San Francisco 49ers vs. Dallas Cowboys: Full Report Card Grades for Dallas
Tony Romo catches a great deal of unwarranted flack for the Dallas Cowboys' struggles in prior seasons, but this loss is on his shoulders.
The Cowboys fell to the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 28-17 Sunday. The story of the game was the turnovers on offense.
DeMarco Murray started this downward trend by fumbling on the second play of this first drive, which resulted in 49ers defensive back Chris Culliver returning it for a touchdown.
From there, Romo was very inaccurate, which was compounded by the bad decisions he made. These inaccurate throws and bad decisions resulted in Romo throwing three interceptions.
DeMarco Murray was the one bright spot on offense. After his initial fumble, he was very productive. Altogether, Murray had 22 carries for 118 yards and a touchdown. He earned the right to be featured heavily in the offense in future games.
The defense actually played much better than most expected it to. The defensive line was disruptive and active for most of the game. Bruce Carter and Rolando McClain were very productive throughout the game; however, the secondary was very porous for most of the game.
The Cowboys will need to fix these mistakes quickly before they play the Tennessee Titans next week.
Let’s take a look at how each position graded out in this Week 1 matchup.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Tony Romo looked more like Matt Schaub than the Cowboys quarterback from a year ago. Romo went 23 of 37 for 281 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions.
He could not get out of his own way throughout the game. Whenever the Cowboys had even a minuscule amount of momentum, he killed it with an interception or an errant throw on third down. Even when he wasn't throwing the ball, he made mistakes.
ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer reported: "On the drive after Murray's fumble, Romo appeared to check out of a running play at the San Francisco 2 and was dropped for a 9-yard sack. The Cowboys settled for a field goal on the drive."
Romo's play has to be worrisome for the Cowboys coaching staff. Was it rust, his back or just an off day that caused Romo to have one of his most disappointing performances in recent memory?
The Cowboys go as far as Romo takes them. If this game is any indication of what is to come, then they are headed for a top-five pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
Grade: F
Running Back
2 of 10
It didn't start off well for Murray, but he ended up being one of the lone bright spots on the Cowboys offense. Murray has 22 carries for 118 yards and a touchdown.
Murray routinely got the tough yards; he ran with a purpose and hit his running lanes very well. Murray also displayed his ability to break tackles by making positive yards out of plays that should have gone nowhere. Murray's performance as so good that ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer gave him the game ball on offense.
"DeMarco Murray finished with 118 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, but his fumble on the opening drive played too big of a part in the loss to earn this honor."
He showed that he deserves to be featured heavily in the offense moving forward.
One of the disappointing aspects of the game was how little Lance Dunbar was utilized. When the Cowboys featured him in the beginning stages of the game, he looked good but received only a couple of touches after that.
The Cowboys should feature Dunbar heavily in the future as well as leaning on Murray to get the offense going against the Titans.
If not for the Murray fumble, this would have been an "A."
Grade: B+
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
The Cowboys receivers and tight ends could not get going against the 49ers' depleted secondary. How much of it had to do with the play of the 49ers secondary and how much was due to Romo's poor play? It is hard to tell at this point.
The Cowboys' best receiver Dez Bryant battled dehydration throughout the game and couldn't get into the swing of things.
Jason Witten was taken completely out of the game by the 49ers, and Gavin Escobar was nonexistent. Terrance Williams had four catches for 50 yards, but he coupled that with a couple of drops as well.
Overall, the wide receiver corps and tight ends didn't make enough of an impact, but it's hard to determine, without going through the film, how much of that is their fault.
Grade: C-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The offensive line did very well in run blocking, but it struggled at times in pass protection.
The most troubling revelation was that Tyron Smith doesn't look like the player he was last year. Smith was called for a couple of penalties and was beaten a few times by 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks.
It appeared as though the bright spot on the offensive line was Travis Frederick, who was doing a great job opening holes and running lanes for Murray.
Zack Martin had some ups and downs, but overall he had a good game for a rookie. Doug Free and Ronald Leary had some struggles in pass protection, but they seemed to create a ton of movement in the running game. Nonetheless, Leary had some serious struggles when matched up with Justin Smith.
Overall the offensive line wasn't terrible, but it wasn't as good as it should have been.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Cowboys defense exceeded expectations against the 49ers and most of that was due to how well the defensive line played.
Jeremy Mincey was disruptive all game, constantly getting pressure on Colin Kaepernick. He showed that he has the ability to rush the passer at a relatively high level throughout a whole game.
