49ers vs. Cowboys defensive grades: DeMeco Ryans impresses once again in win

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 19-12 in a defensive showdown, advancing to the NFC Championship Game where they’ll face off against the Philadelphia Eagles, who earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC this season.

Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was faced with his toughest challenge of the year aside from the Kansas City Chiefs and succeeded to great lengths, confusing the Cowboys’ offense with various looks, which resulted in a two-interception day for Dak Prescott.

Here are the grades for the 49ers’ defense against the Cowboys:

Defensive Line: B+

The stats didn’t necessarily show it, but the defensive line disrupted Dak Prescott for a good portion of Sunday’s game.

Prescott was pressured on 32.5% of his dropbacks, with the 49ers recording 18 total pressures as a team, despite not sending more than five rushers often.

Defensive end Nick Bosa had his second-straight zero-sack game, which is the first time he hasn’t recorded a sack in two consecutive weeks since Weeks 16-17 of the 2021 season, including the playoffs.

However, Bosa led the team with five pressures, as well as a run stop, recording a pass-rush win rate of 25.7% on the day. Additionally, Bosa forced a holding penalty against rookie left tackle Tyler Smith, as well as a false start.

After the game, Bosa iterated his beliefs that he played a good game, even when lined up against Cowboys right tackle Tyron Smith.

Arik Armstead continues to be a game-changer on the defensive line.

While he didn’t record a sack, which has become a norm in his eight-game playoff career, the defensive tackle had five pressures as well, while disrupting Dak Prescott on his first interception to Deommodore Lenoir.

Samson Ebukam had four pressures, albeit with a low win rate, while Charles Omenihu had two pressures and a 15.4% pass-rush win rate, but played minimal snaps in comparison to his counterparts.

With the quick game being a focus for the Cowboys offensively, the 49ers’ defensive line didn’t get as many opportunities for pressures, but still ended with 19 as a unit.

But, the 49ers need to improve on finishing and working against mobile quarterbacks. They allowed Dak Prescott to scramble four times for 22 yards and only got one sack on his 38 dropbacks.

Linebackers: B+

Fred Warner continues to showcase how phenomenal he is. Sunday’s Divisional round game was a statement performance by the All-Pro linebacker, who recorded nine tackles, three run stops, and an interception that came off a deflection from Jimmie Ward.

However, Warner’s most impressive play came in coverage on an incompletion to CeeDee Lamb, where the linebacker was step-in-step with the esteemed wideout, despite beginning the play mugged up to the line of scrimmage in a simulated pressure look before sprinting back to cover Lamb up the seam.