Vance McDonald injured against Steelers

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played through a significant amount of pain during Sunday's 27-24 playoff-clinching overtime win against the Los Angeles Rams. He is dealing with a torn ligament and chipped bone in his right thumb, making throwing a football a challenge. Garoppolo could require offseason surgery. Right now, he is focused on the 49ers' playoff opponent—the Dallas Cowboys. Garoppolo spoke with reporters via Zoom before Wednesday's practice. He was asked how his thumb felt after Sunday's thrilling game and how it felt on Wednesday as the 49ers start preparing for the Cowboys. "The thumb held up pretty well,"

It didn't look good for Fred Warner. The San Francisco 49ers linebacker went down in the fourth quarter and was clutching his left leg in obvious pain. It was a non-contact injury on the Cowboys drive that followed the interception thrown by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Dallas ended up scoring on the drive. San Francisco still leads 23-17 at the time of this post. Warner played in 16 games this season, racking up 137 tackles, seven tackles for a loss, three quarterback hits, 0.5 sacks, four passes defensed, a forced fumble, and three fumble recoveries heading into this playoff game, per Pro Football Reference. Update: The 49ers announced that Warner is "questionable" to return due to an ankle

In case anyone missed it, the San Francisco 49ers starting slot corner K'Waun Williams opted out of the Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams because he still wasn't feeling quite right after being on the COVID/Reserve list earlier that week. NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco appeared on KNBR Monday and brought up the fact that Williams was out. "K'waun Williams was on the COVID list, and he just didn't feel right, and he was cleared off the Covid list, so it wasn't that he was held out of the game because of Covid, but he just didn't feel right. Just the worry of the work that he wasn't able to put in heading into that game. So, he should be back." In his place the 49ers started veteran cornerback Dontae Johnson in the slot to cover wide

The San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys will begin a new chapter of their historic playoff rivalry. The two teams will meet at AT&T Stadium on January 16. The 49ers and Cowboys could arguably be considered one of the greatest rivalries of all time. It includes over 31 NFL Hall of Famers that either played, coached, or worked in the front office during the time of the rivalry. Out of the seven times the two teams have met, the winner went on to win the Super Bowl five times. On December 23, 1972, the Cowboys scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of the Divisional round matchup for a 30-28 comeback victory over the 49ers. Unlike "rivalries" like the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots in the 2000s, the 49ers and Cowboys