49ers vs. Cowboys Preview

Returning to the playoffs for the first time since the 2018 season, the Dallas Cowboys will be hosting the San Francisco 49ers. This is the first time these two franchises have met in the postseason since the NFC Championship in 1995, where Steve Young led the 9ers to a 38-28 victory enroute to an eventual Lombardi Trophy. This time, we hope the result is different.

Both teams enter this playoff matchup with momentum following victories against divisional rivals. In Week 18, San Francisco was able to claw their way back from a 17-0 deficit to come out victorious against the Los Angeles Rams in a 27-24 overtime victory. On the other hand, Dallas humiliated the Philadelphia Eagles, displaying the potential of their high-powered offense in a 51-26 victory. The 49ers ended the regular season with a 10-7 record, while the Cowboys ended up at 12-5, their first 12 win season since 2014.

San Francisco is one of the best running teams in football, a philosophy that their head coach Kyle Shannahan believes strongly in. The 49ers ran a staggering 499 rushes during the regular season, which ranks them for the fifth most in the entire NFL. Part of this is due to Shanhan’s love for his outside zone running scheme. However, it’s also an attempt by the coach to hide the team’s number one deficiency: their quarterback. Jimmy Garoppolo is a very mediocre signal caller, and he happens to be the true weak spot on this 49er offense.

The biggest difference between these two franchises, and what I believe will be the biggest difference in this Wild Card matchup, is at quarterback. Jimmy G finished the season with 3,810 passing yards, while throwing 20 touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions. These numbers on their own are not terrible, resulting in a 98.7 passer rating. However, they don’t highlight his obvious deficiencies, which include attacking the middle and deep parts of the field. Additionally, when comparing Garoppolo to Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott, the 49ers seem to be at a huge disadvantage. Dak recovered from the brutal ankle injury he suffered in 2020 and finished his 2021 season with impressive numbers, throwing for 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns. He only threw 10 interceptions, giving him a strong passer rating of 104.2. When comparing the two quarterbacks, it’s very easy to see Dallas has a clear advantage, as Dak ranks near the top of the league in almost every relevant quarterback statistic.

Offensively, both teams are stacked with weapons. The 49ers trout out Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and Elijah Mitchell at their skill positions. Samuel is one of the most talented players in the league, with flexibility to play both receiver and running back. He finished his 2021 season with over 1,400 receiving yards and 365 rushing yards. He posted a remarkable 18.2 yards per reception, showcasing how much of a big play threat he is. Aiyuk and Kittle can also give defenses fits due to their impressive athleticism and skill in the open field. Finally, Elijah Mitchell had nearly a 1,000 yard season on the ground, while only appearing in 11 contests.

For Dallas, they have surrounded their franchise quarterback with a plethora of options. Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard are a formidable duo at the running back position, while Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb make up one of the most talented duos at wide receiver. Dalton Schultz has had a breakout year for Dallas at tight end, recording career highs in receptions, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns. The Cowboys have the talent to beat teams through both the ground game and airing the ball out, which was evident through their league leading offense in both yards and points scored.

While both teams possess massive amounts of talent on the offensive side of the ball, there are also a ton of studs on the defensive side. As has been the case for multiple years now, the 49ers are absolutely stacked with talent in their front seven. Nick Bosa is known to all football fans, and he delivered another splendid season in 2021, finishing with 15.5 sacks. Alongside him, the 9ers possess Arik Armstead, Samson Ebukam, and D.J. Jones. At linebacker, the duo of Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw ranks up there with any other tandem in the league. The weakest spot of the San Fran defense is their secondary, as they have allowed over a 68% completion percentage and a 97 passer rating against them.

One of the biggest stories of the 2021 season has been the turnaround of the Dallas defense, initiated by the hiring of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Highlighted by rookie sensation Micah Parsons and league leading interception leader Trevon Diggs, the Dallas defense finished the regular season with 34 takeaways, earning the number one spot in the league in that category. On the defensive line, Dallas is able to rush the passer with a plethora of options that include DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, Micah Parsons, Neville Gallimore, Trysten Hill, and Osa Odighizuwa. Outside of Trevon Diggs, the secondary is made up of Anthony Brown, Jourdan Lewis, Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson, and Damontae Kazee. Quinn has used his safeties in the box a lot this season, playing next to former first round pick Leighton Vander-Esch at linebacker.

