SANTA CLARA — The next edition of the 49ers-Cowboys rivalry will come under the Levi’s Stadium lights Oct. 8, some nine months after a playoff duel won there be the home team.
This season’s Week 5 matchup, on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, was unveiled this morning by the NFL, which will reveal its full schedule come 5 p.m.
Another marquee matchup is already known: the 49ers at the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 3, an NFC Championship Game rematch that the NFL — and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan — began promoting Wednesday night.
“I am glad we’re not playing Philly Week 1,” Shanahan said at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series at the California Theatre. “I want to play them at a better time. I want to make sure our whole team is right there. …We felt we didn’t get to do it last time, and I’m ready to go back again.”
That late-season meeting affords Brock Purdy extra time to recover from his right-elbow surgery, which was required March 10 after his injury left the 49ers shorthanded in that 31-7 defeat at Philadelphia in late January.
Purdy won his eighth straight game when the 49ers dispatched Dallas in the divisional-round playoffs, rallying for a 19-12 win on Jan. 22.
The Cowboys ended that game on a preposterous note: running back Ezekiel Elliott snapped the ball out of a one-man formation and Dak Prescott’s ensuing pass resulted in a hard-hitting tackle by Jimmie Ward.
The most magical moment in the 49ers-Cowboys rivalry is immortalized at the Levi’s Stadium northwest gate, where statues of Dwight Clark and Joe Montana serve as a reminder of “The Catch” in the 1981 season’s NFC Championship Game.
The 49ers eliminated the Cowboys from the past two seasons, with the January 2022 wild-card action in Arlington, Texas, and then last January’s home comeback.
The all-time series is 19-19-1.
Here are the opponents on this season’s 49ers schedule, and check back later today for dates and kickoff times:
Home
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Dallas Cowboys (Sunday night, Oct. 8)
New York Giants
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Away
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, Dec. 3)
Washington Commanders
Minnesota Vikings
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Source: www.mercurynews.com