Depressing stat reveals disparity between 49ers and Cowboys' special teams

The 49ers and Cowboys' special teams units couldn't be further apart, as the two teams prepare to meet in Week 8.

Chances are, if you've watched just one San Francisco 49ers game this season, you've seen a massive special teams gaffe or miscue.

Whether it was a blocked punt, a fumbled punt return, kicker injuries, a massive return allowed or whatever, the Niners haven't exactly shown much prowess on the vital third phase of the game.

In fact, there's pretty much only one direction for San Francisco's special teams unit to go.

Up.

It's not exactly hyperbole to say the 49ers have the worst special teams in the league either. Just to attach a quantifiable stat to that, the Niners are giving up a league-worst 18.4 punt-return yards allowed this season, nearly 4 yards worse than the second-worst team in the league in this category, the Las Vegas Raiders (14.9 yards).

Indeed, special teams have cost San Francisco wins this season. That's not an overstatement.

Meanwhile, the 49ers look to get back to the .500 mark in Week 8 when they host the 3-3 Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Sure, Dallas is dealing with all kinds of issues this season, particularly on defense. But, if there's one clear-cut advantage in the Cowboys' favor, it's on special teams.

And it's depressing for Niners fans.

Gap between 49ers and Cowboys' special teams is massive

Despite dealing with all kinds of injuries, San Francisco has a number of significant advantages over quarterback Dak Prescott's Cowboys.

One of them is not special teams, though.

As SF Standard's David Lombardi shared, FTN Fantasy's DVOA metric has Dallas at No. 1 overall in the league, whereas the 49ers are all the way down at No. 31:

That's quite the difference.

Going back to the punt returns, the Cowboys are actually pretty bad in that area, too, giving up an average of 14.3 yards per return. But they make up for it with solid kick-return coverage and also rank second in the NFL with an average of 19.2 yards per punt return while ranking No. 1 in average kick-return yards, too (34.2).

The Niners can't feel happy about this wide gap between their own special teams and those of Dallas, and it's an area that could potentially again cost San Francisco a crucial game that's needed to get back on track.

The 49ers and Cowboys kick off on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 8:20 p.m. ET from Levi's Stadium.

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