The San Francisco 49ers look to close out their two-step of long-term rivals with a 2-0 record by securing a road win against the Dallas Cowboys.
Sunday will renew the iconic NFL rivalry, with Week 10 marking the first matchup between the two teams since the 49ers topped the Cowboys in a Week 8 Sunday Night Football game in 2024.
A victory on Sunday would mark the 49ers’ first five-game winning streak against Dallas including playoffs since San Francisco won six in a row from 1981 through 1990.
Keenan Allen will likely play back-to-back weeks against the same opponent following his recent acquisition, providing a rare window into his 49ers debut “by looking at how he fared against Dallas”, according to Yahoo Sports.
Allen finished Week 9 with four receptions on eight targets for 26 yards while playing 36 snaps.
He now joins the 49ers as the team’s No. 1 receiver with Brock Purdy as his quarterback.
The Dallas defense has allowed 26.2 points per game, which ranks as seventh-worst in the league.
For the fifth time this season, the 49ers face a defense in the bottom 10 in scoring through nine weeks.
San Francisco previously averaged 33 points per game in four matchups against bottom-10 defenses earlier in the season.
However, the high-powered Dallas offense has scored 33 or more points in three of its eight games, including two of its last three.
The Cowboys offense scores on 49.5 percent of its drives, holding the third-best percentage in the league.
Aside from the Las Vegas Raiders, the 49ers have exclusively faced below-average scoring offenses this year.
Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb will give the 49ers defense a test on Sunday, making it the toughest regular-season test of the season for the San Francisco offense “to date”, as noted by Yahoo Sports.