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Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Insider

“Good” doesn’t beat the San Francisco 49ers right now. Even if you’re consistent, your chances don’t improve much. Stable and Accurate? No, not enough. Methodical and determined? Hmm.

So what can Dak Prescott, Mike McCarthy, Micah Parsons, Sheedy Lamb, Tony Pollard, Jerry Jones, Rhodey the mascot, and the rest of Cowboy Nation hope for on Sunday? (6:30 PM ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app)?

Maybe, just maybe, the clue lies in who they are.

The Cowboys are one of the team’s collective oddballs. You never know what will come. It can be spectacular. It can be terrible. It’s practically never gray, it’s vanilla, and it’s right in the middle.

That fateful word, “contradiction,” that was tossed around like a cursed hot potato during the regular season, is actually going to end up in the Cowboys’ favor when the No. 5 seed faces San Francisco’s Juggernaut this weekend. It may work.

“I don’t want to go out and beat the 49ers,” defensive star Parsons told reporters. “If I play their game, they’re going to beat my a–. I’m going to play my game.I’m going to bring my strengths and what I bring to the table.They’re going to bring their strengths.Let’s fight it.”

“This year we have a real live shot to win it all”

Skip Bayless talks about his Cowboys ahead of a matchup against Brock Purdy and the 49ers.

The most lenient interpretation of inconsistency is that it also means unpredictability, and being predictable is the road to dire misery against the 49ers.Kyle Shanahan’s team ready They are masters of and have been prepared for every weapon intended to harm them and every potential pitfall to trip them up.

With Shanahan’s preparatory strategy in hand, they rely on their overwhelming firepower to carry it out. every week for the last 3 months, The Kansas City Chiefs held in October, and there weren’t many close shaves along the way.

Since Christian McCaffrey stepped in to complete the offensive puzzle, the 49ers have packed a manpower advantage every time they take the field. The McCaffrey trade from the Carolina Panthers is shaping up to be the most important deal of the season. The versatile running back combines with Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Ayuk to form a devastating array of options. The defense, on the other hand, remains resolute.

That’s what the Cowboys face as they try to enter the NFC Championship for the first time since 1995. Whether McCarthy’s men were crumbling against Jacksonville, or upset against Washington, or—this is a complete horror show—Houston’s close victory over the Texans.

Overall, the 49ers are stronger, but this is elimination football, and the important factor isn’t where the Cowboys’ floor is, but how high their ceiling is. I’m not going to cut the We already know that.

[49ers-Cowboys: Most memorable playoff games from one of NFL’s great rivalries]

But Dallas has extra gear that most teams can’t handle at that level. In fact, for the team’s followers, it’s rarely seen. However, when Prescott is at his best, when play calls are meshing as they’re supposed to, when the defense goes into big play mode and makes a calculated gamble, the Cowboys are second to none in the league. When you see it, it’s definitely there. .

With things going like their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a fierce, ferocious beatdown to close out the wild card round was the latest taste of what the Cowboys could do, especially when Prescott fired and the vibe was right.

“He’s a roller coaster,” Hall of Famer Shannon Sharp said of Prescott on FS1’s “Undisputed.” It was one of the nicest aggressive performances I’ve ever seen.What he did on Monday night shouldn’t be deceiving.He did it.I don’t deny it.But you guys , I want to make you forget everything I’ve seen in seven years from this man.”

Dak Prescott: ‘I have confidence in the players I have’

Dak Prescott: "i have confidence in the people i have"

David Hellman explains that Prescott is very confident he can carry the Cowboys on a deep playoff run.

That’s what a lot of people are pointing out. It’s no secret that Prescott and the Cowboys’ defense shine bright enough to give their opponents serious trouble on Sunday. After so many disappointments, faded promises, and postseason heartache, there may be a shortage of followers who can deliver back-to-back blockbuster performances.

The story that the Cowboys’ locker room sells is a sense that this is a different group, ready to seize the moment, with a sense of timing and purpose, and that they’ve done their best for this.

There is no shortage of motivation. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch returned from injury and walked around the group before the Tampa Bay game yelling to his teammates, “Be Elite!”

That was all he said. Many times.

Be elite.

they were then. they are not always. they should be now.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX When Subscribe to our daily newsletter.

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