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Looking ahead to Week 8 of the NFL season, we have a great Sunday Night Football matchup. This primetime game features two teams who, heading into the season, looked like two of the best teams in the NFC. The Dallas Cowboys come into this one with a 3-3 record and are traveling to San Francisco to take on the 3-4 49ers.
In this article, we will break down some of our favorite Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers NFL picks for Week 8.
The Dallas Cowboys are coming into this Week 8 matchup off their bye week in Week 7. It was much needed with them sitting at 3-3 and battling the injury bug defensively. In Week 6, they were without their star, Micah Parsons, who is dealing with an ankle injury. They are also without Dexter Lawrence, who is on IR and DaRon Bland, who has been on IR but is trending in the right direction.
While the defense has struggled at times this season, the strength of their team was supposed to be the offense. Well, the offense has not played all too well either. The Cowboys have scored fewer than 21 points in four of their six games this season.
Ceedee Lamb has been solid, but opposing defenses have figured out a way to limit his big plays. With Brandin Cooks on IR, the offense has had to rely on Jake Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert. They are solid players, but at this point, they can’t be your best weapons outside of Lamb. It also doesn’t help how much Dak Prescott has struggled. He has thrown six interceptions in six games, which is tied for the fourth most in the NFL.
The last thing that has crippled this offense is the lack of a running game. When the Cowboys were good in the past, they could run the football. That has just not been the case. The Cowboys rank dead last in the NFL with just 77.2 rushing yards. For the Cowboys to have a solid season, they have to get the run game going.
The 49ers are coming off another tough loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. The biggest takeaway from the game is not the loss. It’s the fact that star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is feared to have suffered an ACL tear. That is a huge blow to this team, considering they are still without running back Christian McCaffrey for the foreseeable future.
It was a tough Week 7 game for the 49ers offense. QB Brock Purdy threw three interceptions and had a QB rating of 36.7. What somewhat saved his day was his two touchdowns on the ground. But, speaking of the ground game, they could not get it going with their running backs. Jordan Mason had just 14 carries for 58 yards.
TE George Kittle led the receiving room with 92 yards on six receptions. The rest of the room was ugly. Aiyuk got hurt, and Deebo Samuel barely played due to an illness. With Aiyuk out now, the receiver room will have to rely on Jauan Jennings and rookie Ricky Pearsall. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the 49ers season plays out.
This matchup makes for an amazing Sunday Night Football game. Both the Cowboys and 49ers are desperate to win, as they can not afford to fall behind any further in the division and the NFC Conference.
Both teams come into this one with multiple injuries, so we may hear some names stepping up, who we normally do not hear from. We know stars like George Kittle, Ceedee Lamb and Deebo Samuel are going to produce in this one. However, we will target someone who may fly under the radar, Jauan Jennings.
We saw Jauan Jennings blow up for 11 catches and 172 yards in Week 2 and had 88 yards in Week 3. He has since faded into the background with Aiyuk, Kittle and Deebo Samuel all healthy. Well, we already stated that isn’t the case any longer, with Aiyuk out with the knee injury. With that said, we expect Jennings to have a big game and are willing to take him to have more than 45 receiving yards in this game.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.