Both the 49ers and the Cowboys rank among the top of the league with talent on their respective rosters. This has the makings to be one of the best and most highly anticipated playoff games this weekend. It should be a great game with all the talent that will be on the field. I believe the difference at quarterback will be the deciding factor in this game, with my prediction of the Dallas Cowboys winning their Wild Card matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Justin Fields, Mac Jones, & Armchair Analysis

Author: Matt Iberger

Editor: Fran Attie

It’s finally that time of the year again. When all the football junkies who have been surviving off past season’s highlights, letting their minds race with scenarios of all that could have turned out differently (Tampa Bay fans not included), are about to get some rest: the NFL Draft is upon us!

With less than 48 hours to go until the Jacksonville Jaguars are on the clock, sportswriters, NFL insiders, and even casual fans are making mock drafts faster than we can count. At the end of the day, however, that is all they are; mock drafts—mostly educated guesses on what we expect teams to do, away for a lot of fans to do their own armchair analysis. This is what I want to really focus on since most people seem to miss this point. A majority of people have no idea what NFL teams are thinking behind the scenes, and after any clear “can’t miss prospects” (who aren’t even can’t miss sometimes), it is really hard to say who goes where. The NFL Throwbacks Youtube channel does a great job of highlighting this in their “Hit, Miss or Meh” playlist, where they rate draft picks years after they have been drafted to see if they lived up to expectations. Looking at the 2017 NFL draft video and hearing some of the names makes you cringe, even more so when at the time the pick looked incredibly solid. There were a lot of “mehs” and “misses” in the first round (notable mentions: Solomon Thomas, OJ Howard, Evan Engram, Mitchell Trubisky), which just show how much of a guessing game the first round can be.

So, why do I bring this up? Simply put, despite all the evidence showing this, we still have a lot of people who fail to realize it. “Why did your mock put x players on y team? That’s so stupid!”. Well, to be quite frank, a lot of NFL teams are stupid (which is why all 32 are not equally competitive every year) and all have their own big boards with their own opinions on prospects. It is why you will sometimes see prospects skid or be drafted higher than usual since these NFL executives and scouts see a lot more than we do on what each player is really like. Every draft we have some sort of pot-stirring debate from the draft. Daniel Jones being drafted over Dwayne Haskins (or even at 6 in general) comes to mind, the Josh Allen bust or star debate, or the more recent Tua vs Justin Herbet debate on who the Dolphins should take at quarterback. The thing is, in the moment, these were all reasonable debates, and some of these still are being debated.

This year, it is Mac Jones versus Justin Fields going 3rd overall to San Francisco (or to a lesser extent, Zach Wilson versus Justin Fields for the Jets). Now, a player like Mac Jones who was projected second or less before the season, to mid/late first round during the season, to now top 3 seems like a crazy response to his present success. While fans each have their own particular order on the top 5 quarterbacks of this draft and reasonable film or stats to back it up, what can’t be debated is how little we know about how that will translate into the NFL. This isn’t just quarterbacks though, and I can make this same argument for the Devonta Smith vs Ja’Marr Chase crowd, or even the surge in Kyle Pitts hype in recent weeks. For any player there is a lot that goes into how successful they are and a mock putting a guy you think will be a bust at a higher spot than you like does not mean the world is ending. I am not even a Mac Jones truther myself and am pretty skeptical and agree that 3rd overall would seem fairly high, but the draft community is losing their mind as if there is no chance a Fields, Wilson, or even Lawrence could bust as well. I am not saying to quit the criticism of Mac Jones or any other prospect, but to say we know he’s going to bust seems to be jumping the gun. This could be Mitchell Trubisky all over again, or it could be Justin Herbert/Josh Allen where many people questioned them straight out and they made up for it.

The draft is a crapshoot, and it’s time we hop out of our armchairs and just enjoy making mocks and speculating for the sake of speculating. Sit back and enjoy the ride.