The San Francisco 49ers visit the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, November 15, with kickoff at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX. San Francisco arrive at 7-1 as 4.5 point road favourites in the highest total game of the Week 10 slate, while Dallas sit at 4-5 and need a signature win to keep their season pointed at January, with the matchup numbers listed by Squawka’s Week 10 preview.
This rivalry defined the NFC in two different eras, and lately it has run one way. The 49ers have won the last four meetings, including two playoff games, and they lead the all time series 21-19-1. Dallas get this edition at home, where they are 1-3 this season, against a San Francisco team that scores 29.4 points per game and allows 19.5. The Cowboys score 27.3 and allow 26.2, which is the whole preview in two lines: both teams can move the ball, and only one of them stops anybody with any consistency.
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The League’s Best Offence Meets Its Most Generous Defence
The statistical centre of this game is uncomfortable reading for Dallas. San Francisco score 3.9 touchdowns per game and convert 84.6 percent of their red zone trips into touchdowns, both the best figures in the league. Dallas concede on 48.3 percent of third downs, the worst mark in football, and give up 147 rushing yards per game, 31st in the league. A defence that cannot get off the field meets an offence that finishes drives better than anyone. That is the matchup Kyle Shanahan will attack from the first series.
Brock Purdy’s season explains the efficiency. Through eight games he has completed 163 of 236 passes for 1,980 yards, with 17 touchdowns against five interceptions and a 109.8 passer rating. Last week against Las Vegas he went 17 of 25 for 232 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-17 win in which Christian McCaffrey scored twice and the 49ers forced five second half turnovers. Purdy has also run for 201 yards this season, and Dallas have struggled with scrambling quarterbacks all year, allowing the second most rushing attempts per game to the position.
Dallas Need Prescott To Win A Shootout
The Cowboys’ path runs through Dak Prescott and the scoreboard. Prescott has thrown for 2,381 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions, and he was excellent last week, going 21 of 34 for 335 yards and two scores as Dallas needed a late touchdown to beat Indianapolis. San Francisco’s pass rush has generated pressure at one of the lowest rates in the league this season, and Prescott has been at his best when kept clean, leading the league in passing yards from unpressured pockets. If Dallas protect him, this game becomes the shootout the 55.5 point total promises.
The recent defensive evidence offers Dallas little comfort. The Cowboys allowed 33 points to Arizona and 23 to Indianapolis across their last two games, against offences with a fraction of San Francisco’s red zone record. Analysts previewing this matchup keep landing on the same conclusion: Dallas will have to score on close to every possession, because their defence has shown no reliable way to stop a top offence from scoring on theirs. That is a heavy ask, even for a quarterback playing as well as Prescott.
The team news cuts both ways, as the San Francisco Inquirer’s game day report sets out. Deebo Samuel returns for the 49ers after missing three games with a hamstring injury, and Keenan Allen is set for his San Francisco debut after arriving from Indianapolis at the trade deadline. Mike Evans remains out, and left tackle Trent Williams is questionable after hurting his shoulder in Thursday’s practice and sitting out Friday. Dallas list linebacker Donovan Ezeiruaku as out. Samuel’s return against a defence allowing points on nearly half its third downs is the headline item: San Francisco’s most versatile weapon, back for the biggest game of their month.
What Sunday Decides For Both Teams
For San Francisco, a win takes them to 8-1 and strengthens their hold on the NFC’s top tier heading into the season’s second half. For Dallas, at 4-5 with a home record working against them, this is the kind of game that decides whether December football means anything. The recent history says the 49ers own this fixture. The numbers say their offence should score. Dallas need Prescott to play a near perfect game and their defence to produce the one performance of its season. Kickoff in Arlington will tell us which story survives the afternoon.
References
Squawka 49ers vs Cowboys Week 10 preview, November 2026. San Francisco Inquirer game day report, November 15, 2026.
