Last week was certainly a disappointing performance by the San Francisco 49ers when they lost to the Seattle Seahawks. This week does not look to be any easier with the Dallas Cowboys coming into Levi’s Stadium. The Cowboys have had their share of adversity this season.
First, Tony Romo went down in the preseason after suffering a spinal fracture. Now, reports have surfaced that Dallas’ best receiver, Dez Bryant, has a hair line fracture in his knee cap. Though he is listed as day-to-day, Bryant will obviously not be at one hundred percent. Fortunately for Dallas, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has stepped in and played well in place of Romo through the first three games. Pressuring the rookie quarterback is the first to key success for San Francisco. Below are the 49ers week four keys to victory.
San Francisco 49ers Week Four Keys to Victory
Put Pressure on Prescott
Dak Prescott has been quite impressive in his first three starts in the NFL. In fact, Prescott has yet to throw an interception. So far, Prescott has already thrown for 767 yards and has a 66.7 completion percentage. Prescott can certainly use his legs as well and is an extremely mobile quarterback. San Francisco needs to try and contain Prescott in the pocket as much as possible. The Niners need to keep Prescott from beating them with his running ability and force him to be a pocket quarterback.
Once again, Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner must be disciplined in keeping Prescott contained and not letting him run free. Linebackers NaVorro Bowman and Michael Wilhoite will have a tough time accomplishing this. In addition to monitoring their pass responsibilities, they will have to keep one eye focused on Prescott. They must not drop too deep unnecessarily and leave Prescott with a wide open middle of the field.
Shut Down Ezekiel Elliot
There were big expectations for Ezekiel Elliot coming into this season. Thus far, Elliot seems to be an all-pro caliber running back. Elliot has already carried the ball 71 times for 274 yards, with a 3.9 yard per-carry average. Elliot is an extremely decisive back. When he sees a hole he hits it with speed. In fact, the Dallas coaching staff has had to ask Elliot to be more patient and wait for the play to develop. Of course, much of Elliot’s success can be attributed to the offensive line. Dallas has one of the best lines in the league, and it’s also a big reason for Prescott’s early achievements.
The best way San Francisco can hope to stifle Elliot is to load up the box. Put eight men at the line of scrimmage and challenge Dallas’ offensive line. An overloaded attack may be the only way to achieve penetration into the backfield. The line backing corps will have to stay aware of pulling linemen and run formations. A pulling guard will always take a player to the ball. If Bowman and Wilhoite can anticipate an impending run play they will have a chance to stuff the hole at the line of scrimmage. Shutting down the run will also help towards forcing Prescott to be a pocket quarterback. In this way the first two keys to victory will in theory support each other. The 49ers need to shut down one aspect of the Dallas offense and put the entire onus on the other to score points.
Blaine Gabbert Must Play Well
Blaine Gabbert must gain some confidence and step up this week at home against Dallas. Gabbert has thrown an interception in each game thus far this season. He needs to focus more on ball security. Gabbert cannot afford to give the ball back to the Cowboys with turnovers in this game.
Also, the 49ers signal caller has to get Torrey Smith more involved with the offense. So far, Smith has only been targeted eight times this season and he has only a total of 103 receiving yards. Smith is still a top tier receiver and should be Gabbert’s number one target. The Cowboys secondary is the team’s biggest weakness overall. Pro Football Focus has the Cowboys secondary ranked almost last in the league at 30th. Gabbert and Chip Kelly have to be aware of this, and need to try and take advantage of Dallas’ biggest deficiency.
If the 49ers can focus on these keys they just might get a win against the Cowboys this week.
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