SAN FRANCISCO – The temperature of rivalries in sports can rise and cool down over the years. Sunday’s showdown at Levi’s Stadium between the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys won’t be the height of the two teams’ hatred for each other, but each have Super Bowl aspirations and the volume always is turned up when they share the same field.
Through the first four weeks of the NFL season, the cream of the NFC has been filled by the 49ers, Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. The 49ers get their first crack at the Cowboys in their fifth game of the season on NBC's "Sunday Night Football," and eight weeks later they’ll have the chance of exacting revenge on the Eagles in Philadelphia for last season’s conference championship, a game that left everyone frustrated and full of what-ifs.
So, which game might be more of a possible NFC Championship Game preview? A handful of 49ers legends are going with the Eagles there, and even the only one who chose the Cowboys couldn’t help but throw slight shade at his former rival.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“Well I think probably the Cowboy game,” three-time Super Bowl champion Harris Barton said to NBC Sports Bay Area last week before Broadway SF’s “Unscripted: The San Francisco 49ers” at the Curran Theatre. “The Cowboys play in a weak division. They play here [Sunday], so we’ll see what happens there, but I think we’ll get them.
“The Eagles, I mean they should have got the Eagles last year in the championship game but obviously had some injuries.”
Dwight Hicks, Brent Jones and Ronnie Lott beg to differ when it comes to picking the Cowboys over the Eagles.
All three teams started the season on fire looking like early-season title contenders. Hicks contemplated his decision but ultimately decided on Philadelphia. Dallas’ ugly Week 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals raised red flags to Jones and he sees the Eagles as the more complete team.
San Francisco 49ers
“Boy, the Cowboys sure came out of the shoot looking great,” Jones said. “Their defense is very aggressive, very similar to the 49ers. I will say this though, they looked a little sloppy in their loss to Arizona, so we’re trying to feel if they’re real or not.
“I think the Eagles are for sure real. They’re just starting to get together. I think eventually they’re going to probably be the stronger team.”
Lott admitted the question was a “hard one,” turning to the 49ers’ free-agent acquisition of former Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave as to why Philadelphia still is the tougher matchup and better overall team.
“It’s hard to beat the Eagles and the reason it’s hard to beat the Eagles is that you got to earn a win,” Lott said. “You got to physically earn the win. I mean, [the 49ers] went and got Hargrave because when you play against him, you got to physically find a way to dominate and you’re not going to.
“That’s what that team does, that’s the characteristics that that team has. They don’t make a lot of mistakes, they don’t beat themselves.”
Thus far, nobody has beaten the 49ers or Eagles. They’re the last remaining 4-0 teams in the NFL and only time will tell if the loss column still is vacant for them by Week 13. First, the 49ers have the Cowboys to deal with in the latest iteration of this historic rivalry.