Cowboys Doomed by Miscues Against 49ers Defense

The 49ers looked like they were going to put the game away as they moved downfield in the fourth quarter leading by 16-12. They ran nearly eight minutes off the clock, but the Cowboys’ defense held them to a field goal, keeping the team’s deficit within one score with just over three minutes to go. Two incomplete passes and a sack followed on Dallas’s next possession. The Cowboys got the ball once more with 45 seconds left but were pinned on their own 6-yard line. On the final play of the game, the Cowboys used a strange offensive formation that had running back Ezekiel Elliot snapping the ball to Prescott. The play ended swiftly, with the receiver being tackled immediately before he could start a chain of desperation laterals.

“Yeah very strange, I don’t know if they, if they plan to be in that situation obviously, but it didn’t work very well,” Warner said.

Warner and the 49ers’ defense had looked vulnerable in the weeks leading up to this game, allowing 34 points to the Raiders backup quarterback in Week 17, and giving up 23 points to the Seahawks in the wild-card round. They were games that the defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans previously said fell below the team’s standard.

On Sunday, Warner said the 49ers’ defense played to its potential.

“For the most part it felt like us, man,” Warner said. “Obviously we know that we got to play big-time football in the playoffs have a chance to win this next game.”

For the 49ers, it was the first game in which the rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 draft, looked flustered. The Cowboys’ pass rush consistently pressured Purdy, who was sacked twice. He missed several throws, including a few that should have been intercepted had they not been dropped. Purdy said after the game that his play annoyed him.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/sports/football/49ers-cowboys-score-nfl-playoffs.html