Final 12 months, the San Francisco 49ers knocked the Dallas Cowboys out of the postseason. With a rematch on faucet Sunday night time, quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys need to even the rating within the Divisional Spherical.
“Most undoubtedly, I [wanted the rematch],” Prescott mentioned, via the team’s official website. “I feel this complete staff did. Clearly, utilizing that loss final 12 months as a motivation and simply form of the point of interest of the resiliency that we carried into the offseason, [that we] carried into this 12 months.
“Yeah, we get an opportunity to return and at their place, do one thing that we wish to do.”
In final 12 months’s wild-card loss, Dallas fell behind 10-0 within the first quarter, being outgained 110-7 in yards within the opening body. The Cowboys have been down 23-7 getting into the fourth quarter earlier than a rally got here up brief on the notorious designed QB run that left Dallas with no last-second likelihood, dropping 23-17. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy referred to the loss Friday as a “sacred wound.”
“I actually assume we beat ourselves final 12 months with the penalties, the offsides, issues like that,” outdoors linebacker Micah Parsons mentioned of the loss. “For those who simply play your recreation — the largest false impression is that it’s a must to go on the market and be completely different, that it’s a must to go on the market and attempt to out-physical a staff, that you simply wish to play their recreation.
“Why play their recreation? Play your recreation. Let’s play Dallas soccer. That is all we bought to do.”
Regardless of one other 12-5 common season document, the Cowboys enter Sunday’s recreation in Santa Clara because the underdogs towards a 13-4 Niners membership that has received 11 consecutive video games behind a menacing protection and the stellar play of rookie quarterback Brock Purdy down the stretch.
“We’re very snug on this place,” McCarthy mentioned of being underdogs towards San Francisco. “We’re clearly going there anticipating to win. Make no bones about that.”
Parsons mentioned being the playoff underdog offers motivation within the rematch.
“Actually, I feel you must feed into it, you must love that stuff,” he mentioned. “When nobody believes in you, that is one of the best feeling; not when everybody believes in you and the Kool-Help is up and everyone seems to be smiling like, ‘They can not lose. They’re too good.’ I do not need that feeling as a result of then it is like, rattling, what if I do not win?
“Once you’re already on the backside, you’ll be able to solely go up. I actually like being the underdog.”
