The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers entered the season as top contenders in the NFC following three straight double-digit win seasons and playoff appearances for both franchises.
The 2024 campaign hasn't exactly gone to plan for both teams so far with injuries and spotty play leaving both with major questions headed into their game on Sunday.
Dallas (3-3) had the week off last week to deal with the sting from a 47-9 loss to Detroit that was the most lopsided at home for the Cowboys since 1988. San Francisco (3-4) lost a hyped Super Bowl rematch against Kansas City and is stumbling toward its bye week after hosting Dallas.
“We’re in similar spots — two teams that need to right the ship and get on a better trajectory,” Niners defensive end Nick Bosa said. “For them, they’re coming off the bye; we’re heading into it after this. They want to get going and start the second half of their season the right way, and we want to go into the bye feeling good about where we’re at.”
The Cowboys had plenty of time to stew over the blowout loss to the Lions but the real focus during that time off for coach Mike McCarthy's staff was fixing the problems that led to a pair of blowout losses to New Orleans and Detroit and mostly spotty performances all season.
Dallas has been outrushed by 66 yards per game — the worst mark in the league and fifth worst in franchise history through six games — Dak Prescott and the passing game have been inconsistent and the defense as a whole has struggled under new coordinator Mike Zimmer.
But the biggest issue has been turnovers with the Cowboys committing 11 and generating only five takeaways after leading the NFL with 59 the previous two seasons under Dan Quinn.
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“That’s the huge blinking light for us,” McCarthy said. “I think just like anything in the game of football, where you put your time, the time on task, taking care of the football, taking it away, and we’ve added some drills.”
Key reinforcements on that defense won't be back for Dallas this week. Star pass rusher Micah Parsons will miss a third consecutive game because of a high ankle sprain, and All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland's season debut will have to wait at least one more week as he recovers from foot surgery.
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Lamb rebuttal
All-Pro CeeDee Lamb said nothing when asked if he agreed with Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman’s criticism that Dallas receivers were running lazy routes. Aikman, who won three Super Bowls leading the Cowboys in the 1990s, mentioned Lamb by name.
First asked more generally for his reaction to Aikman’s comments, Lamb said, “We’ve got to be better overall. That’s all.”
Prescott said he wasn’t fully aware of the comments in a radio appearance last week by Aikman, who called Dallas’ route-running “terrible.” Aikman said some routes looked lazy because receivers didn’t appear fully committed when they knew the ball wasn’t coming their way.
“That’s his job. I think he gets paid to analyze things, to comment on things,” Prescott said. “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. I think myself, CeeDee, this team, everybody would say we have to do better. Whether he got personal, whether he went too far, once again, the guy gets paid to do that and he’s doing a job.”
Lamb has led the Cowboys in yards receiving in four of their six games, but hasn’t had a 100-yard day. He had eight last season.
Increasing role
First-round rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall had three catches for 21 yards last week in his NFL debut that came 50 days after he was shot in the chest.
Getting back on the field so soon was a major accomplishment but the Niners will need more from Pearsall now that Brandon Aiyuk is out for the season with torn knee ligaments. Pearsall hopes to build on his first performance.
"I saw a lot of room for improvement.” he said. “Obviously being out of training camp and this period of time for the season, there’s a lot of opportunity for me to get better. I just have to go back and do that and grind and do what I normally do and work hard.”
Tight-lipped Kendricks
Dallas linebacker Eric Kendricks didn’t want to discuss his health after missing the Detroit game before the open week with calf and shoulder issues. He wasn’t much more forthcoming about playing the Niners after initially agreeing to join them in free agency before switching to the Cowboys in March.
Kendricks said the reunion with Mike Zimmer was a “big influence” in his decision, but wouldn’t offer much more. Zimmer, in his first year as the Dallas defensive coordinator, was Minnesota’s head coach and defensive play-caller for Kendricks’ first seven NFL seasons. Kendricks stayed with the Vikings one more year after Zimmer left, and spent last season with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“It was talks of that,” Kendricks, who is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury, said of the Niners. “But I decided to come here and play with these boys and haven’t looked back since.”
Not-so special teams
The Cowboys have excelled on special teams behind kicker Brandon Aubrey's eight field goals from at least 50 yards and strong coverage and return units. It's been the opposite case for the 49ers, who have had several blunders in the kicking game so far this season.
They had a punt blocked, allowed a fake punt for a first down, fumbled away a kickoff return, missed an extra point, had two kickers injured making tackles on kickoffs and allowed two long punt return to set up scores, including a game-winning field goal by the Rams in Week 3.
“We’ve got to get a lot better at it,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “It’s pretty obvious to everybody. It’s obvious to us, it’s been that way for a few weeks.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
