Sports Then and Now

A game between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers is usually mammoth with both teams battling for supremacy in the National Football Confence if not the entire NFL. This storied rivalry has stood the test of time and is etched in football lore. There have been iconic games with signature moments like, “The Catch” in the 1981 NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park. Joe Montana’s game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark inside of the final minute gave the 49ers a 28-27 win and launched them as the team of the 1980’s. How about Troy Aikman’s clutch slant pass to Alvin Harper with a little more than four minutes left to play in the 1992 NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park. Harper turned it into a 71-yard catch-and-run which silenced the home crowd and took back the momentum after San Francisco had seized it with a touchdown to pull within 24-20. Dallas turned Harper’s big play into a touchdown to seal a 30-20 victory that sent them onto win their first of back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1990’s. Then there was a frantic end of game fury in the 2001 NFC Wild Card game where Dak Prescott and the offense had to hurry down the field to try and get one last play off only to have the clock expire in a 49ers 23-17 victory. The two franchises have played several big regular season games as well but these postseason theatrics over decades has made this rivalry what it has been and still is today.

The two franchises have met in six NFC Championship games with the Cowboys winning four of them. Each winner from those matchups went on to win that season’s Super Bowl except for the 1970 Dallas team which lost to Baltimore 16-13 in Super Bowl V. They have met nine times in the playoffs overall with the Cowboys holding a 5-4 edge. The all time series is nearly a draw with San Francisco holding a narrow 20-19-1 advantage.

Names like Dick Nolan, John Brodie, Gene Washington, Bruce Taylor, and Rosevelt Taylor were key to the 49ers in the 1970’s. The franchises met three straight years in the playoffs in the 1970’s including a pair of NFC Championship games, both won by Dallas. Names like Roger Staubach, Duane Thomas, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, Tony Hill, Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh, Lee Roy Jordan, Cliff Harris, Charlie Waters, Randy White, Harvey Martin, and Ed “Too Tall” Jones were the core of the Cowboys in the 1970’s when they became known as “America’s Team”. As the 1980’s came along, Joe Montana, Roger Craig, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Tom Rathman, Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Dwaine Board, Jack Reynolds, Randy Cross, and Keith Fahnhorst were mainstays for San Francisco which won four Super Bowls in the 1980’s.

As the 1990’s started, a young cast of players emerged for Dallas led by Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith who were collectively known as “The Triplets.” Complemeting them were speedy and talented players like Darren Woodson, Mark Stepnoski, Jay Novacek, Kelvin Martin, Eric Williams, Kevin Smith, Charles Haley, Thomas Everrett, Ken Norton Jr., Russell Maryland, Larry Brown, Dixon Edwards, Darrin Smith, Robert Jones, Tony Tolbert, and Daryl “Moose” Johnston. The 49ers carried much of their success of the 80’s into the 90’s as players like Montana, Rice, Lott, Wright, and Cross remained to go along with Steve Young, Ricky Watters, Lee Woodall, and Bryant Young.

While the two franchises went through a dry spell of no playoff encounters between the 1995 and 2020 seasons, they have met in two of the last three postseasons. San Francisco won in the NFC Wild Card game in 2021 and again in the NFC Divisional playoffs in 2022. The 49ers have won the last three meetings overall including a dominant 42-10 victory on Sunday Night Football a year ago on Oct. 8. The Cowboys last beat San Francisco 41-33 at home on Dec. 20, 2020.

Yet for all this history, the two current teams find themselves searching for who they really are as they get ready to play in primtime on NBC’s Sunday Night Football this Sunday, Oct. 27. They will enter Sunday night’s tilt with a 6-7 combined record with Dallas 3-3 and the 49ers 3-4, not exactly playoff worthy at this point in the season. Both teams are coming off losses at home and are trying to regain their footing. There is no Brodie, Montana, Young, Clark, Rice, or Lott to be seen in San Francisco. Likewise, there is no Staubach, Pearson, Dorsett, Lilly, White, Aikman, Irvin, Smith, or Haley suiting up for the Cowboys. There is no Dick Nolan, Bill Walsh, Tom Landry, or Jimmy Johnson strolling the sidelines as the head coach.

What is the easiest and most iconic way to identify with a sport, team, and favorite player? A definite answer is jerseys. Jerseys are timeless clothing that not only allows you to show your allegiance but a fashion statement as well. Jerseys easily identify teams and fans, and if you want to join and kick the thrills a notch higher, you need to invest in quality jerseys. While shopping for jerseys, however, you can easily be overwhelmed as you browse through the extensive pool. From cheaper options, custom options, to current or throwback jerseys, your quest can feel like a daunting task. The good news, however, is that you can now find jerseys, including 49ers throwback jersey to celebrate your all-time favorite online.

Chris Borland decided after just one NFL season that the financial gains of playing in the NFL weren’t worth the physical risks.

49ers linebacker Chris Borland recently sparked controversy when he retired after a successful rookie year. Stating health reasons, specifically long-term damage from repeated head injuries, Borland expressed concerns of residual neurological conditions and shortened life span. Two weeks after Borland announced his retirement, University of Michigan offensive lineman Jack Miller followed suit — college football is facing just as much scrutiny over concussion-related injuries as the NFL. Last year, Miller’s coach was criticized for allowing quarterback Shane Morris to play even after an apparent concussion.

