Cowboys vs. 49ers score: Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb seal victory for Cowboys in the absence of Ezekiel Elliott

This contest was a last gasp for either the Dallas Cowboys or the San Francisco 49ers, and it was the former who came out victorious, with a 41-33 win at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. A loss by the Cowboys would've eliminated them completely from playoff contention, and the 49ers would've loved nothing more than to be the reason their age-old rival got buried and sent into an early offseason. The latter had a tough go of it initially -- fumbling twice in the first quarter and losing both, then allowing the Cowboys to score 14 points off the giveaways -- before waking up themselves.

Raheem Mostert, still not 100 percent healthy, gashed the Cowboys before ultimately leaving the game, not to return, and helped the 49ers get on the board with a touchdown of their own to make it a seven-point game. But as Dallas struggled against Mostert, the 49ers struggled against backup running back Tony Pollard out of the backfield. 

With Ezekiel Elliott sidelined due to a calf bruise, Pollard got a healthy dose of work as both a halfback and a receiver -- applying pressure to the injury-ravaged 49ers defense.

Pollard struggled for much of the game on the ground, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry on 11 handoffs but at one point leading both teams in receiving yards. He'd change his handoff fortunes in a major way late in the fourth quarter, tearing off a 40-yard touchdown run that extended the Cowboys lead before rookie first-round pick CeeDee Lamb nailed the 49ers' coffin shut with a 47-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. A last second Hail Mary from backup C.J. Beathard to Kendrick Bourne made the final score more respectable, but it was too little, too late. A valiant effort by the ailing 49ers was thwarted by a mix of injury and giveaways -- ultimately leading to their demise in Week 15. 

Why the Cowboys won

Opportunistic football is the recipe for what ails Dallas.

The 41 points scored by the Cowboys isn't indicative of any overpowering achieved at the hands of the offense, but instead it was led by a ballhawking defensive effort that saw them bully Mullens into three giveaways on the day. They'd add a fourth by way of wide receiver Richie James putting his lunch money on the ground in the first quarter, forced by defensive lineman Dorance Armstrong and recovered by backup safety Darian Thompson. From there, all the Cowboys had to do was maintain the lead, and they couldn't -- subjecting themselves to a handful of lead changes in the fourth quarter -- before finally digging deep and deciding enough was enough. Pollard got tired of having a bad day on the ground, albeit a good one through the air, and Lamb wanted nothing more than to be the one who threw the final punch; and so he did, with his first career kick return for a touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in regulation and the Cowboys up by seven. 

Additionally, if you want to know just how impactful the takeaways ultimately were, look no further than time of possession. The Cowboys lost in that category by nearly 10 football minutes, but nearly won the game by double digits, if not for the aforementioned Hail Mary from Beathard. Dalton was good enough (albeit questionable in his overzealous targeting to Noah Brown), the defense got their takeaways (albeit giving up 458 total yards of offense to mostly backups), and special teams made its presence felt. A bad team found a way to be good enough for a second straight week, and they'll certainly take it as the regular season nears its conclusion.

Why the 49ers lost

You get a takeaway and you get a takeaway and you get a takeaway.

Well, actually there's a takeaway missing in that sentence, considering the Cowboys left the game with a margin of +4, accountable to recovered fumbles in the first quarter and two interceptions in the final one. Once Mostert left the game with injury, so did the 49ers offense, because while Mullens didn't have the worst game of his career, he also threw the two aforementioned interceptions after losing one of the two fumbles. His ability to put the beleaguered Cowboys secondary on their heels paid off to the tune of 219 passing yards and two touchdowns, but losing Mostert was big, and it deleted the most important matchup for head coach Kyle Shanahan, which was namely to rack up big yardage on the ground against the league's worst run defense.

Wilson, Jr. played admirably, but playing from behind only added to the woes of losing Mostert and the mistakes by Mullen, closing out the game exactly as it started -- with the Cowboys throwing haymakers. All the 49ers could do at that point was what they did: flail about until the curtain closed. 

Turning point 

It was a back-alley brawl once the 49ers climbed back into the game, the lead changing hands several times before Pollard made sure it wouldn't again. Having been clamped on the ground for 3.75 quarters, what mattered most was this run by a grown man who refused to end the day with under three yards rushing per attempt.

Instead, he reeled back and punched San Francisco square in the mouth, and they never got back up.

Play of the game 

To make sure the 49ers would stay on the mat following Pollard's overhand right, Lamb turned this into his first career return TD, and that was pretty much that, folks.

You play to win the game 

"The Cowboys are not tanking, folks. Back-to-back wins." - Clarence Hill, Jr. of Fort Worth Star-Telegram

What's next

The Cowboys will attempt to stretch their first win streak of the season to three games when they visit the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16, while the 49ers try to shake up the NFC playoff picture in their battle with the Arizona Cardinals.

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