For the interior of the defensive line, rookies Davon Coleman and Ken Bishop did a fantastic job. Bishop was stout against the run, and Coleman was disruptive against the run and the pass.
On the weak side, Tyrone Crawford had an adequate performance and showed flashes of a player who could develop into a very productive player.
In his limited snaps, Henry Melton was very disruptive. Melton did a great job of getting into the 49ers backfield when he was in the game.
All in all, the defensive line showed a great deal of potential, and that was without Anthony Spencer, Terrell McClain and DeMarcus Lawrence. Once they get healthy, the defensive line should be a strength on defense.
Grade: B
Linebacker
6 of 10
Initially believed to be one of the weakest groups on the roster, the Cowboys linebackers played relatively well Sunday.
The best player on defense was "Mike" linebacker Rolando McClain. He was all over the field, displaying the ability to shed blockers and make technically sound tackles. He also did a fine job when he was asked to play in coverage. McClain's stellar play led to ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer giving him the game ball for the defense.
"Linebacker Rolando McClain, after two retirements and playing his first game since Nov. 25, 2012, when he was with the Oakland Raiders, finished with eight tackles. In a physical game, McClain was able to show up."
Another player who played well was Bruce Carter, who lined up as the "Sam" linebacker. He did a great job playing the run and was very disruptive on the edge as a blitzer.
The one linebacker who didn't play as well as the others was Justin Durant, who played the majority of his snaps at the "Will" linebacker position. Durant was poor in coverage and routinely took terrible angles in the run.
Along with the defensive line, the linebackers' play exceeded expectation and should give the Cowboys some optimism going into the game against the Titans next week.
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 10
The positional unit that played the worse on defense was the secondary.
Morris Claiborne was awful for the entirety of the game, no matter who he was pitted against. He was routinely abused by Anquan Boldin, a situation that was amplified by how far Claiborne played off the slow-footed receiver.
Brandon Carr also was lost in coverage throughout the game and didn't play as well as his contract says he should. He seemed lost in coverage at times and displayed his ineptitude when asked to play in zone coverage.
Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox weren't terrible, but they didn't show up as much as they should have. They both tackled well in the run game but weren't effective in coverage at all. The Cowboys need their safeties to make plays, and they just didn't do that against the 49ers.
The secondary is going to have to improve mightily for the Cowboys defense to be able to stop offenses on a regular basis.
Grade: D
Special Teams
8 of 10
Special teams didn't really get much of a chance against the 49ers.
Dan Bailey made his only field-goal attempt along with both extra points. Bailey also didn't allow the 49ers to get any yards on kickoff returns since he booted the balls deep into the end zone.
Dwayne Harris had a decent day returning kickoffs with 59 yards on two returns.
Chris Jones did a great job punting the ball, averaging 52.5 yards per punt.
Overall, the special teams did well anytime they were asked to do something.
Grade: B+
Coaching
9 of 10
Jason Garrett didn't make any time-management mistakes, mainly because he was never in a position to make one. The only questionable call was calling for a punt when the Cowboys were down 28-10 in the fourth quarter.
The puzzling play calls came on defense from defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. He seemed to employ a mostly zone-coverage scheme to help defend against Kaepernick's running ability; however, the personnel Marinelli has in the secondary are better suited to play mostly man coverage instead.
Also, Marinelli dialed up a great deal of cornerback blitzes with Sterling Moore. This is a type of play that was very effective with Orlando Scandrick, but Moore doesn't seem to have the same feel for blitzing as Scandrick does.
On offense, play-caller Scott Linehan employed a large amount of empty sets (only player in the backfield is the quarterback). He looked to have called a good game, but it was messed up by Romo's poor play. It was also encouraging that he didn't give up on the run, despite how much the Cowboys were down by.
Grade: C+
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Quarterback | F |
| Running Back | B+ |
| Wide Receiver and Tight End | C- |
| Offensive Line | C |
| Defensive Line | B |
| Linebacker | B |
| Secondary | D |
| Special Teams | B+ |
| Coaching | C+ |
| Team Grade | C |
As a whole the Cowboys didn't play terribly, they were just held down by the play of select position groups, the quarterback and the secondary units.
The Cowboys have some positives to build off—defensive line, linebackers and running backs—but they also have some negatives to correct.
How the Cowboys end up doing the rest of the season falls on Tony Romo's shoulders. If he plays at a high level, this team still has playoff hopes; if not, they will be lucky to get five wins.
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