Please don’t tell me you don’t understand how this happened. It is no mystery.
The 49ers outrushed the Cowboys 169-77. The 49ers rushed the ball 38 times. The Cowboys ran it 21. Yes. ATTEMPTS matter.
Turnovers were a draw. Dak and Jimmy G. each threw a pick. Neither team lost a fumble.
TOP? The Niners had the ball for 34 minutes.
Pass rush? I suggested last week that the 49ers would get more heat on Dak than the Cowboys would put on Garoppolo.
Prescott was sacked five times, despite the Niners not having Nick Bosa for most of the game.
Jimmy G.? Zero. Zero.
This, of course, is because the San Francisco coaching staff gets paid, too. Shanahan and his staff weren’t gonna let Garoppolo get sacked. J.G. threw only quick play-action slants, three-step drops and bootlegs. No way to get to him. And, the Niners did a nice job of game planning Micah. Parsons had no sacks, no quarterback hits, and three solo tackles (only one for a loss).
Dak was hit 14 times. J.G. four.
Fourteen Dallas penalties, tying an NFL playoff record.
The above is the Tale of the Tape. The Niners were “taller,” heavier and had a much longer reach.
The only “mystery” here is that San Francisco didn’t win in an early kayo.
Not that the 49ers were perfect. San Francisco scored only seven second half points and tried like hell to give that game away. The Niners almost succeeded.
Now, regarding those chaotic final seconds. The officiating crew got it right.
I’ll defend the quarterback draw call. In fact, it was a perfect call because it got the Cowboys in position to run a standard pass play into the end zone instead of being reduced to a Hail Mary Heave.
But there was no situational awareness. That’s on McCarthy. That’s on Moore.
That’s on Dak.
EVERYBODY on offense has to know exactly what to do. Dak needed to get down two seconds and a few yards earlier. He then needed to HAND THE BALL to an official. You simply cannot take a chance on having the clock hit zero before you can run a play.
I suggested last week that this was going to be a very awkward matchup for the Cowboys, and that Dallas was going to have a much tougher time preparing for San Francisco than vice versa.
Unfortunately, Dallas now doesn’t have to worry about preparing for anybody else.
Tomorrow: I’ll get busy describing the offseason carnage that will accompany this latest debacle. I’ll go Bananarama on you. It’s going to be a Cruel Summer.
