SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Going into the bye week, the hope was that the Dallas Cowboys emerged on the other side of the break refreshed and to change the story on their ability to both establish the run on offense and stop it on defense.
The story was instead just the same on Sunday night in the 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Offensively, Rico Dowdle being a late scratch due to an illness upon arriving to the stadium wasn't a great start. "We waited until about 15 minutes before the 90-minute mark, and then made that decision." Mike McCarthy said of Dowdle's absence.
"We waited until about 15 minutes before the 90-minute mark, and then made that decision." Mike McCarthy said of Dowdle's absence.
That obviously changed McCarthy's approach to the run game on offense, as Dowdle was expected to get more touches coming into the game. That said, there was hope that Dowdle's absence would lead to more looks for Dalvin Cook, the newly elevated running back trying to spark something into the Cowboys' run game alongside Ezekiel Elliott.
"The running back position us important because the run game is important," McCarthy said. "We can't continue to play the way we're playing in first and second down."
But Cook's presence still didn't change anything for Dallas, as he ran for just 12 yards on six carries. As a whole, the Cowboys ran for 56 yards on 19 carries, averaging 2.9 yards per carry.
There was a glimmer of hope in the second quarter when Ezekiel Elliott carried the ball four times for 22 yards and a touchdown on the Cowboys' first touchdown drive but it quickly went away as Elliott would finish with 34 yards on the night.
"We tried to get into a rhythm with [Elliott] and Dalvin [Cook]," McCarthy said. "I thought we established that in the first half, it was moving along, would've liked to have kept it moving in the third quarter."
On the defensive side of things, the Cowboys gave up 223 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 36 carries, with San Francisco averaging 6.2 yards per carry. All of that was done without Christian McCaffrey, the 2023 AP offensive player of the year, at the 49ers disposal.
The Cowboys did a solid job of slowing down Jordan Mason, the NFL's second leading rusher coming into the game, when he was in the game. Mason finished with 6 carries for 18 yards before leaving in the second quarter with a shoulder injury. Rookie Isaac Guerendo led the 49ers the rest of the way with 85 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Despite all of that, the Cowboys defense feels like they've taken steps in the right direction.
"I think we took a step forward, I think we let some of these quarterback runs slip away…" Cowboys defensive tackle Linval Joseph said. "We just got to go back to the drawing board and make sure that doesn't happen again."
Brock Purdy was the 49ers second leading rusher, picking up 56 yards on eight carries and adding on a touchdown as well. It was the second highest rushing output in Purdy's career, but Joseph said he wasn't surprised by Purdy's ability to use his legs as a weapon.
"I know he could run, I've played against him before, he's a very good quarterback," Joseph said. "He got a couple runs, and I think that was a difference maker."
Cowboys defenders pointed to the third quarter as the largest issue from the game as a whole, and equally in terms of stopping the run. The 49ers ran for 64 yards and both of their rushing touchdowns in that frame.
"We let it get away from us in the third quarter, got our composure back in the fourth quarter, finished strong, but it just wasn't enough. DeMarvion Overshown said.
The Cowboys' next opportunity to write a more positive chapter in their rollercoaster story in the run game will come next Sunday on the road against the Atlanta Falcons.
