Cowboys punished by 49ers

If the Dallas Cowboys are one of the best teams in the NFL, then San Francisco is the very best and it’s not even close. The 49ers (5-0) put on a clinic, dominating Dallas (3-2) from the opening kickoff for a 42-10 win on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The Cowboys head home looking for answers after another poor performance on the road.

OFFENSIVE WOES

It looked like Mike McCarthy’s new offense and play calling was an upgrade through the first four games of the season. But then they played a good defense and were humbled with a poor performance from start to finish.

For a coach that has been around for 31 seasons in the NFL as an assistant and head coach, McCarthy had little answers for the 49ers defense, and he got no help from his overpaid quarterback – only 13 completions and two interceptions.

From the opening snap, the San Francisco defense made it clear that the Cowboys were not going to beat them with the short attack of the Texas Coast offense McCarthy has implemented this season.

The 49ers stuffed the run, and in throwing situations dared the Cowboys to throw the ball down the field. They pressed the Cowboys up front, including tight coverage on the outside against the receivers.

In the first half, trying to establish their game plan, the Cowboys ran 26 plays in seven drives. Besides the one 11-play drive that ended with a KaVontae Turpin touchdown catch, they went three-and-out four times, fumbled on the first play of another drive and, finally, it got so bad they gave up on their final drive after two plays and went to the locker room.

They were unbalanced with seven runs and 16 passes, and they failed to get a first down on six of their seven drives.

They played just as bad in the second half.

PRESCOTT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

As usual, quarterback Dak Prescott was more problem than solution on Sunday night.

He returned to his 2022 form, completing passes to his opponent almost as much as to his own team on Sunday night.

He did little to help his team, throwing for a whopping 153 yards and completing just 14 passes  -- on in the second half, and earning a quarterback rating of 51.6.

He was off target on almost all his throws, and his deep shots looked worse than most high school quarterbacks you can see play around the Metroplex on a Friday night.

He missed a wide-open Brandin Cooks, who was running free 6-yards behind his defender, by throwing it too far and out of bounds. He second deep shot was more than five yards overthrown and intercepted. It is the same problem that Prescott has had since he entered the league – he is not a quarterback you can ride to a comeback victory.

Sunday night, he got out played by the last pick of the 2022 draft for the second time in as many meetings.

Even with McCarthy’s dink-and-dunk Texas Coast offense, Prescott still can’t seem to get it done. He finished with three interceptions before giving way to Cooper Rush with

NO PRESSURE ON PURDY

It’s been obvious for nine games, if you give Brock Purdy time to sit in the pocket and get through his reads, he will beat you.

He doesn’t make mistakes, and he certainly didn’t on Sunday night against Dallas.

He never put the ball in harm’s way, not something you can say about his counterpart in this game.

Purdy finished with 252 yards passing, with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 144.4 quarterback rating.

In the first half, and the Cowboys trying to stay within striking distance, they couldn’t do much to affect Purdy.

The San Francisco quarterback threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns on nine completions. He was sacked only once and hurried twice. He had only six incompletions and has still yet to fire his first interception of the season.

He was never under duress in his 47-plus minutes of action in the blowout.

COWBOYS OFFENSIVE LINE STRUGGLES

This Cowboys offensive line is supposed to be dominant.

With the great Tyron Smith returning, the team’s leadership were giddy that the line they had planned for when drafting Tyler Smith in 2022 was going to be on the field for the first time together.

Instead of looking like they had two future Hall of Fame inductees, three first round picks and two others that have been solid in every start, they were dominated by the San Francisco front seven.

The line of Smith, Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Zack Martin and Terrence Steele were abused from the opening snap on Sunday night.

Back-up center Brock Hoffman made a brief appearance for Dallas in the second quarter, but Biadasz was quickly back in the game.

As a whole, no matter the center, the Cowboys couldn’t make any holes for a run game that rushed for 57 yards. In the passing game, they allowed three sacks of quarterback Dak Prescott and another of Cooper Rush. The only positive, they didn’t commit any penalties.

Steele may have played the worst game of his young career. He gave up the game’s first sack to Bosa, and struggled all night with Drake Jackson, Arik Armstead, Kevin Givens and Javon Hargrave.

DEFENSE DOMINATED

Just like the afternoon in Arizona, the Cowboys defense was outplayed on Sunday night in San Francisco.

The Cowboys defense put little pressure on quarterback Brock Purdy, they were caught out of position on too many plays, and they committed more penalties – mental and physical ones, then could be overcome.

For a defense that claims to be made up of playmakers, they didn’t make any all night. Every pass play had at least one wide open receiver. Every run play called had lanes to drive semis through.

The Cowboys gave up six touchdowns, 421 total yards, 25 first downs and were called for five defensive penalties. Not a performance indicative of a good defense, much less a great one.

Of the six touchdowns the Cowboys allowed, only the 1-yard run from McCaffrey was contested. All four TD passes went to receivers that were wide open, and Jordan Mason ran untouched 26 yards for probably the easiest touchdown of his NFL career.

They were so bad, Purdy was able to get an early rest and Sam Darnold entered with over 12 minutes to play in the game and the 49ers up 32. Just embarrassing.

San Francisco gashed the Cowboys early and often, racking up 204 total yards in the first half. They scored three touchdowns in their first six drives, including the final two times they touched the ball in the opening 30 minutes.

The second half was more of the same. Brock Purdy throwing darts, Christian McCaffrey getting six and seven yards a run, while George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk are running free with little legal interference.

It is becoming apparent, that this defense is elite when they play teams that are just not very talented on offense. When they play teams full of weapons, they get embarrassed.

Sunday night, they got pushed around before leaving the Bay Area with a 32-point loss.

QUICK HITS …

Dallas was bit hard by the injury bug, losing DaRon Bland, Tyler Biadasz Donovan Wilson, Jourdan Lewis and Leighton Vander Esch for multiple snaps. Bland and Biadasz returned. … It is the third time in five games this season that the Cowboys have given up over 100 yards rushing, and the 13th time since the start of the 2022 season. … The 32-point win is the largest margin of victory in the Cowboys-49ers history, and it was also the largest loss for Mike McCarthy as a head coach. … Even with all his interception problems last season, Prescott did not have a game with three picks. It is just the third time in his career throwing three to the other team, and the first time he has done it on the road. His other two three interception games came at home in a loss to Green Bay in 2019 and in loss to Philadelphia in 2017.