Well…that’s partially true about the defense, not totally. Looking at those two playoff losses, the defense was not exactly great. Here are the facts from both games:
Wild card game, Jan 16, 2022: L 23-17
- Defense surrendered 169 yards rushing.
- Defense gave 5.5 yards per play and 6-13 on 3rd down conversions.
- Despite being a top 5 defense in sacks, they did not record a single sack that day.
- Niners won TOP by 5 min that game.
- The Cowboys had 14 penalties, 9 of them committed by the defense, including a whopping 4 for lining up offsides.
Divisional Playoff game, Jan 22, 2023 L 19-12
- Defense was better this game than previous year, holding niners to 19 points and 341 yards.
- Dak did throw two soul crushing INTs.
- Defense was bad on 3rd down conversions, 7-14 (50%)
- Defense could not stop niners in 4th qtr 3 times on 3rd down conversions.
I’m not “defending Dak”; just pointing out that the defense was not stellar in both playoff games vs niners. Dak deserves some criticism but we didn’t lose both those games 100% because of Dak.
