quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions than Brock Purdy so far this year. Dak Prescott has thrown one fewer, though he did just have his bye week. Similarly, Purdy has one more touchdown pass too, and he’s completing 63.9% of his passes compared to Prescott’s 62.9% completion rate. Neither quarterback has looked like themselves this year, and their play has involved a high degree of variance from week to week and, sometimes, even play to play.

Another thing Prescott and Purdy have in common right now is that they’re both on pace to blow past their career highs for pass attempts in a season. A lot of that has to do with two underwhelming defenses that have repeatedly relied on the offense to bail them out. The 49ers currently rank 14th in EPA/play allowed, which is far better than Dallas but also far below their normal standard. They’re giving up 5.3 yards per play, their highest mark since 2018. That is not what Kyle Shanahan was hoping for when he unceremoniously fired his defensive coordinator last year following yet another Super Bowl loss.

The Cowboys have been terrible on defense, though much of it can be chalked up to all their injuries. Even if Parsons doesn’t return this week, DaRon Bland should after nearly doing so before the bye week. In other news, Jordan Phillips had his practice window activated to return from the injured reserve, so help is on the way for Mike Zimmer’s beleaguered unit.

That likely doesn’t move the needle much, though not much would right now. Both of these teams are trending down right now, with each of them looking up at their rivals in the division standings. For San Francisco, a win would help them get back to .500, while the Cowboys are hoping to get above .500 rather than fall below it.

A win here for the Cowboys wouldn’t be anything to celebrate – San Francisco is hardly the giant they have been in recent years – but a loss to a team this riddled with injuries might serve as the final blow to fan morale in what’s already been a trying season.