FRISCO, Texas — The 4-9 Dallas Cowboys and 5-8 San Francisco 49ers are closer to a top five draft pick than a postseason run. Who would have thought? No words are even needed to describe how underwhelming both storied franchises have been in 2020, the game itself is a microcosm of the NFC team’s struggles. Due to a losing record, NBC opted to flex out of the Cowboys-49ers week 15 matchup and into a Giants-Browns meeting in primetime. Dallas and San Francisco were moved to a noon CT slot on CBS, an act that Mike McCarthy dubbed “disappointing.”
Both teams have been hit by an unprecedented number of injuries this season on top of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the 49ers have over $71 million on injured reserve. Many key players have been sidelined this year for a period of time including starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, tight end George Kittle, running back Raheem Mostert, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, defensive ends Dee Ford and Nick Bosa, and cornerback Richard Sherman. San Francisco has lost five of their last six games.
Injuries are often seen as an excuse, but nonetheless the injuries are a major contributing factor to both teams’ last place standing in their respective divisions. Sure, neither team has handled the injuries particularly well or accurately evaluated depth options, but when the vast majority of the salary cap is on IR, that is hard to overcome.
The Cowboys have also lost several cornerstone players including starting quarterback Dak Prescott, offensive tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins, tight end Blake Jarwin, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs, and backup QB Andy Dalton for two games due to a concussion and the other after being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
Without both starting quarterbacks, injury-ravaged rosters, and experimenting with depth personnel, Sunday’s game will be focused on draft positioning.
Despite Nick Mullens’ struggles at QB in place of Garoppolo with the same number of interceptions as touchdowns (10), head coach Kyle Shanahan has named Mullens the starter against the Cowboys. Given his inability to take care of the football, San Francisco will continue with Shanahan’s run-first philosophy and zone blocking schemes. The Cowboys are giving up a league-worst 5.1 yards per carry and rank last in the league in rushing yards allowed per game. Teams are relentlessly pounding the ball away against Dallas because it works. Why wouldn’t an opponent run the ball against the Cowboys’ ineffective run D? Raheem Mostert could miss the game with an ankle injury, but it really does not matter who runs the football. Running backs continue to have career-high days against the Cowboys.
On the 49ers run game, McCarthy elaborated to local media via conference call “We’re anticipating most of the shift and motion on every play particularly in the normal down and distance. At the end of the day, you have to play to your keys, play to your matchups and but yes, they do a great job on the wide outside zones and they also have the pattern schemes. It’s a multiple run game challenge for our defensive front.”
Jeff Wilson Jr. could receive the bulk of the carries for San Francisco on Sunday and Tony Pollard for Dallas. Ezekiel Elliott continues to deal with stiffness from a calf contusion and has been doing work on the side with resistance bands during practice with athletic trainers. Elliott has been working on range of motion and Pollard will likely have a heavier workload in week 15.
The 49ers have not been efficient converting on third downs, specifically against Washington last week. However, this may be their lucky day going up against Dallas’ defense that is giving up first downs 50% of the time on third-down.
The Cowboys will get reinforcements this week and had some good news with the secondary. Several defensive backs returned to practice on Wednesday, including Trevon Diggs (IR, Foot Fracture), Chidobe Awuzie (Reserve/COVID-19), and Donovan Wilson (Groin). On Thursday, Mike McCarthy described that all “exceeded expectations” and “will be given the opportunity” to play Sunday. Thursday’s practice will be a telling factor in the likelihood of them suiting up.
This season, Dallas has not been able to string wins together and will be looking to do so on Sunday, following their dominant 30-7 win over Cincinnati in week 14. The win marked the team’s most complimentary victory campaign in 2020 and the club will strive to carry over the momentum.
