49ers vs. Cowboys: 5 Dallas players who are biggest threats to Niners
By Peter Panacy
42. CBS. Cowboys -3. 4:30 p.m. ET. 10-7. 12-5. 123. Sunday, Jan. 16
The 49ers face off against the Cowboys in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1995, and these five Dallas players should be of the utmost concern.
The San Francisco 49ers can feel pretty confident despite being slight road underdogs for their highly anticipated Wild Card matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
If anything, the Niners’ brand of run-first football, paired with a stout defensive line, might be precisely the right formula to help thwart the league’s No. 1-ranked offense in what could be a return to those classic San Francisco-Dallas rivalry games of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Yet the star players from those rivalry days have long since moved on from playing football, and this weekend’s edition will display an entirely new face to this storied matchup.
Quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Jimmy Garoppolo?
Yes, they’ll be big parts of the discussion. But with the 49ers all but assured to move on from Jimmy G this offseason, and Prescott being inconsistent at best all year long, the focus will certainly center a lot on both teams’ other marquee players.
Including these five Cowboys who pose the biggest threat to the Niners advancing beyond Wild Card weekend.
No. 5: 49ers should be concerned about Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb
Much like the Los Angeles Rams’ wide receiving duo of Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr., Dallas has two wideouts who seriously threaten whatever San Francisco wants to do, defensively.
Wide receivers Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb.
The bigger the threats down the depth chart, the larger the problem a questionable 49ers secondary will have, particularly at cornerback, which has largely been the team’s primary defensive weakness this season anyway.
Regarding Cooper, he’s a threat. Yet it’s Lamb who could end up taking over the game in a field-stretching, playmaking manner that helped him achieve a Cowboys-best 1,102 yards on 79 receptions and six touchdowns during the regular season.
Despite coming on strong as of late, including his game-sealing interception against the Rams, rookie cornerback Ambry Thomas will face the biggest pressure-packed situation of his young career trying to match up against someone like Lamb.
Good thing the Niners, despite their woes in the defensive backfield, boasted the sixth best passing offense in the league this season with only 3,510 yards allowed.