2022 NFC Wild Card preview: (6) 49ers vs. (3) Cowboys
Sean Clark previews the NFC Wild Card matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, the rekindling of an old NFC rivalry.
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When searching through the annals of NFL lore, one rivalry has provided some of the league’s moment iconic moments while defining entire decades of football: the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.
During the 1970s, the Cowboys cemented themselves as the perennial NFC frontrunners with three consecutive playoff victories over the 49ers from 1970 to 1972.
However, the 49ers jumpstarted their 18-year dynasty with “The Catch” in January, 1982. Against the Cowboys, Dwight Clark leaped high into the air and snagged Joe Montana’s pass in the back of the endzone to give the 49ers the 28-27 win in the NFC Championship game.
Four Super Bowl rings later, Steve Young finally got his chance to emerge from Montana’s shadow and continue the 49ers dynasty. At the same time, the Jimmy Johnson-led Cowboys built a juggernaut that was ready to claim championships of their own.
The Cowboys and 49ers met in the NFC Championship game each season from 1992 to 1994. With the dominance of the two teams, the winner of each game ended up claiming victory in the following Super Bowls.
Johnson and the Cowboys controlled the first two showdowns with dominant defense, but Young and the 49ers got over the hump in 1994, defeating the Cowboys 38-28.
After the 1995 season, both the Cowboys and 49ers had five acquired five Super Bowl titles, but none since the Cowboys win in Super Bowl 30.
As both dynasties crumbled, so did the rivalry. The 1994 NFC title game has remained until Sunday the most recent postseason showdown between the two iconic franchises.
Since the mid-1990s, the Cowboys have fallen into a pattern of postseason failure and underachieving while the 49ers have fallen short in Super Bowls 47 and 54.
On Sunday, the rivalry will finally be renewed for the current generation to witness on CBS and Nickelodeon.
The 49ers come into Sunday’s wild card game ( first wild card meeting between the two teams) following an intense overtime victory against the Los Angeles Rams 27-24.
In a game they needed to win in order to advance to the playoffs (a loss would have eliminated them), Jimmy Garoppolo showed why the 49ers have continued to stick with him despite his injuries issues and inconsistencies by engineering a five-play 88-yard drive to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.
San Francisco came away with the victory in overtime, locking up a playoff berth one season after an injury-riddled squad posted a 6-10 mark in 2020.
During the 2021 season, Deebo Samuel has emerged as a true superstar in the league with his sheer versatility. Throughout the season, Samuel scored 14 touchdowns (eight rushing, six receiving) while totaling 1770 yards receiving and rushing. He ranked second in the NFL in yards after catch (YAC) with 768.
Since the start of the 2020 season, the health of their running backs have been a concern for the 49ers. Raheem Mostert and Jeffrey Wilson Jr. have suffered significant injuries over that span, paving the way for 2021 sixth-round draft pick Elijah Mitchell to take over as the featured back.
In 10 games started, Mitchell gained 963 yards and five touchdowns to provide stability in the backfield.
Defensively, the unit has had to battle injuries and the loss of beloved defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. Despite this, the 49ers finished the regular season as the third-ranked total defense and sixth in pass defense. Nick Bosa made an incredible return from a torn ACL suffered in 2020 with 15.5 sacks this season.
The 49ers are playing in their first playoff game since losing Super Bowl 54 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs. Their opponent will be the Cowboys, who have rebounded from a rough 2020 outing of their own.
Dak Prescott broke his ankle during the Cowboys 37-34 Week 5 win over the New York Giants in 2020. After he was brought back to the team (signed a four-year $160 million contract in September), the Cowboys immediately started looking like a legit NFC contender after a dismal 6-10 showing in 2020.
In 16 games as the starter this season, Prescott racked up 4,449 yards with 37 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. Under his direction and a deadly array of weapons at his disposal, the Cowboys finished the 2021 season as the NFL’s top-ranked offense in terms of yardage.
On the other side of the ball, first-year defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has undergone a renaissance with the defense. In 2020, the Cowboys only intercepted the ball 10 times as a team. Cornerback Trevon Diggs picked up 11 by himself this season alone as a part of the team’s 34 total takeaways in 2021.
While Diggs has been boom or bust (leads the league in penalties, yards allowed and most yards per catch allowed on top of interceptions), he provides a playmaker the secondary has lacked for many years.
No player, however, has made more of an impact in Dallas' improved defense than 2021 first-round pick Micah Parsons. The ferocious pass rusher has accumulated 13 sacks with three forced fumbles. His game-changing ability on the front seven has opposing offenses wary of his presence at all times.
Since the 1990s, the knock against the Cowboys has been their underachieving in the playoffs with only four playoff wins since their last Super Bowl title (all four of them at home). This season, outside of their 6-0 record against the NFC East, the Cowboys have struggled against playoff teams with a record of 1-4.
The game looks to be tightly contested between two teams with different strengths. San Francisco will push to control the game on the ground, setting up Garoppolo to torch the Cowboys through the air. Dallas, on the other hand, hopes to ride the arm of Prescott for potent offensive production while their defensive playmakers keep the 49ers at bay.
It will be a back-and-forth contest, adding another classic to the iconic rivalry. In the end, Prescott and his vast arsenal will be too much for the 49ers secondary to contain, and Parsons will help seal the game with a huge strip sack late in the game.
Prediction: 49ers 20 - Cowboys 23
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