How the Dallas Cowboys stack up against NFC contenders
San Fransisco 49ers
2022 Points Per Game: 26.5 (6th)
2022 Points Per Game Against: 16.3 (1st)
Key Offseason Additions: QB Sam Darnold, DT Javon Hargrave, K Zane Gonzalez, CB Isaiah Oliver
Cowboys Advantage - Number of Weapons at Dak's Disposal
The Cowboys made it a focus to go out and find themselves another weapon for quarterback Dak Prescott and they did in Brandin Cooks. Now they have multiple weapons to deploy against a very vulnerable 49ers secondary that last season was able to focus solely on CeeDee Lamb in order to slow down their passing game.
Outside of Lamb and Cooks, the team has Michael Gallup, who feels more confident in his repaired knee and second-year receiver Jalen Tolbert who had a great camp and preseason and preseason thus far.
The Cowboys' offensive line did an excellent job protecting Prescott against the 49ers the last few times they've played against each other. Now, with a variety of receivers to spread the ball around, the Cowboys can finally take advantage of the 49ers' very beatable secondary.
Cowboys Vulnerability - Creative and Effective Play-Calling
If there's one thing that can trip up a defense it's a good offensive game plan and that's exactly what 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is able to do each week. Teams know that he is going to run the football and do it out of multiple formations, but his ability to give the same looks and run different plays out of them is going to be a challenge for Dallas.
With most teams focused on running back Christian McCaffery it allows Shanahan to either use him as a decoy a lot of the time to fool defenses and open up throwing windows for Brock Purdy to hit Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle in the middle of the field.
Dan Quinn likes to get aggressive and at times that can hurt them with blown coverages for big plays downfield along with missed assignments by players looking to make a play on the football. Shanahan knows that and will look to exploit it against this defense.