49ers vs. Cowboys third quarter thread: It’s time to find the end zone

San Francisco’s fourth drive needed points. A couple of first downs would have been ideal to give the defense a breather, but it was their turn to pick up the slack. Christian McCaffrey caught a difficult pass on 3rd & 7 to give the offense a first down.

Jauan Jennings was thrown out of bounds, and the defender was flagged for a late hit, but Aaron Banks had a holding call on the following play to make it 1st & 20. Deebo Samuel picked up a big chunk of the yardage on second down, but a Cowboys blitz on 3rd & 2 stalled the drive.

Instead of going for it on fourth and short, Shanahan relied on Robbie Gould to make a 47-yarder, and he did not disappoint. Gould’s kick tied the game at six.

Dallas had over three minutes to score and would get the ball back before the half. So it was imperative the 49ers’ defense stopped the Cowboys, so they couldn’t score twice.

For the second game in a row, the defense committed a boneheaded penalty at the end of the half. Dre Greenlaw had an unnecessary roughness to give the Cowboys excellent field position.

Greenlaw tackled Tony Pollard short of the marker on third down after showing off his impressive speed. Mike McCarthy elected to go for it on 4th & 4 from the 35-yard line with two minutes to play. Prescott scrambled for nine yards to pick up the first down.

A Dallas score before the half would put all kinds of pressure on the 49ers. But, Dak couldn’t help himself. The 49ers doubled Lamb in the slot. Prescott did not see Jimmie Ward, who appeared to have the interception, but Fred Warner came up with the interception himself for the biggest stop of the game.

The 49ers got the ball with 1:15 to play, but Kyle Shanahan ran the ball twice and just like that there were 30 seconds remaining. A 21-yard completion to Jauan Jennings saved the day, and Gould nailed a 50-yard kick to give the 49ers a 9-6 halftime lead.