I have a ton of questions about the Cowboys against the 49ers.
Which Dak will show up?
Are the Cowboys physical enough the handle the very stout physical offensive skill players of San Francisco? Check out my buddy Bobby Belt’s story about that here.
Which coach learned more from their time together? Dan Quinn or Kyle Shanahan?
Is 30 the magic number for the Cowboys offense to win?
I don’t have the answers to those just yet, but I do have some thoughts on how the Cowboys can win this game.
So far, I’ve watched three matchups for San Fran against the Bengals, Falcons and Rams.
I picked up a couple of things on the offense and defense that I’d like to highlight that could be instrumental in a win Sunday.
Related
Observation No. 1
They treated each of the quarterbacks differently.
With Joe Burrow, the 49ers rushed 4 but sat back a lot. Burrow was getting basically anything he wanted in the middle of the field just beyond the linebackers. No matter the receiver if they got in the square just before the safeties and just behind the lb’s it was a completion.
Later in the game they started bringing more pressure and that got to Burrow a little bit, sacking him 5 times on the day, but he still had security blankets in the middle of the field and in the flats. Also, the “freak shows” in Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase made some great plays on the sidelines.
In talking with afternoon host and former scout Bryan Broaddus, he suggested San Francisco respected Joe Mixon, and it showed with his 18 carries for 58 yards. Ultimately, a huge overtime play got the win late for the 49ers.
With Matt Ryan, they treated him like the statue he is. They attacked early, relentlessly, and gave Ryan fits, sacking him three times and only giving up 236 passing yards and one TD. And that's with backing off of him late in the game.
With Matt Stafford, it was a more balanced approach. The Rams tried to run the ball with meager results and Stafford was downed five times.
If the Cowboys can run the ball it will help Dak a lot, but I’m interested to see if Dak can scramble a couple of times early to keep the defense honest. Dak cannot take big losses and put the team in third and long situations, but the Niners defense will try to force him to do so.
Related
Observation No. 2
Jimmy Garoppolo’s reliance on play action will be a factor either good or bad.
Garoppolo is able to make fast decisions because of the fear the San Francisco run game instills in defenses.
It doesn’t matter who lines up in the backfield, they are a threat to run the ball for a first down on every snap.
Because of that, safeties and linebackers have to be disciplines but not slow.
A lot of times Garoppolo will turn and throw over the middle quickly because he knows it’s supposed to be open. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it can turn into an interception if the underneath backer disguises things well.
The fact is though, with play action and a strong run game Garoppolo can strike for big gains quickly against a defense scrambling to react to the play.
I don’t think the Cowboys can make San Francisco one dimensional, but if they can tame the run game enough to make play action ineffective, they can make keep a team which has scored 29 points a game in their last 7 wins under wraps.
Related
Observation No. 3
Deebo Samuel is a force and he will be schemed open somehow.
Shanahan lines this dude up everywhere on the field, and he’s so physical, that guys just don’t like trying to tackle him.
Jayron Kearse and Micah Parsons will be your x-factors when it comes to taking care of him in the backfield. A lot of times, Shanahan will move Samuel to the backfield to try to get him lined up on a linebacker and have a mismatch on the outside with George Kittle or now Jauan Jennings on smaller defenders. I’m not dismissing Brandon Aiyuk here by any means, he can have a huge game too.
Because of the skill sets of Parsons and Kearse though its not going to be that easy to create those mismatches. Shanahan will still try.
These are just a couple of things that everybody from Mike McCarthy on down have acknowledged and are already trying to scheme in hopes of slowing come Sunday.
Cory Mageors co-hosts The K&C Masterpiece 10a-2p on 105.3 The Fan.