Cowboys at 49ers: Preview, Predictions, and More
Dallas Cowboys vs San Francisco 49ers
Besides the first week of the season for the San Francisco 49ers, not much has gone right for Chip Kelly’s team. Since the season-opening win over the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers have lost two straight games, and their offense looks nearly as bad as the one in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys are two points away from being 3-0, and since week one, they’ve been opposite of the 49ers with their play improving week-to-week, but it did help the Cowboys played a struggling Chicago Bears team last week.
San Francisco is struggling in many facets of the game and the quarterback play of Blaine Gabbert has some wondering when they will make a change at the starting quarterback position. The opposite can be said of the Cowboys and their quarterback situation. Rookie Dak Prescott is playing very well thus far into his career, throwing 99 straight passes to start this season without an interception.
These two teams are headed in different directions going into this game, but it will be still interesting to watch if the Cowboys can continue to improve offensively, even if they are without La’el Collins at guard/tackle and possibly Dez Bryant at wide receiver.
Cowboys Keys To Victory
1. Overcome Injuries: The Cowboys have overcome not having Tony Romo in the lineup a lot better this season than last year. But now they are without La’el Collins for a few weeks and Bryant’s injury is also keeping him questionable this week. There are also issues with cornerback Orlando Scandrick, tackle Tyron Smith, and others who the Cowboys need to win games.
2. Keep Ezekiel Elliott going: Elliott is coming off a 30-carry game where he rushed for 140 yards, along with two receptions for 20 yards. Elliott will most likely be facing eight players in the box. So once again, he and the Cowboys offensive line will have to work their way through that to help gain the victory.
3. More of a defensive pass rush: This will come up every week until the Cowboys finally fix their pass rush, because eventually it will come back and bite them. No player on the Cowboys has more than one sack on their roster.
49ers Keys To Victory
1. Blaine Gabbert needs to do more: This season, Gabbert has been mostly average with three touchdown passes and three interceptions through three games, completing 55 percent of his passes. Though he’s only been sacked twice, the offense really hasn’t done a lot to keep the 49ers at a winning pace.
2. Lean on Carlos Hyde: If the 49ers want to win football games, they will have to feed the ball to Hyde, because he’s their best bet to win on Sunday. Hyde is averaging 3.9 yards per carry with 225 yards rushing on 58 carries with four touchdowns. He also has six receptions for 25 yards. Opponents of the Cowboys have 273 yards against them, so this will be a good chance for the 49ers on Sunday for success.
3. Improve on third down: Last week, the 49ers were 4-of-15 on third down (26 percent) and the week before they were 4-of-14 (28 percent). In the game they won, they were much better at 8-of-17 (47 percent). Anyway you look at it, the 49ers need to get better on third down or the losses will continue.
Odds
Point Spread: Dallas -2
Moneyline: Dallas -125, San Francisco +105
Over/Under: 45
Next: 2017 NFL Mock Draft: Who Do Cowboys, 49ers Take?
Prediction
The Cowboys will win this game if they pressure Gabbert into making mistakes. And that should be the case this week, even with the pass rush of the Cowboys struggling at times. Like last week against the Bears, the Cowboys should be able to gain a fast start on the 49ers, and if that is the case, this should be a third straight win for the Cowboys.
Pick: Dallas Cowboys: 30, San Francisco 49ers: 16