Will early retirement from professional and college football be more common in the upcoming years? Borland made $574,359 in his only year in the NFL, on top of a $617,436 signing bonus (three-quarters of which he will return). Although he surrenders nearly $3 million over the three remaining years of his rookie contract, he enters the next phase of his career with financial security if he plays his cards right. Miller, an NFL prospect with a potentially big salary, will not earn a dime playing football. How agonizing this decision must have been for him. He, like Borland, could have put in a year or two of pro football and retired early with hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. In the end, the debilitating effects of past and likely future concussions proved greater than the reward of a large paycheck. Read the rest of this entry →

During an all-too-short career, Marcus Lattimore showed that he was an amazing talent.

Everyone knows that injuries are a regular part of football, but when they curtail the career of a promising player it is still disheartening. Such is the case with the announcement that former University of South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore is likely retiring from the San Francisco 49ers without ever playing a game in the NFL.

From the moment Lattimore joined the South Carolina Gamecocks after a standout career at Byrnes High School, it was clear that he was a difference maker.

In just his second career game, Lattimore rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns to lift the Gamecocks to a victory over the University of Georgia. Later in the season he helped USC to a victory over number one Alabama as the Gamecocks reached the SEC Championship Game for the only time in school history.

He finished the season with 1,197 yards rushing (4.8 yards per attempt) and 17 touchdowns.

As a sophomore, he seemed headed to All-America status and was discussed as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate after rushing for 176 yards against Georgia and 246 yards against Navy.

He was helping the Gamecocks to their sixth victory in their first seven games when he suffered a severe knee injury against Mississippi State.

Despite the injury to Lattimore, the Gamecocks finished 11-2 and in the top 10 in the final AP rankings.

After intense rehab, Lattimore returned to the lineup to start the 2012 season and rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns against Vanderbilt in the season opener.

The Gamecocks bolted to a 6-0 start and Lattimore was a huge reason as he rushed for 549 yards (including three 100 yard games) and nine touchdowns.

After being limited in losses to LSU and Florida, Lattimore was off to a strong start against Tennessee with 65 yards rushing and a touchdown.

However, during the game Lattimore suffered a gruesome knee injury (torn ACL, PCL, and MCL) that would prove to be career ending. Read the rest of this entry →

It may be early, but one fan already believes he knows which NFC team will be playing in the Super Bowl.

NFL kickoff 2014 is nearly a month away, too far into the future to hear any predictions about who’s likely to reach the Super Bowl. Especially from a fan touting his own team.

But if my early prediction about the World Cup is any indicator, I deserve an exception.

The San Francisco 49ers are about to embark on a tremendous season.

The offseason has been tumultuous, to say the least. This may ultimately serve to provide the intrinsic motivation the team needs to push them forward for a great start to the season. They’ll need it, to be sure. Coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Trent Baalke have been embroiled in a power struggle that hasn’t yet been resolved. The season will need to be a rousing success in order to keep everyone happy.

On top of that, some players are unhappy about contracts, and defense is worrisome due to the ongoing threat of suspension of Aldon Smith due to off-field antics (if you can call a fake bomb threat to LAX ‘antics’). Chris Culliver and Adam Kilgore were arrested in the offseason, and even Colin Kaepernick had a run-in with the law (though was rightly exonerated of any wrongdoing).

So…what’s going right with the 49ers? Read the rest of this entry →

As we took off into the second quarter of the season (for most teams), the fascinating phenomena kept rolling in. Included in this week’s list is something that hasn’t happened to the New England offense in seven years, a first for any quarterback since the merger, the continuation of home dominance for one NFC North team, a record-tying day for one tight end and an offensive outburst in Dallas. Here are your Week 5 NFL headlines.

Travis Benjamin had a career night in the return game for the red-hot Browns.

The Browns scored their first rushing touchdown of the season (and it wasn’t Trent Richardson) in their fifth game and stayed perfect when starting quarterback Brian Hoyer as they beat the Bills, 37-24, on Thursday night. They did, however, lose Hoyer for the season with a partially torn ACL suffered early in the game. Cleveland punt returner, Travis Benjamin, tied a franchise record with 166 punt return yards in the win for the first-place Browns. Their 37 points were the most they have scored in a game since putting up 41 back in 2009. Since Week 3, they are averaging 28.3 points per game after averaging eight points per game in the first two weeks.

The Patriots fell from the ranks of the unbeaten and the Bengals improved to 6-22 against the AFC East since 1998 as New England managed only six points in the 13-6 loss. The six points were the fewest for the high-powered New England offense since being shut out on Dec. 10, 2006, 21-0, in Week 14 against Miami. The Bengals’ 5-22 record had been the third-worst against one division in that span. Andy Dalton’s first-quarter interception in the red zone was the first red-zone pick of his career. Tom Brady fell two short of the all-time record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass as he failed to record one in game No. 53. The Pats had won 63 straight games when allowing 13 points or less with their last such loss coming in 2001. Read the rest of this entry →