Kyle Shanahan says 49ers treated Cowboys game 'like any other game'

The Cowboys looked at Sunday Night Football against the 49ers like a playoff game, while the Niners took a far more casual approach.

The Dallas Cowboys had all kinds of reasons to be amped and motivated for their Week 5 Sunday Night Football showdown against the San Francisco 49ers.

After all, the Niners had eliminated Dallas in back-to-back postseason, notably in heartbreaking fashion.

From quarterback Dak Prescott, who said the 2022 Wild Card loss was a motivator "every day," to defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins saying, "This is the year we get them," plenty of Cowboys players had circled Week 5 on their regular-season schedule.

Heck, even owner Jerry Jones had some poster board material ahead of the primetime matchup.

Judging by the final score of 42-10 in San Francisco's favor, that kind of hyped-up approach probably wasn't the best idea.

Kyle Shanahan says 49ers treated Week 5 matchup vs. Cowboys 'like any other game'

Speaking to reporters on Monday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan illustrated what appeared to be an opposite approach than what Dallas did leading up to the matchup.

Instead of hyping the game, Shanahan said that the Niners didn't make too big a deal of it:

"Just going into that game versus Dallas, how hyped that game was and just the way they carried themselves in our building throughout the week, they weren’t making much out of it. It was kind of like any other game and just any other week."

Shanahan did admit that his players can't take anything for granted, including their red-hot 5-0 start to the season.

However, with a solid core group comprised of many who were with San Francisco when it started 8-0 during the 2019 season, it's hard not to see some parallels and what worked a few years ago.

With that approach, and plenty of good playmakers, Shanahan has his 49ers undefeated through five weeks with a primetime knockdown of another playoff contender in the immediate rearview mirror.

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