Field Level Media
Oct 8, 2023
Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes, three to George Kittle, and the San Francisco 49ers remained unbeaten with a convincing 42-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night at Santa Clara, Calif.
Kittle tied the 49ers' single-game record for scoring catches by a tight end shared by Bernie Casey (1962) and Vernon Davis (2009). Purdy completed 17 of 24 passes for 252 yards as San Francisco (5-0) won its 15th consecutive regular-season contest.
Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason rushed for touchdowns and Kyle Juszczyk caught a scoring pass for the 49ers. Fred Warner dominated on defense with an interception, forced fumble, sack and eight tackles as San Francisco won by 18 or more points for the fourth time this season.
Dak Prescott was intercepted three times while completing 14 of 24 passes for 153 yards and one touchdown for Dallas (3-2). KaVontae Turpin had a scoring reception for the Cowboys.
Dallas was eliminated from the playoffs by San Francisco in each of the past two seasons.
The Cowboys led the NFL in scoring defense (10.3 points allowed per game) and were second in total defense (259.8 yards allowed per game) entering the contest. Dallas allowed just 41 total points over its first four games but was shredded by the 49ers for 421 yards and 25 first downs on Sunday.
The Cowboys had just 197 yards and eight first downs.
Purdy and Kittle first teamed up on the opening possession of the game for a 19-yard scoring pass.
Early in the second quarter, they struck again on a flea flicker in which Kittle made it look like he was run-blocking before heading downfield and catching a 38-yard throw from Purdy to make it 14-0.
Dallas followed with its lone impressive first-half drive, finding the end zone on Prescott's 26-yard touchdown pass to Turpin with 7:45 left in the period.
McCaffrey scored from the 1 with 2:36 left in the half to give San Francisco a 21-7 advantage. McCaffrey earlier lost a fumble at the Cowboys 2-yard line to end a 49ers threat.
Dallas rookie Brandon Aubrey improved to 14-for-14 on field-goal attempts by nailing a 50-yarder with 11:53 left in the third quarter.
Just over 4 1/2 minutes later, Kittle caught a 10-yard TD pass from Purdy to boost the lead to 28-10.
Juszczyk caught a 1-yard scoring pass from Purdy and Mason scored on a 26-yard run 20 seconds apart in the fourth quarter to make it a 32-point margin. In between, Warner nabbed a deflected Prescott pass and returned it 12 yards to the 26 before Mason broke into the clear.
--Field Level Media