The
San Francisco 49ers will look to start their march towards another deep postseason run on Sunday when they open up the 2014 season against the
Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers are coming off a regular season that saw them post 12 wins and a wildcard berth in the NFC playoffs. The Super Bowl drive ultimately fell 6 inches short.
The Cowboys are coming off an 8-8 season which saw them once again miss the playoffs with a loss on the final week of the regular season. In 2013 the Cowboys had one of the worst defenses that the NFL has seen in a long time, giving up 30 points or more on 6 occasions.
The rivalry between the 49ers and Cowboys has been one of the best in the NFL for many years and the series record is currently deadlocked at 16-16-1.
With that as a backdrop here are 5 burning questions to which the answers will be key to the outcome of the game.
1) Will Ray McDonald play? - The 49ers defensive end was arrested Sunday morning after police received a domestic violence call. Many have called for the 49ers to sit McDonald, however NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell,
Jim Harbaugh and
Trent Baalke have all stated that they believe in due process which leads me to believe that we will see McDonald on the field Sunday afternoon.
2) How will the 49ers defensive front seven hold up? - The 49ers defense will feature a front seven that will be without
Aldon Smith and
Navorro Bowman. If last season is any indication the 49ers should be able to manage just fine. With Smith out of the lineup they won five straight, and two of those victories came with
Patrick Willis out as well. In fact, with Smith and Willis out of the lineup the 49ers defense gave up a combined total of 14 points in those two games.
3) Can the 49ers secondary keep up? - Three of the five members of the 49ers secondary have changed since the end of last season. Gone are
Donte Whitner,
Tarell Brown and
Carlos Rogers. Stepping in to fill their roles will be
Antoine Bethea,
Chris Culliver and rookie
Jimmie Ward. This group will have their hands full trying to cover
Dez Bryant,
Terrance Williams and
Jason Witten. It will be especially interesting to see how the 49ers try to cover Witten. Will they use their linebackers or will it be an extra safety or cornerback charged with that task?
4) Will the right side of the 49ers offensive line show improvement? - Everything is pointing towards the 49ers starting
Jonathan Martin at right tackle on Sunday. Martin did a good job for most of the preseason in pass protection, but struggled to get push in the run game. The good news is Cowboys defensive end
George Selvie doesn't strike fear in the hearts of anyone in the NFL and this is a matchup Martin should win.
The picture at right guard is a little less clear. After missing all offseason team activities as the result of a contract dispute
Alex Boone signed a new deal on Monday and has been participating in practice. If Boone isn't ready to go the 49ers will turn to
Joe Looney who played with the starting unit throughout the preseason.
Regardless of who the starter is, they will be matched up with
Nick Hayden. In 2013 Hayden earned the second worse grade among all defensive tackles in the NFL from ProFootballFocus with a -34.1.
5) Can the 49ers offense put it together? - The bad news is the 49ers starting offense did not score a touchdown during any of the possessions they were involved in during the first three preseason games.
The good news is the 49ers have a history of being very conservative and vanilla until the games that count start.
With
Michael Crabtree set to play a full season and new weapons in
Carlos Hyde,
Brandon Lloyd and
Stevie Johnson, all signs are pointing to improved play from
Colin Kaepernick. Look for the 49ers offense to throw some new wrinkles at the Cowboys defense, but also continue with the balance approach that has served them so well since Jim Harbaugh and
Greg Roman took over. A slow and steady approach could go a long way toward helping the defense get it's footing with the new additions against what can be an explosive offense.
Prediction Time: 49ers 26 Cowboys 23
As I searched the world wide web for exciting things to bring to the world, I couldn't help but draw inspiration from the great Matt Barrows of The Athletic. In a recent mailbag article, a fan presented the task of creating the ideal San Francisco 49ers schedule based on what we already know for home/away opponents.
Here is my dream schedule for the 2022 49ers season.
Week 1 vs. Cardinals - This would be a home game for the 49ers and must-see television. Trey Lance would get a second chance at the team that handed him his first loss. Kyler Murray vs. Lance is pay-per-view quality.
Week 2 at Panthers - Now that Lance got his feet wet, he should have no problems commanding his troops against the Carolina Panthers. I
The NFL revealed its complete 272-game 2022 regular-season schedule on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. PT. NFL Kickoff Weekend will begin on Thursday, September 8, culminating with Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The San Francisco 49ers open their season on the road against the Chicago Bears. Their first home game comes during Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Niners' bye is during Week 9. They are currently scheduled to participate in five prime-time matchups this year.
San Francisco's opponents combined for a 154-135 record last season. The .533 winning percentage by opponents makes the 49ers' schedule tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the fifth toughest in the NFL, based on last year's results, and
The NFL will unveil the league's complete 272-game 2022 schedule on Thursday night at 5:00 p.m. PT. It is common for select week-to-week opponent matchups to leak before the official announcement. I've created this tracker to collect those leaks as the official schedule release time approaches.
As usual, the San Francisco 49ers will meet each NFC West team twice. On May 4, the NFL revealed that the 49ers will travel to Mexico City on November 21 to face the Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca—a Week 11 primetime matchup on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
The 49ers will face the third-place teams in the NFC East, NFC North, and AFC East. The team is also slated to play the entire NFC South and AFC West.
NFL Kickoff Weekend will begin on
With their first 2022 NFL Draft selection not coming until No. 61 overall, the San Francisco 49ers were required to remain patient without a first-round selection for the first time in the Lynch-Shanahan era due to last year's trade-up to select quarterback Trey Lance with the third overall pick.
With that first selection, the 49ers took USC edge rusher Drake Jackson, who some analysts considered a fringe first-round talent, making it shocking that he was still available near the end of the second round.
However, with their second selection at pick No. 93, the 49ers surprised many, drafting LSU running back Tyrion Davis-Price, who not only was a player at a position of low value, but also a player projected to go potentially one or two rounds later. So, why did
