5 ways 49ers slow down Cowboys vaunted offense in Wild Card round
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 49ers must take away this part of the field from Dak Prescott
Unlike San Francisco’s quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, Dak Prescott isn’t afraid to regularly throw deep or outside the numbers on a regular basis.
Two different quarterbacks, two entirely different styles of offense. That’s fine.
The 49ers can and must pay a lot of attention to Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb, and to a lesser extent, No. 3 wide receiver Cedric Wilson Jr. But with Dallas frequently lining Lamb up on the weak side of the formation, it might almost be wise to shade extra coverage to the left side of the field to account for Lamb being a notable deep threat there, as Prescott’s Next Gen Stats passing chart shows he likes to target that area of the field:
This means free safety Jimmie Ward will have some extra responsibility on Sunday, providing some much-needed over-the-top help in support of cornerbacks Emmanuel Moseley and K’Waun Williams, who frequently shade that side of the field.
There aren’t exactly a lot of weak spots in Prescott’s target ranges, but there are preferred ones, and the left side of the field appears to be such.
If the Niners can take that part of the field away, they’ll be in much better shape.