In a display of utter dominance, the San Francisco 49ers crushed the hopes of Dallas Cowboys fans everywhere, delivering a resounding 42-10 victory in front of the home-town crowd at Levi's Stadium.
It was a statement game. All week, the 49ers had heard about the Cowboys' punishing defense. It ranked No. 1 in points allowed entering Week 5, with opponents scoring a combined 41 points this season. San Francisco topped that by one point on Sunday night alone.
"I think that the biggest thing for us, we want to go out there and make our mark," safety Tashaun Gipson said after the game while speaking to team reporter Lindsey Pallares. "Obviously, this game is such a big rivalry, and the biggest thing for us is to not let the moment be too big, just play our brand of football.
"We knew, last week (against the Cardinals), the win is always important, but we didn't play our standard. And obviously, we wanted to come out here and make a statement. We didn't want to do too much talking during the week, but we knew what we wanted to accomplish and we came out and we did just that."
The Cowboys mustered only 197 total yards of offense on Sunday night and managed just eight first downs against the home-team defense. The 49ers, on the other hand, amassed 421 total yards and 25 first downs.
Gipson was all smiles after the game, proud of his team's stellar performance on the national stage.
"We want to just come out and show that we're truly just a complete football team," Gipson said. "We had to hear the noise. We heard all of the chatter about how they're the best defense. I don't think that's a question no more, obviously.
"But that's the biggest thing for us. We wanted to come out here and show that we are a Super Bowl team. And that's our statement, and we came out here, we did just that. Thankful. Complimentary football, offense, defense, and special teams.
"I couldn't have scripted this even if I wanted to. It's just a beautiful thing."
