49ers at Dallas Cowboys

Jeff Garcia threw four touchdown passes, Charlie Garner ran for 201 yards on 36 carries and the 49ers blew out the Cowboys 41-24 at Texas Stadium for the first 2000 win. Garcia hit Jerry Rice twice and Terrell Owens twice. The 49ers totaled 510 yards. Troy Aikman went 15 of 26 for 197 with a touchdown to James McKnight; Emmitt Smith was held to 31 on 11 carries before leaving with a knee bruise. The win snapped a five-game road losing streak that traced back to 1999.[1][2]

Charlie Garner ran for two hundred and one yards at Texas Stadium. Jeff Garcia threw four touchdowns on twenty-six attempts. Jerry Rice caught two touchdowns and Terrell Owens caught two touchdowns. The 49ers won 41-24 in the kind of road game that opens a franchise's October before everyone has lost interest in the year.

Garner's afternoon was the surprise but should not have been. The fifth-year back came into Sunday averaging 4.9 yards a carry across the first three games. He left it with a 201-yard line that joins a short list of 49ers single-game rushing totals since the 1980s. Garcia, off the Week 2 benching and the 290-yard answer in St. Louis, delivered the third straight competent start. The offensive line gave up no sacks.

49ers 41, Cowboys 24. Margin: plus 17. Record: 1-3, minus 24 differential. • Garner: 36 carries for 201 yards, 1 TD (career single-game high in rushing). • Garcia: 16-of-26 for 178, 4 TDs, 0 INTs (cleanest passing line of his 49ers career). • Rice: 4 catches for 73, 2 TDs. • Owens: 5 catches for 51, 2 TDs. • 49ers total yards: 510. • Aikman: 15-of-26 for 197, 1 TD. • Emmitt Smith: 11 carries for 31, left with knee bruise.

A 41-24 road win at Texas Stadium. The first win of 2000 and the first road win for the 49ers since the 1999 Week 5 victory at Buffalo.

How it unfolded

The 49ers opened with a Wade Richey field goal. Aikman responded with a 10-play touchdown drive ending in the McKnight 21-yard scoring strike. Garcia answered with the first of his four touchdown passes, a 26-yarder to Jerry Rice. Rice caught his second touchdown on the next 49ers possession after a Cowboys punt. The first Owens touchdown made it 24-7 at the half. Garcia opened the second half with the second Owens touchdown to push the lead to 31-10. The Cowboys cut to 31-17 before Garner's 5-yard touchdown run sealed it, and Garcia added the fourth touchdown pass in garbage time.

The turning point

The first Owens touchdown. With the 49ers up 17-7 in the second quarter and Dallas driving for the tying touchdown, the offense answered a momentum swing with a 10-play scoring drive that ended in the Owens fade in the corner. The 17-point swing put the home team in catch-up posture with one half of football left.

By the numbers

Garner 201 yards on 36 carries (5.6 ypc); the first 200-yard rushing game of his career and the 49ers' first since Roger Craig in 1988. Garcia 16-of-26 for 178 with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Rice 2 receiving touchdowns; Owens 2 receiving touchdowns. 510 total yards, the most by the 49ers since 1998. Aikman 197 with one touchdown. Smith 31 on 11 carries before the knee bruise.