After the franchise's first road win in three decades Monday evening in Tampa Bay, the Dallas Cowboys have earned a chance to pay the San Francisco 49ers back for last year's playoff loss. On Monday night the Cowboys put on arguably their best performance over the last two seasons, led by Dak Prescott's career night. The 49ers are widely considered to be a top team in the league this year, but a repeat performance of Dallas' first-round victory would allow the Cowboys to keep stride with anyone.
There is never a shortage of storylines when the Cowboys play the ‘Niners. All eyes will be on Prescott, Brock Purdy, Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, and the remaining slew of stars that will take the field at Levi's Stadium on Sunday night. Like most playoff matchups, the stars will dictate the direction the game goes. Nevertheless, the Cowboys have a different group of players that could make or break Dallas' chances of upsetting San Francisco on the road and booking a trip to the NFC Championship. That group is the secondary, more specifically a trio of recently-emerged difference makers.
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Cowboys' X-Factor vs. 49ers
The secret is out on DaRon Bland. The Fresno State product generated Defensive Rookie of the Year rumblings for himself this season in spite of not making consecutive starts until Week 12 and 13. Bland has been exceptional but not good enough to cover up the inadequacies in Dallas' secondary created by inexperience and injury. To try and combat those inadequacies, the Cowboys brought in a household name in former All-Pro cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Picked up by Dallas after being waived by the Buffalo Bills, Rhodes made his debut for the Cowboys in Tampa Bay on Monday night and is sure to be a key piece in the Dallas secondary as long as this playoff run lasts.
The third secondary man that can help Dallas turn the tide against San Francisco is the second-year safety out of South Carolina, Israel Mukuamu. “Safety” is a term that can be interpreted rather liberally for Mukuamu since he lined up in the slot as a cornerback against the Buccaneers Monday night. Mukuamu played both cornerback and safety for the Gamecocks and that versatility helped entice Dallas to draft him in the sixth round of the 2021 draft.
Bland, Rhodes, and Mukuamu. Why is this trio Dallas' X-factor against the 49ers? Chiefly because the Cowboys pretty much know what they'll get from everyone else. The defensive line will put ample pressure on Purdy, and the linebackers will bend but not break against the ‘Niners' running game. The Cowboys will run the ball well with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, and Prescott will keep the offense productive enough to win as long as he doesn't give the ball away.
The question marks come in Dallas' secondary. As inferior as the Bucs' offense looked Monday night, Brady still threw for over 350 yards. He did it with an absurd 66 passing attempts, but that's still a lot of yards given up by the Cowboys secondary. A far more efficient 49ers offense riddled with elite weapons is a much larger test.
There isn't a wealth of weaknesses to exploit against the 49ers right now. Purdy has definitely not been a weakness for San Francisco, but the Cowboys would be silly not to try and make the rookie Mr. Irrelevant's job as hard as possible. A lot of that will come down to Parsons and the pass rushers, but the secondary has a role to play too. After trying and failing to effectively use Kelvin Joseph, Nahshon Wright, Trayvon Mullen, and others as CB2, Dallas is set to be tremendously reliant on Bland, Rhodes, and the safeties, including Mukuamu.
Purdy is going to make mistakes on Sunday night in San Francisco. The Cowboys' pass rush will keep him uncomfortable in a way that he has not been so far in his young career. If Dallas' secondary isn't prepared to make plays and capitalize on those mistakes, those missed chances might haunt the Cowboys for the entire offseason. Trevon Diggs, Jayron Kearse, and Malik Hooker have earned the benefit of the doubt. Bland, Rhodes, and Mukuamu are the players that can take Dallas' defense from good to great. They did it against Tampa Bay. If they do it again in San Francisco, Dallas could be staring down the barrel of an NFC Championship against a divisional opponent for the first time since 1983.
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