NFC Divisional Playoff
(5) Dallas Cowboys at (2) San Francisco 49ers
Cowboys: Monday night was the definition of an old-fashioned beat down. Coming into the Wild Card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I listed my keys to the game and they consisted of this: The first was Dak Prescott taking care of the football and controlling the offense, second was taking advantage of the red zone opportunities because the Buccaneers haven’t been the best at limiting people in the red area of the field and the final key was Micah Parsons had to make his impact felt and be the best defensive player on the field. They did all of that and then some. The offense was perfectly balanced as they had the right mix of run and pass, they scored in the red zone and Micah left his mark! That defense was absolutely outstanding, and I even said on the radio that the Cowboys have seen the Bucs three times in the last two years. If you look at those first two meetings, they couldn’t apply any type of pressure on Tom Brady. On Monday, they only recorded two sacks, but the pressure and Quarterback hits were there. As a defender, I always say getting to the Quarterback doesn’t mean sacking him. You can impact his throwing by collapsing his pocket and throwing different looks at him. The Cowboys have won their first road playoff game since 1992. It’s been a while. Now, it’s on to the next. They will travel west to California on Sunday evening.
49ers: 11 and six. The 11 represents how many games they’ve won in a row and the six is the number of wins Brock Purdy has as the starting Quarterback. The first half of the game against the Seattle Seahawks last weekend started exactly how I thought it would. It’s a divisional opponent and when you see a team twice a season, you already know what to do and how to play them. Give Seattle credit because they played hard and fought. In the end, they ran out of gas and the 49ers firepower ended up being way too much in the second when they were able to put the game away. I know when the Coach of the Year conversation comes up, two names have been consistently listed. The first is Brian Daboll and rightfully so because he’s done a phenomenal job with the New York Giants and the other is Nick Sirianni of the Philadelphia Eagles as he helped lead them to the top seed in the NFC and 14 wins which were the most in the conference. Kyle Shanahan should also be heavily considered. He loses Trey Lance at the beginning of the year, Jimmy Garoppolo comes in and keeps things afloat, loses him to a broken foot and Brock Purdy, the last pick in the NFL Draft and the third string Quarterback comes in and they’ve yet to miss a beat. In fact, this is Kyle’s best coaching job since he’s been with the franchise. I could rave and rant about this defense all day long. This is what makes them dangerous. They fly to the ball, make tackles in the open space, get after the passer and create turnovers. There’s a reason why I referred to them as the most dangerous team in the postseason. A trip to the NFC Championship will be on the line on Sunday when the Cowboys come to town.
Cowboys X-Factor: Leighton Vander Esch– This is the man that anchors this Dallas defense. The one question is what can’t Leighton do? He gets after the passer and applies pressure, stops the run, makes tackles in the open field and moves sideline to sideline to sideline. I remember when teams used to run right at him because he wasn’t quick enough to get to the spot. Now, he’s worked on it and sets the edge perfectly. Leighton is also a tackling machine.
49ers X-Factor: Arik Armstead– He’s the other part of the tandem with Nick Bosa. I’ve always been a fan of his game. He’s a big guy standing tall at 6’7, which means he uses that length as a shield. Arik is very explosive off the edge and is just as strong at stopping the run as he is when it comes to getting home to the Quarterback. He uses those long strides to get up the field and he’s a menace and so challenging to block. Arik brings another element of toughness to the San Francisco defense.
Final Thoughts: Whenever I think of these two teams, I often think of the legendary players that have played for them. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin and then Deion Sanders who played for both franchises. These two met in the playoffs last season and the 49ers escaped with a six-point victory. More than a year later, here we are with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line. The question everyone, me included, is asking about the Cowboys is will we see that same performance on Sunday that we saw in Florida? Can they do it in back-to-back weeks? This is one of the tougher defenses they will have faced in recent memory. I see Dallas coming out and running downhill which will be easier said than done. The Dallas Offensive Line against the 49ers Defensive Front will determine the outcome of the football game. This Cowboys O-Line is tough, and the 49ers defense can create havoc by just rushing four guys and playing tight coverage in the backend. What a way to end the best weekend of football. This should be a close game throughout.
Prediction: 49ers 27, Cowboys 24
