Did you at all get excited about the potential comeback on Sunday night?
The Dallas Cowboys weren’t expected to win in Sunday night’s showdown with the San Francisco 49ers. Few were surprised when they found themselves down 27-10 by the end of the third quarter. While Dallas nearly pulled off a comeback in the fourth, the rest of the game is far more indicative of where this team is and what lies ahead for a struggling, ill-equipped team.
The night’s biggest surprise was that the Cowboys took a 10-6 lead into halftime. The Niners had shot themselves in the foot more than once in the first half, thanks largely to some drive-killing drops by Deebo Samuel. It wasn’t that Dallas’ defense had made some bold statement; just San Francisco struggling with execution and still trying to find consistency without RB Christian McCaffrey or WR Brandon Aiyuk in the lineup.
The rhythm returned in a 21-0 run that seemed to put the game away. That felt like the 49ers-Cowboys matchups of recent years, with their offense exerting its will and Dallas having no cohesion when they got the ball. Beyond just this matchup, it felt like how the Cowboys have been manhandled in their other losses to the Lions, Ravens, and Saints, plus the 2023 playoff elimination by the Packers.
Nobody, including the 49ers, saw that fourth-quarter comeback coming. And that’s really why it happened; San Francisco was already in prevent mode and clearly stopped taking the Cowboys seriously. The proven All-Pro connection between QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb took advantage of the complacency, and suddenly the 49ers looked like Apollo Creed in the first round of his first fight with Rocky.
But don’t be fooled by what Dallas nearly accomplished, because most opponents aren’t going to make that same mistake. Beating up the Cowboys is old hat for the 49ers and they have every reason to not respect us. It only took them one quarter of competent football to turn the game into another laugher. When they got up 27-10, they just got sleepy and bored.
The issues that have plagued the Cowboys all season were still there on the final drive. Mike McCarthy’s unimaginative offensive scheme left bad options for Prescott, who threw four straight incompletions to kill the comeback. While he did throw a dime to KaVontae Turpin on one attempt, putting the game on Turpin’s suspect hands was hardly the optimal design.
This game was much more about the hole that Dallas found themselves in than nearly climbing out of it. How sad is it that Ezekiel Elliott averaging 3.4 yards per carry felt like progress? Watching rookie RB Isaac Guerendo rip off 85 yards after Jordan Mason’s injury rubbed salt in the wound; another guy the Cowboys missed out on in the 2024 Draft. And even as the passing game found some redemption near the end, Prescott’s crushing interceptions when the 49ers were still playing defense were more damning.
Worst of all, this wasn’t even your typical NFC-leading San Francisco team. They’re only 4-4 now after beating Dallas, battling their own issues and injuries. What’s really scary is that the next four games against the Falcons, Eagles, Texans, and Commanders all feel like losses; arguably all better teams right now than the Niners. None of them, especially the NFC East rivals, are going to sleep on the Cowboys.
What’s becoming clear is that it doesn’t matter how motivated or prepared this Dallas team is, they just don’t have the pieces this year. Their right tackle is sabotaging the offense and injuries have neutered the defense. Things could get better on that side of the ball once Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland return, but they won’t offer much help to their chronic weakness against the run.
The biggest missing piece of all is at head coach. McCarthy is clearly no longer in touch with the modern game or how best to play to the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses of his offense. Too much focus is placed on Dak Prescott’s leadership because his head coach is a feckless void of it. When his boss called out the offensive scheme and play-calling last week, McCarthy’s response was as flat as his performance.
Nothing about this season says there are good concepts or plays. Yes, players have to execute and that’s been a problem at times. But predictable routes, lack of creativity, and poor run-versus-pass choices go back to design and play-calling. You can see the life draining from this team with every stalled drive and the blank look on the face of the head coach only more uninspiring.
To be fair, Jerry Jones should keep his mouth shut about how anyone’s doing at their job. The front office set up this mess with their own negligence during the offseason. Making McCarthy the scapegoat is just a step above berating media members who ask tough questions.
If they willfully mortgaged 2024 to set the team up for the future, then just own it. Go into tank mode, trade away who you can for picks, and stop pretending that this team should be something that you never really intended for this season. The 49ers only showed up for one quarter in the last game and it was enough to put Dallas away. Better competition and bigger embarrassments are just around the corner.
The Dallas Cowboys are currently broken, lacking the resources and repair team to do anything about it until the offseason. Until then, unless Jones surprises us by firing McCarthy, there’s not much more to do than ride this out and hope young players like Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, DeMarvion Overshown, and others get valuable reps to build on. If 2024 is a lost cause, now’s the time to mine whatever you can to make future seasons more competitive.
